Vizag lad’s song makes it to top 25 on ReverbNation

Visakhapatnam: The Port city is churning out remarkable young talents in all fields. When it comes to music, Vivaswan Legend from Vizag is going places. His song ‘Breathe’ is music to the ears of many on ReverbNation, an online platform for 3.8 billion musicians. As his tune is striking a chord with the scores of musical hearts, it is in top 25 charting list competing with the lakhs of songs from all around the world. Yes, it’s a moment of pride for Vizagites.

Tunesmith Vivaswan Legend’s success has opened up new vistas as many from abroad have started shooting mails and calling him, asking to collaborate with them

In a candid talk with The Hans India on Sunday, Vivaswan Legend (32), who is on cloud nine over his success, shared some moments in his 10 years of professional career journey as a composer, song writer and singer.

“Like anybody, I grew up listening to Ilayaraja, AR Rahman and others. But I’m keen to know more about sound and music,” shares Vivaswan Legend alias Sata Surya Subrahmanya Sri Harsha, who pursued Intermediate in BVK College in Vizag.

After learning basics in music from his mother and All India Radio's B grade light music singer Usha during school days, disenchanted with the studies, especially 'hate maths and love music' kind of thoughts drove him to chase a life in the rhythms of the world.

He got trained under Anuradha in light music and Viswanathan from Tamil Nadu in playing Ghatam instrument. Vivaswan tried his hands at Carnatic and Hindustani music too before his tryst with Western Classical at the age of 17. Subsequently, he started honing his musical notation skill sets for one year under the guidance of Maharshi, who was a guitarist for AR Rahman’s master piece album Roja.

“Despite getting admission into Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory Music College, no bank loans were given to me as I chose to do courses in music. So I had no choice but to give up,” recalls the artist, who has an expertise in Jazz music.

As they say passion never dies, once again in 2010 the musician secured a seat in SAE, a media institute in New York, apart from getting a scholarship. Besides, his younger brother Sai Gowtham, parents and grandfather too came to his rescue for lending financial support.
Talking about his other works, the composer and song writer shares that he has been working on Resound, a romantic song and another one titled as Change, which highlights various kinds of responsibilities in life.

“Soon after I uploaded ‘Breathe’ on Reverbnation, slowly it picked up among the artists and listeners. Now, the Jazz song is ranked 22. Unlike Pop and Rap genres, Jazz songs have a very critical and lesser audience and it takes time to catch up with them,” he explains.

His recent success opened up new vistas as many from abroad have started shooting mails and giving calls to him, asking to collaborate with them.

“Vivaswan is intending to perform in US Music Festival, for which it costs a fortune. We are on thelook out for sponsors,” informs his mother Usha and adds that her son never had a cake walk in his career to reach a stage he’s at now.

By Y Abhishek Paul