Carnatic music brings Indian-origin brothers from Boston to Bengaluru

 

Their parents left India and settled in Boston in 1990 for better career opportunities, but the love for Carnatic music brought Tajes and Pranav back to Bengaluru. 

 

Although Tejas, 20 and Pranav  18 were born and raised in Boston, USA, they moved to Bengaluru as it is the hub for Carnatic music. Both are violinists.

 

The brothers currently are studying engineering at Pesit College. The duo for the last seven years have been living in Bengaluru, but they are most famously referred to as the Boston Brothers. 

 

"To learn and become apt at playing the violin, we came all the way from Boston to Bengaluru in 2009. To learn it especially from  Indian musicians as they are very talented," Pranav told Asianet Newsable.     

 

The aspiring Carnatic musicians have been at it for the past ten years, and they say they have made some tough decisions to pursue their passion. The two brothers along with their mother Suma Manjunath moved to India, while their father, Manjunath Rama Rao, who is a pharmaceutical scientist in Boston stayed back in Boston.

 

"We realised that our children were music enthusiast and hence we first took them to guru Vidhushi Tara Anand in Boston in 2006. And to make them better my husband and I decided to bring them back to Bengaluru, " Suma Manjunath said.

 

"To ensure the children also get better academic career, they were put in engineering college close by,"  he added.

 

She also added that her husband comes home monthly once to meet the family.  

 

Pranav and Tejas who have a created a niche for themselves over the years have performed in more than 100 music concerts.

While Tejas likes Keeravani raga the most, Pranav likes Dwijavanti and Kalyani ragas. 

Pranav says that they will continue to play violin in various music concerts even after taking up engineering as their profession. 

 

When asked if anyone in the family is also used to play any musical instruments, Tejas says "It is only  our interest that we have come forward to learn and play it." 

Brothers are inspired by musicians like L Subramaniam,   M Balamurali Krishna, Mysuru Manjunath and Nagraj.