Whistle Concert By K Siva Prasad

The South Indian Cultural Association (SICA) is presenting a Carnatic whistle concert by K Siva Prasad, on 21st November, at the Ravindra Bharathi auditorium. Accompanying him are Ramaraju Dinakar on the violin, D S R Murthy on the mridangam and P V Ramana Murthy on the ghatam.

Whistling is a rare and specialised art in the world of music, and Siva Prasad has mastered it to perfection. Hailing from a family of scholars in arts & sciences, he received no formal initiation into the world of music nor any special instruction. It was his own intense interest and enthusiasm for creating music through whistling that led him to where he is.

Prasad had the rare opportunity of receiving guidance from the legendary Carnatic vocalist Dr. M Balamurali Krishna. And his meetings with the immortal shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan inspired and rekindled in him a love and fascination for Hindustani Music. Added to this, the grammar and text of music imparted by the reputed flute vidwan N S Srinivasan enriched his talent and made his a complete artiste.

He has performed in over 10,000 concerts in India and in many parts of the world such as Muscat, Dubai, Baharain, Qatar, Bangkok, Singapore, USSR, USA, Malaysia, Australia and Mauritius. Recipient of several titles, such as Whistle Wizard by the Indian Express in the year 1981, Andhra Nightingale by M G Ramachandran in 1982, Mukha Murali by Ganapati Sachidananda Swami and Swasa Murali by Padmabhushan Dr. C Narayana Reddy in 1997, Siva Prasad was given the Ugadi Puraskar for the year 2002 by the Chief Minister of Andhra
Pradesh.

SICA was founded in 1959 by Dewan Bahadur Aramuda Iyengar, the Finance Minister of Hyderabad's Nizam and a great patron of Carnatic music. The association has since organised more than 1,000 concerts. It has provided a basic platform for upcoming artistes like U P Raju and Nagamani, Mandolin Srinivas and the Malladi Brothers. It conducts workshops, felicitates artistes, and provides both moral and financial support to upcoming artistes. Dr S Chakravarthy, IAS, former Chief Secretary to the Govt. Of AP, is the current President of the association, and R Chakrapani is the General Secretary.

The entry to the concert is by invitations for members - members of the general public need to buy donor passes of Rs. 25 or Rs. 50 per head. Please contact R Chakrapani at 2742-5374/98491-24675 or V Ramachandran at 92461-61420 for further details.