JOIN US'The music's alive within me'
As much as it is true that the phrase ‘child prodigy’ is a cliche, there’s no other label that suits 13-year-old Rahul Vellal better. The only child of his doting engineer-parents Hema and Ravi Shankar Vellal, Rahul was barely two-and-a-half when he could perfectly repeat all the songs played at home.
Soon, little Rahul was not only able to repeat the songs, but could also sing them in his own style. Indeed, it was hard to ignore his intrinsic talent in music. Curiously, Rahul’s family has no particular background in music and yet he seemed to have been literally born with it. When his parents approached music teachers to train him, the standard response was that he was too young. And he was. However, his parents did not give up and instead enrolled him into Sanskrit shloka classes. And thus began a beautiful musical journey that had its roots in Sanskrit. Rahul was not yet four, but he could chant tough-to-pronounce shlokas, ashtakams and tunes that demanded specific phonetic patterns and decibels, almost effortlessly.
At four, he was introduced to Carnatic music by eminent Guru, Vidwan Suchethan Rangaswamy. The Bengaluru boy soon picked up the nuances of raaga, taala and swara under the globally reputed musician and teacher Guru Vidushi Kalavathy Avadhoot. Vidwan Kuldeep M Pai, who is known for guiding young talents, has also mentored him. Currently, Rahul is learning under Chennai-based musician-teachers Ranjani and Gayathri, who need no introduction.
Not a one-trick pony
Happily, his talent in music has not turned Rahul into a one-trick pony, as it usually happens with prodigies. Shares his proud mother: “Alongside his passion for music, Rahul loves his academics too. He plays cricket and badminton with his friends in the neighbourhood whenever he gets time. Sometimes, he sits down to sketch, while paper quilling is a favourite hobby of his.” However, unlike other children of his age, Rahul does not crave for junk food; and nor does he miss wolfing down ice-creams! He loves to keep fit though and does so with some yoga and outdoor sports.
For Rahul to be able to achieve so much at such a young age, his parents’ support and understanding was, needless to say, paramount.
His mother gave up her lucrative job at an MNC while his father has skipped several international assignments to be able to coordinate the young boy’s concerts, recordings and the like.
Besides training in singing, Rahul is also learning to play the mridangam under Vidwan Kulur Jayachandra Rao and taking piano lessons for the past five years. Recalling his first ever stage performance, his mother said the young star was only six-and-a-half.
“He performed on stage for around half-an-hour with live musicians,” she remembers. Rahul has today sung songs in a multitude of languages, including Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Gujarati. His videos on YouTube are a story by themselves, with views running into millions and appreciative comments flowing in from all corners of the world.
Little wonder then that the teen has already performed in several cities such as Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Durban, Hong Kong etc. “Unfortunately, his 10-city concert tour to the US, planned earlier this year, had to be cancelled due to the pandemic,” says his mother. Not just abroad, Rahul has also performed at many prestigious events and locations in India including at the Mysore Palace for Dasara, the hallowed Madras Music Academy and the Shanmukhananda Hall in Mumbai. He has also sang for ‘Simba’ in the Telugu version of Disney’s Lion King.
For Rahul, who is currently in Grade 8, the journey has only just begun and though the pandemic has slowed down the pace, enough and more projects have already been lined up. Does he have anything to say to youngsters like him? “Identify your passion, work hard towards it. Passion could be about anything...I am not talking only music here...it could be sports, art, anything that touches you, matters to you; the trick lies in persistence and following sane advice from elders and parents.” Spoken like a true prodigy!