A decision taken at the age of 15 not to pursue formal studies any further is all set to take Kochi native Keerthy Narayanan to greater heights.
The 38-year-old was the programmer and arranger of keyboards and strings of ‘Winds Of Samsara’ that won the Best New Age Album award at the 57th annual Grammy Awards on Monday. “The award is the recognition for growing popularity of smooth-flowing music, something like meditational music. It has not been experimented too much in India where popular music has more listeners. The trend is slowly changing,” he said.
Mr. Narayanan said he quit formal studies after completing 10th standard from Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Tripunithura, Kochi. “My musical journey began in 1993 when I joined a band called Firefly that performed at Taj Group hotels during weekends. In another few years, I began pursuing music at London School of Music,” he said.
His efforts to work in Malayalam films did not succeed, following which he met many music directors and even worked with Ram Gopal Varma. He also arranged music for a few south Indian movies. His stint in Chennai saw him meet music director Ricky Kej who teamed up with South African musician Wouter Kellerman for the album that received the trophy at Monday’s Grammy award ceremony.
‘Winds of Samsara’ was recorded in 2013, including at a studio in Kochi. He now stays with his wife, four-year-old daughter and his father at Belgaum in Karnataka.
His younger brother Kiran Narayanan, who is into consulting business at StartUp Village in Kochi said Keerthy began learning guitar early in life. “We grew up listening to western and rock music.”
Their great grand father, Venkiteshwara Iyer, was the first Indian Principal of Maharaja’s College in Kochi.
Published - February 10, 2015 12:00 am IST
