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Music is my life: Aditya Rao
Please
give
us
a
brief
introduction
about
yourself.
I
was
born
in
Bangalore
and
brought
up
in
Pittsburgh.
I
speak
English,
Kannada,
Tamil,
Hindi
and
a
little
bit
of
German!
I'm
a
global
citizen
who
loves
music,
striving
to
succeed
in
the
entertainment
industry.
I
have
completed
my
bachelors
degree
in
Finance
from
Penn
State
University.
Currently,
I'm
pursuing
a
masters
degree
in
Entertainment
Industry
Management
from
Carnegie
Mellon
University.
A
little,
confusing,
right?
On
the
contrary!
My passion and training for music, movies and finance provides for an opportunity where I can incorporate my business skill set in an industry that I love: entertainment. I am in pursuit of understanding and experiencing the world of entertainment. Production, distribution and representation of media in a digitally immersed environment are all wildly awesome to me!
About
your
knowledge
and
fluency
over
Kannada...
I
can
speak
Kannada
but
cannot
promise
a
grammatically
correct
dialect!
Tell
us
about
your
works.
A
blend
of
multiple
interests,
ranging
from
the
art
of
music
to
the
wonders
of
automobiles,
basically
describes
the
two
main
passions
in
my
life
in
a
nutshell!
I come from a home where music is an integral part of the day-to-day activities. My parents are patrons of music who listen to all kinds of music; ranging from classical (both western and Indian) to Indian movie songs, RnB and all in between. Semmangudi, Kadri Gopalnath, MS Subbulakshmi, Madurai Somu, Yanni, John Denver, Kishore Kumar, Balamurali Krishna, AR Rahman and many others are regulars for all of us at home.
I started my musical journey at the age of five at Vijaya School of Music (VCM) under the tutelage of my teacher K Ramesh. Since then I have studied various genres such as Carnatic, Hindustani, Jazz, Western Classical, Hip Hop. I continue to learn music through Skype from my teacher, K Ramesh, who lives in Bangalore. Through I have also had the privilege in competing and winning competitions and special mentions at the Cleveland Thyagaraja festival and the Gayana Samaja in Bangalore. I have been publishing my music on YouTube since 2007. The real recognition came when I worked with Shankar Tucker in 2011, where we recorded AR Rahman's 'Manmohini morey' and have made an impact to nearly 900 thousand viewers.
Some of my favorites have been an Acappella concept I tried with a Kannada evergreen song - 'Shivappa kayo thande...'. I have added the background music through my voice modulations along with the original background music in certain areas. Another favorite is a take I have on a John Legend's 'Ordinary people...'. This was also aired on CBS Radio's Morning show in Pittsburgh, when I interned there for 6 months.
How
did
you
bag
Bhavana
Belagere's
Ball
Pen
and
how
was
the
work
experience?
I
connected
with
Manikanth
Sir
via
Facebook
and
sent
him
my
YouTube
links
to
'Shivappa
kayo
thande...'
and
'Manmohini...'.
Surprisingly,
he
responded
and
gave
me
the
opportunity
to
work
with
him
in
Ball
Pen.
I
came
to
Bangalore
last
December
and
recorded
two
songs
for
the
movie.
The
experience
was
awesome
wherein
both
Manikanth
Sir
and
the
movie
director
Shashi
Sir
were
absolutely
a
pleasure
to
work
with.
They
treated
me
as
a
long
time
friend
and
made
me
feel
completely
at
ease
while
recording.
In
fact,
you
can
see
those
positive
vibes
on
YouTube
when
you
watch
the
'Savira
Kirana...'
video.
Music
is
a
hobby
or
is
it
a
passion
for
you?
Though
this
sounds
cliché,
music
is
my
life.
In
my
mind,
music
is
part
of
me
that
can
never
be
separated.
Even
when
I
was
figuring
out
the
direction
to
my
educational
future,
I
knew
it
needed
encompass
music
and
entertainment
in
some
way.
My
Masters
degree
has
enabled
me
to
intern
at
places
like
Atlantic
Records,
Warner
Brothers
Records,
and
International
Creative
Management
(ICM-
one
of
the
largest
talent
agencies).
Music
is
definitely
a
way
of
life.
Have
offers
started
coming
your
way?
I
do
get
regular
offers
but
most
of
them
require
me
to
be
in
India.
My
main
focus
at
the
moment
is
to
complete
my
Masters
program
by
May
2013.
However,
I
do
have
a
couple
of
offers,
which
I
look
forward
to
work
with
during
my
trip
to
India
this
December.
Who
is
your
favourite
musician?
(both
Kannada
and
other
languages)
PB
Srinivas,
Raghu
Dixit,
AR
Rahman,
Ilayaraja,
John
Legend,
Carlos
Santana,
Shreya
Ghoshal,
Sonu
Nigam,
etc.
There
isn't
enough
paper
in
the
world
to
list
all
of
my
favorites!
Are
you
interested
in
donning
grease
paint?
Haven't
thought
about
it
thus
far.
