Often considered as vile and annoying, the habit of ‘whistling’ has different connotations. ‘Whistle wizard’ Komaravolu Sivaprasad has transformed this fun and carefree activity into a unique art form, garnering praise from both critics and music lovers.
Over the past four decades, Mr. Sivaprasad has perfected the act of whistling, not just to vocalise film numbers but invoke complex ragas in classical music. Hailing from a family of classical music aficionados, he was introduced to Carnatic ragas at an early age.
“My uncle and eldest brother had this inclination to casually hum/whistle the songs emanating from our LP player. I followed suit and began exploring my ability to whistle complex tunes. Soon this turned into a regular activity, with constant encouragement from my friends and family,” he said.
Speaking to The Hindu , he recalled his association with legendary singer Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna and remarked that it was under the latter’s guidance, he turned into a complete musician, pursuing the art of whistling. “Former Maharashtra Governor Kona Prabhakar Rao introduced me to Mr. Balamuralikrishna, after being rejected by several musicians who found my ways unorthodox and urged me to take up a musical instrument.
During our first meeting, I whistled Mr. Balamuralikrishna’s song, Pibare Ramarasam in Ahir Bhairavi ragam, which happened to be his most requested number and a few weeks later, I began my training in Chennai,” he remarked.
Since then, Mr. Sivaprasad had released several albums, whistling the compositions of the ‘Trinity of Carnatic Music- Thyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri’ along side others by Annamaya, Ramadasu, Collection of Patriotic Songs under ‘My Nation – My Breath’, Rabindra Sangeeth and much more.
‘Song of the Wind’
On the occasion of the 101st birth anniversary celebrations of Bharat Ratna M.S. Subbulakshmi on Friday, Mr. Sivaprasad released an album comprising seven songs of the singer, representing seven hills of Tirumala, all in whistle format.
The event was organised by the Hyderabad-based Bharatha Bharathi Music Trust (founded by Mr. Sivaprasad) and Sri Sathya Sai Seva Samithi – Tirupati at the Mahati Auditorium.
Mr. Sivaprasad, as part of his plans, wants to encourage those pursuing unique arts, including traditional musical instruments such as mandolin, tabla and veena. He is training 21 students in the art of whistling and few of them have begun giving programmes. on their own.
Their training varies from breathing exercises to food habits and he hopes to produce a new set of artists for the future generation.
