Giving a different sight to music

Music has been the most effective means of entertainment and is a perfect way to calm oneself and it is this speciality of music that makes it so special, which we celebrate on the World Music Day. On the ocassion, visually challenged artiste, who finds the disability hardly a barrier to achieve something monumental by not only learning to play piano but also give concerts along with his band, speaks about his lover for music. For 34-year-old Anupam Kunapuli music is an instrument to conquer his own limitations in addition to spreading joy.

Tell us about your band?

I started playing by myself in the month of January. Once, I had performed with a few musicians at Phoenix Arena where I met a friend, Kartik Mohan, who is a very good base guitarist, I met him at a café called Nirvan Bistro and he was giving a solo performance and by profession he is an architect. He started playing for me and he introduced me to another friend named Ayan Chakraborty, who is a drummer and works in a company. We jam in the evening hours around 5 to 8:30. This time we will be performing at Goethe Zentrum for World Music Day.

What genres of music do you play?

We do jazz and Indian fusion, I am releasing an album next month that is called 'Tribute To God' and I will be presenting two songs from that album and those two songs have been composed by our base guitarist. We will be performing five songs.

How did you get the name 'No Boundaries'?

I was meeting many people and everyone had different styles and ideas. I also freelancing with many who are into other genres of music like hip hop. Since my music is all about inclusiveness, so the band in named as 'No Boundaries'.

What interested you into music?

I lost my sight at the age of eight. I am completely blind, the retina is damaged completely. I lived in Chennai for 24 years. I copuld not get music training as the notes were western-based and I could not read the notes. I learned by myself; but, the advantage is that I learned Indian classical in Chennai and then I moved to Hyderabad in 2013, where I did a course at Royal school and then I went to Berkeley last year where I did a three-month summer course. Before that I worked as a lobby pianist in hotels like Taj Krishna, Radisson Blu and other places.

How did you practice the notes being blind?

It is all about practice I can say, like in cricket, how there is hand eye coordination; here it is hand and ear coordination.

How many hours do you practice?

I actually do not see the time, and so it keeps going on.. (Laughs)

How does your band prepare compositions?

I will explain my band mates bar by bar and then I will structure it. hey will listen to it couple of times and then pick it up.

Any message that you would like to share on the occasion of World Music Day!

It is a nice day to celebrate. It is a nice platform to meet more musicians and get to learn many things. It is specially a platform to showcase our talent in the city.