Kumar

Kumar Karthigesu

It was perhaps destined that Kumar was to choose music as his career and ultimate objective in his life. Born to keen music enthusiast parents Dr. R. Karthigesu and Puvaneswari, Kumar began his music education by learning carnatic vocal, mridangam and violin from the early age of six with the blessings and continual encouragement of his spiritual guru, Swami Shantanand Saraswathi. his life.

Born to keen music enthusiast parents Dr. R. Karthigesu and Puvaneswari, Kumar began his music education by learning carnatic vocal, mridangam and violin from the early age of six with the blessings and continual encouragement of his spiritual guru, Swami Shantanand Saraswathi. his life. Born to keen music enthusiast parents Dr. R. Karthigesu and Puvaneswari, Kumar began his music education by learning carnatic vocal, mridangam and violin from the early age of six with the blessings and continual encouragement of his spiritual guru, Swami Shantanand Saraswathi.

In 1983, Kumar traveled to Leicester, United Kingdom, while his father underwent his PhD studies, marking the beginning a three year period of education in Soar Valley College. It was also at this time that the local education ministry introduced Indian music and dance subjects in schools as part of the curriculum. It was thus, ironically, here that Kumar got his first taste of learning the sitar, under the able tutelage of Pandit Dharambhir Singh, a young but senior disciple of the world renowned Ustad Vilayat Khan.

During his three year education of sitar in the UK, Kumar had the opportunity to perform at several concerts and competitions. He won the ‘Musician of the Year’ award in 1985 by the London Carnatic Music Circle, as well as ‘National Musician of the Year’ award organized by the Brent Competition UK, and subsequently performed at the highly prestigious Brent Music Festival in London in 1986. He also had several radio and television recordings during this stint in the UK. He had the opportunity to widen his insight into music by learning, albeit briefly, the western violin and tabla at his school.

Arriving back in Penang, Malaysia in 1986, Kumar continued his academic education and at the same time pursued his music training by learning carnatic vocal under Mr. Maheswaran and tabla under Shri. Didar Singh at The Temple of Fine Arts Penang. During this period, he also underwent sitar lessons from Shri Orme Maheswaran of Port Dickson, Malaysia, a disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar, during his holidays. In 1988, Kumar had the rare opportunity of performing a solo item at the Opening Ceremony of the World Tamil Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

It was in 1991 that fate brought him to meet his lifelong guru, Ustad Usman Khan, who had visited The Temple of Fine Arts KL and Penang, for a concert at that time. On an invitation to learn under his tutelage, Kumar, with friends Prakash Kandasamy and Umesh Shetty, set out to Pune, India, to stay and train intensively under Usmanji’ s guidance. Under a modern approach to the ancient Gurukula system of training, Kumar formed an intimate guru – sishya relationship with his Guru, Usmanji, and progressed in his training rapidly.

Back again to Malaysia in 1992, Kumar continued his academic education by pursuing a diploma in Software Engineering, while at the same time, training independently in the path of his choice – sitar. It was also in 1992 when he was first offered the position of sitar teacher at the Temple of Fine Arts, Kuala Lumpur and Penang. During this period, Kumar performed a number of concerts and recordings, including solo, orchestral and fusion concerts, thus steadily exposing him to the various elements and genres of music, crossing strict genre territories, but yet maintaining a clear identity as a sitarist with a firm Hindustani Classical base.

By June 1994, Kumar had decided on sitar as his firm career choice, and proceeded once more to Pune under the careful nurturing of Usmanji. This time staying for a longer period of three years, Kumar also underwent a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) at the University of Pune. While intensively training under Usmanji, Kumar also performed extensively in India, and participated in several audio recordings of Usmanji’s music. One such memorable concert was performing at the prestigious Pune Festival in 1996, and also being the lead sitarist in the recording of ‘The Taj Mahal’ a soundtrack for a dance drama by The Temple of Fine Arts International, which has since toured and performed in Malaysia, Singapore, India and Sri Lanka.

In 1998, Kumar moved to London, United Kingdom, to pursue a Masters degree in Performing Arts at the Middlesex University. During this three year period, Kumar performed extensively, having concerts in various parts of England, Glasgow (Scotland), Cardiff (Wales), and in Gent, Belgium. He also formed musical bonds with fellow artists Mavin Khoo (Bharatha Natyam), Akram Khan (Contemporary kathak), Vishnu Sahai (tabla), and Neil Owens (Guitar), collaborating and performing with them at various concerts. Kumar co-composed the music score for ‘Cast in Stone’, a production by Mavin Khoo and Christopher Bannerman, and subsequently performed live when it was staged at the South Bank Centre, UK in the year 2000.

Upon the completion of his postgraduate degree, Kumar returned to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2001, and once again resumed his post as sitar tutor at The Temple of Fine Arts Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Singapore. In 2002, he also joined the University of Malaya as a part time lecturer of Indian Music, and in 2003, he was also invited to be a lecturer at the National Arts Academy of Malaysia.

Since making Kuala Lumpur his base in 2001, Kumar’s performing career leaped dramatically and firmly established himself as a known personality in the field of music in the South East Asian region. He has performed extensively throughout Malaysia and Singapore, performing solo as well as performing in orchestral and fusion concerts. He was a co composer and producer of Tryam, a 40 member Indian based orchestra of The Temple of Fine Arts International, which has since performed in Penang and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Chennai and Hyderabad, India. In 2002, Kumar also co composed the music soundtracks for two highly successful dance dramas by the Temple of Fine Arts, ‘Butterfly Lovers’ and ‘ The Legend of Mahsuri’. Butterfly Lovers toured Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, Singapore, Australia, Sri Lanka and India, while ‘the legend of Mahsuri’, produced under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism of Malaysia, premiered at the Istana Budaya (National Theatre), Kuala Lumpur, and subsequently was performed in Langkawi.

Kumar has also recorded for and co produced a single track in popular R & B singer Reshmonu’s album ‘Monumental’, released in 2003. His performance record continues to expand, and over the last four years, he has performed internationally several times, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia. China. Sri Lanka, Italy, India, and recently, at the very prestigious Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Centre in Broadway, New York, USA.

In 2005, Kumar co founded the ‘Inner Space Performing Arts Company’ with fellow artists Jyotsna Prakash, Prakash Kandasamy and Umesh Shetty, as a performing wing of The Temple of Fine Arts International. The debut performance of Inner Space was an exciting two hour production of contemporary dance and music, entitled ‘Inside Out’, and premiered in March 2005 in Kuala Lumpur, Following its success, he now is a recognized guest artiste for the RTM Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra and other such established groups in Malaysia. His latest achievements include touring Australia (2007 & 2008), Italy and India in 2007, and released a CD album entitled Taar Sitara, with fellow tabla player, Vick Ramakrishnan. He also performed at the ‘Les Nuits d’Angkor’ Festival in January 2008, in front of the magnificent Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia.