Audio Clip of Anand's below

When Anand Subramony first heard a Surdaas Bhajan sung at a gathering in the late 90’s he was inspired to take up singing more seriously. A music enthusiast with a gifted voice he had participated in light classical singing for a long time but only after he  came to the US in 1994 for his graduate studies did he start formal training.  Subramony has an MS in Materials Sc & Engineering (IIT Bombay) and Ph.D. in Chemistry (Purdue University).  Currently he heads an R&D group focused in next generation of patient centric medicine at Novartis Institutes of BioMedical Research in Cambridge.  YES (youth entrepreneurship and sustainability)  is holding his first concert in Massachusetts on November 14^th in Lexington.  

Are you a trained vocalist and if so how long have you been singing?

While growing up in India, throughout my school and college years, I have been singing Light Music and other film songs.  I am now training in Carnatic Music since 2000 and have been performing for the last couple of years in small programs.

Give us a background of your interest in music?

Growing up in South India, I listened to a lot of Carnatic Music.  My sister is a carnatic musician and a performing artist and my great grandfathers from both the sides are bhagavatars.  I started my formal training here in the US starting with Bharathi Kalalaya in Fremont, CA.  After completing the basics, thanks to several teachers there, I moved on to learn from Sri. Ashok Subramoniam in the south Bay area.  I completed most of my training with Sri Ashok.  When we moved to the East Coast,  we spent close to an year in NJ when I  learned from Sri. Sankaran Menon in Edison, New Jersey. "More recently after moving to Lexington, I am learning advanced techniques and voice training from Ms. Deepti  Navaratna at Learnquest who is instrumental in helping me understand the various methodologies and also from G. Srikanth, for the last 2 years who is a visiting musician from India".

How did Poonam of YES and you collaborate on this upcoming concert  on Nov 14th ?

Poonam and I are neighbors I am very  impressed by Poonam’s enthusiasm about songs and her singing skills when we socialize in local groups.  Her knowledge in the area of classical music is pretty good.  I also respect what she does professionally in her role with YES and I always wanted to do something  along those lines that would benefit others.  One day she shared that she would like to have me perform for  Lexington residents – and I thought it would be great if I could sing and she could share about YES – so we came together on this. It has been more than 18 months since we moved to this area and I am deeply inspired by the local talent and musicians here.  More often we have artists coming from outside performing in the NE area and it would be great if we also get to see local artists performing.  I have performed in CA and NJ and so when this project came up, I was glad to join. 

Who are you inspired by in the Music World?

I am deeply inspired by the new generation of music artists that we have today.  Many of us have not heard much of the older generation of singers, but thanks to the advent of new media, we are able to hear a lot of upcoming artists now.  I have a number of artists that I am naturally attracted to with their style of singing and the  bhakti and bhava they bring out. 

You are a scientist and a singer? Was it hard finding time to do both equally well?

Yes I am a Scientist by profession. However music is always in you even when you are performing science or doing anything else.  It is the constant source of inspiration which always tickles your brain when you are stressed or have tough scientific problems in hand.  Music sort of brings serenity in you and it is highly spiritual when focused in the right away.  I am truly inspired by the bhakthi in many of the songs and together it inspires me to do good professional work. Another notable thing about Carnatic music is that it is highly analytical and math oriented in some segments when it comes to singing of the swaras and the various permutations and combinations used during alapana where you are operating within the framework of the notes in a particular raga. 

So far by the grace of Almighty, I am able to manage both science and my musical aspirations and I hope to be like this.

Listen to Anand's music clip  below...

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