City's youngest Karnatak classical vocalist

SA Vinayak is probably the youngest Karnatak classical vocalist the city has ever seen. Though being just 12 years old, he can lucidly sing Kirthanas composed by Saint Thyagaraja and Saint Purandara Dasa.

He began giving public performances singing Kirthanas from his tender age. On one such occasion during the Navaratri festival, he performed a non-stop two hour concert at Dharmasthala. Having received rich accolades from the former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam after his Karnatak classical music concert held at Raj Bhavan in Bangalore in January 2010, this child prodigy has performed all over the State winning several awards and honours.

He was bestowed the Outstanding Achievement Award instituted by the Department of Women and Children's Welfare, at the International Women's Day celebration held in Sahakara Bhavan in city recently, which comprised a citation and cash prize of Rs. 10,000.

Vinayak began singing classical music when he was just 4 years old. When his mother Shashikala was attending classical music classes, Vinayak who was just a little kid then used to accompany her mother.

Instinctively he too began singing along with his mother and gradually mastered it without much effort. Though the family doesn’t have any tradition of classical singing, the only link to music is that about 30 years ago, the elders in the family held music concerts in the house during Ganesha festivals lasting a fortnight which was attended by neighbours. He perfected it by practicing it daily for two hours. Later his sister too joined him and sometimes the brother-sister perform together.

Vinayak is studying seventh standard at the CFTRI School in the city and is good in academics as well. He has won several awards and citations for his excellent singing of classical music. His programmes are aired by Akashavani and telecast by DD Chandana channel as well.

Music maestro, Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, spotted the latent talent in the lad and has accepted him as his disciple. He has invited him to Chennai for further training which will begin from May.
At present Vinayaka is imparting knowledge from gurus Vasantha Sundarajan and Vidushi Amrutha Subramanyam