Giridhar wants to enrich Carnatic music with newness

Taking Carnatic music to greater and global heights is what ghatam maestro Giridhar Udupa’s goal has been.

In 2000, he stood first in the All India Radio competition directly becoming a B-grade artiste. 19 years later, he is awarded ‘top grade’ by AIR.

“As far as I know, I’m the youngest musician -- not just a ghatam artiste -- to get this honour,” Giridhar told Metrolife.

Giridhar was urged to play the ghatam in a concert arranged by his father, mridanga vidwan Ullur Nagendra Udupa. His father taught him the techniques of the ghatam and, after only a month of practice, he played in that concert with a senior disciple of his father.

Once the concert was over, his father told him to continue with just the ghatam. That was when his journey with the instrument began. He recalls, “For 8-10 years, I played the same techniques which my father taught me. It was only when I learnt under Vikku Vinayakram that I learnt the true techniques of the ghatam, which completely changed my perspective of the instrument.”

As a musician, Giridhar has travelled all over the world and has been exposed to various genres of music and percussion instruments such as flamenco music, Irish music, Latin percussion, western African music, Japanese music, Jazz, etc.

“It’s interesting and challenging for me to try and incorporate techniques of other genres into the ghatam. But it’s difficult as ghatam is a classical instrument and learnt the traditional way,” he quips.

Giridhar aims to spread the word about the less-known ghatam through the Udupa foundation. He not only wants to increase awareness but also add to Carnatic music.

“The world is changing with every generation, so, why not bring something fresh into Carnatic music -- not to dilute it but to enrich it with newness?” he signs off.