Chitravina N. Ravikiran Biography 
Chitravina N. Ravikiran, shortly called N. Ravikiran is an Indian musician and child prodigy from Mysore. He is the son and disciple of Chitravina Narasimhan and grandson of the famous musician Gotuvadyam Narayan Iyengar. The creator of the concept Melharmony in classical music, this child prodigy is known as a singer, composer, vocalist and Slide Instrumentalist who gave his maiden concert of this musical instrument at the age of 11. He was hailed as the “Mozart of Indian Music" by the Wisconsin State Journal, USA. He has been credited as the composer of 700 classical Indian compositions and his newly discovered ragas include Keshavapriya, Snehapriya, Andhakarini and Mohini. He composed the first raga at the age of 2 and named it Choodamani after his mother.
He introduced the portable, bright toned and 20-stringed slide instrument, Nava-chitravina and co-invented the Visual Rhythm Metronome, Taal Acharya with Vanitha and Krishnan Suresh. He has also authored a few books on Carnatic music and has lectured extensively across the world on music for many subjects. Appreciating Carnatic Music, Inaiyatra innishai, Saptaratnas and Navavaranams of Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi, Life and Contributions of Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi and Perfecting Carnatic Music Level I and II are his published works. He is the only composer to have created pieces in each of the 35-talas of Carnatic Music.
Ravikiran was born in Mysore, Karnataka into a musical family in 1967. He gave his first stage performance at the age of two in Bangalore. A child prodigy he could identify and render about 325 ragas and 175 talas of Carnatic music which enabled him to get a scholarship at The Madras Music Academy. He was quizzed by doyens of music - Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Pandit Ravi Shankar, M S Subbulakshmi and Flute T R Mahalingam, and Ravi Shankar remarked, “"If you don't believe in God, look at Ravikiran”. He was also presented at Shanmukhananda Fine Arts.
He underwent training in Carnatic music from his father and debuted as a vocalist at the age of 5. Since then he appeared in many music concerts across the globe. His vocals are included in the albums - Genius at Work, Sahityanubhava – Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi and The Eighteen Steps. He has been associated with several western collaborations for fusion music, Western Classical Symphony Orchestras, Chamber Orchestras, String Quartets and Caprices to name a few.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 04, 2016
