How Prasanna retains the viewers enthralled at his solo guitar exhibits

Guitar Prasanna
| Photograph Credit score: Particular Association

Chennai could also be hailed because the Mecca of Carnatic Music however it’s uncommon to listen to ‘Mahaganapatim’ and Pink Floyd’s ‘Cash’ in the identical live performance. Nonetheless, ‘guitar’ Prasanna is understood to take his viewers on a musical exploration each time he performs.

At his current presentation at Medai titled ‘Electrical Prasanna Land,’ he exhibited the potential of the guitar as an instrument that’s full by itself in a live performance. Participating in a full of life interplay, Prasanna accommodated viewers requests and improvised on the spot at instances a lot to the delight of his followers. Retaining in thoughts the musical heritage of Tamil Nadu that’s house to eighth century bhakti poets comparable to Andal and modern-day musical maestros like Ilaiyaraaja, Prasanna selected items that resonated with the generally hard-to-please Chennai music lovers.

R.D. Burman’s evergreen quantity from Sholay ‘Mehbooba Mehbooba’ has been extensively anthologised, remixed and recreated. It was a prudent alternative by Prasanna to create a sense of nostalgia. A few of Prasanna’s personal compositions like ‘Bowling for Peace’ from his hit 2006 album Electrical Ganesha Land and ‘Kalyani Connection’ from the album Be The Change, which have garnered 1000’s of views on YouTube and are common even right this moment, had been performed by him on the present.

As a multi-genre musician, Prasanna excels in rock, steel, jazz and Carnatic. Take as an example, the observe ‘Smells like teen spirit’ by the American rock band Nirvana. Prasanna took up this piece and made the viewers guess what it’s, taking them together with a lot communication and involvement. His private and emotional join with music lovers provides a particular contact to his performances.

Prasanna at his Chennai present
| Photograph Credit score:
Particular Association

Prasanna’s work with A.R. Rahman is intensive and the music composer has referred to as him ‘a residing hope for high quality music’. After taking over Rahman’s ‘Dil Se’, Prasanna segued into ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ and at last landed at Led Zeppelin’s iconic ‘Black Canine’. Surprising transitions like these added a lot zeal. Tamil compositions like ‘Netru illatha maatram’ and ‘July maatham vandhaal’ had been additionally performed, the latter being Prasanna’s first skilled work with Rahman, the place he performed the unique guitar parts.

Ilaiyaraaja was Prasanna’s first massive musical affect and he devoted fairly a while to a number of the maestro’s hit numbers like ‘Kaatril enthan geetham’ and ‘Rasathi unna’ (additionally a tribute to playback singer P. Jayachandran, who handed away not too long ago). Probably the greatest parts was an Ilaiyaraaja medley that Prasanna candidly known as the Vitamix mix of the night. It included six to seven songs composed throughout a long time. From ‘Mandram vandha’ to ‘Senorita’ to ‘Putham puthu kaalai’, it was a rollercoaster experience of feelings for Raja lovers.

Prasanna’s spouse Shalini Lakshmi is a singer and accompanies him usually in his performances. That night, she rendered two Carnatic compositions with Prasanna – ‘Pullum silambina kaan’, a Thirupaavai, and ‘Jaya jaya Durge’ by Narayana Tirtha, a seventeenth century composer. The couple demonstrated their versatility by additionally taking over Bob Dylan’s ‘Blowing within the wind’ and Prasanna’s personal track ‘Ode to Kubla Khan’, composed by him throughout his faculty days.

Total, it was a nice expertise for music lovers throughout age teams because the songs had been numerous by way of style, language, and interval. Retaining the viewers excited all through the live performance as a solo guitarist is a uncommon expertise and Prasanna did this with aplomb.