JOIN USA bequest in capable hands
The Anoor cousins are fifth-generation musicians in their family. Even in a freewheeling chat, it was easy to see that the duo were indeed proud of their musical heritage and the stalwarts hailing from their family.
The cousins, Anoor Vinod Shyam and Sunaad Anoor, are today accomplished percussionists. They belong to the Anoor family — a family that is well-known in music circles and whose presence in classical Carnatic music dates back to the early 1900s. Hailing from the small village of Anoor near Chintamani, Sri Subbaraya Shastry was the first music stalwart in the family. He was an accomplished veena player and performed several kutcheris for over three decades. His sons, Anoor Shamanna and Anoor Suryanarayana, (known as Suri) were noted musicians too. Shamanna moved to Bengaluru, worked with the Life Insurance Corporation and played the veena. Suri was a proficient Carnatic singer. He was also a noted Nattuvanar.
He sang and provided nattuvangam to several distinguished Bharatanatyam and Kuchipidi dancers. The third generation saw the rise of Anoor Ramakrishna, son of Vidwan Shamanna. He played the violin and was an extremely reputed exponent of music of his times. His talent was recognised by Sri T Chowdiah, the legendary violinist, who handed over the responsibility of running the Bengaluru branch of his music school called the Ayyanar College of Music to Vidwan Ramakrishna. The school that was started in 1952 was one of the top-notch learning centres in Mysuru and Bengaluru and produced several musicians of repute. Vidwan Ramakrishna, as the Principal of the college, ran it successfully from his home in Jayanagar, till his end in 1995.
Weight of expectations
The next generation — fourth in the family — was spearheaded by Vidwan Anoor Dattatreya Sharma and his younger brother, Vidwan Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma, known popularly as Shivu. Today, they are both acclaimed mridangists and accompany many stalwart Carnatic musicians in performances, both in India and abroad. While Anoor Dattatreya was always interested in playing the mridangam, Shivu experimented with other percussion instruments — mridangam, ghatam, tabla, khanjira and pakhawaj and learnt to play them exceptionally well. But, like his brother, mridangam continues to be his strongpoint. They have received several awards and titles — Anoor Dattatreya was conferred the title of Layakala Pratibha Mani by Percussive Arts Centre, Bengaluru, while Shivu was given the title of Ganakala Shree. Shivu was also chosen as the Best Mridangam Artiste by Gayana Samaja, Bengaluru and Madras Music Academy, Asthana Vidwan of Sri Kanchi Mutt.
Such being their musical heritage, Anoor Vinod Shyam (son of Vidwan Shivu) and Anoor Sunaad (son of Vidwan Dattatreya) are now the fifth-generation musicians in the reputed Anoor family. They are well aware of their legacy, but thankfully, are not overwhelmed by the weight of expectations. They are percussionists — Vinod plays the mridangam while Sunaad plays the khanjira. Being surrounded by music and musicians, it is no surprise that these two youngsters took to music from an early age.
Vinod started experimenting with various percussion instruments and could play most of them, but finally settled on the mridangam as his main forte. As a child, he loved showing off his prowess by playing several instruments. All visitors to their house admired the talent of the young boy. He could, in fact, play well even before he took up formal lessons. At his father’s insistence, he became a student of Sri Rudrapatnam Satyakumar and started his formal music education. As a young boy, he remembers accompanying his father to several concerts and watching him play the mridangam. He quickly picked up the nuances of the instrument and had his first solo performance as a Class V student. He has come a long way since then and has performed with notable musicians like S Shankar, Nagmani Srinath, M S Sheela, T S Sathyavathy, to name just a few and played the mridangam in many prestigious music Sabhas and venues across the country. Even though he pursued a commerce education, he always knew music was his calling.
Imbibing music naturally
Sunaad initially started learning the violin, but lost interest. Growing up in the family comprising largely of musicians, he seemed to have imbibed music naturally. When cousin Vinod wanted a khanjira player, Sunaad acquiesced. Also, the promise of good food — pulav — being available post the concert got him to learn the instrument properly! There was no looking back after that. Sunaad got formal lessons from his father and uncle and is now a proficient khanjira player. He has also accompanied several noted musicians — Mysore Brothers, Sudha Raghunathan, Shashank Subramaniam and many others.
The cousins today, in addition to being traditional percussionists performing in classical kutcheris, have also explored other genres of music like folk, western and fusion. In 2015, Vinod directed a special musical ensemble working with a team of 13 children under the age of 15 for the Bhoomija Trust. Sunaad recently played the khanjira for young violinist Apoorva Krishna’s Indo-western collaborative titled Merging Parallels, that had a vocalist, a double bass player and a guitarist performing. Earlier, the duo was invited to participate in the famous Frankfurt Jazz Festival with the ‘hr Bigband’, Germany. They have also performed with many Hindustani music exponents like Pravin Godkhindi, Ustad Fayaz Khan, Ayaan and Amaan Ali Bangash and others. Their band titled Nada-Kalarava is a platform to showcase talent and collaborations among instrumentalists across all genres of music. They are also active members of the Bands Lava Lavanya, Amithias Project and Sanyog.
While the cousins absorbed a lot of techniques and nuances by watching their parents and other performers, both agree that only hard work and intense daily practice helped them evolve as musicians. They are keen to explore new and innovative formats that will test their musical prowess and push them beyond their comfort zone. At the end of our chat, one feels reassured that the Anoor music legacy is in extremely capable hands!