Hyderabad-based jazz pianist and composer, Anupam Kunapuli, has been playing piano for over a decade, while overcoming many challenges including blindness. He is greatly inspired by jazz legends Thelonious Monk and the genius of visually-impaired pianist Ray Charles. Kunapuli has released two albums that consists of a blend of jazz with Indian classical sounds. Kunapuli who plays the keyboard and piano, is one of the many performers at the Mumbai Piano Day on September 28 at the Tata Theatre, NCPA. He hopes to capture the audience’s attention with his playing, not his blindness.
In an email interview, the 39-year-old shares his story about vision loss and musical journey.
Excerpts from the interview:
What have you planned for your set at Mumbai Piano Day?
I am going to play four solo pieces.
We understand you began learning the keyboard at the age of eight and later lost your eyesight?
I was born with a rare congenital condition called Hirschsprung’s disease which affects the large intestines. I had many operations during my childhood and later at the age of eight, I started losing my peripheral vision and becoming partially sighted with about 60 percent vision. The doctors said that I was suffering from Retinitis Pigmentosa, a degenerative congenital condition. By the age of 12, I lost my vision completely. At the age of eight to cheer me up and to keep me occupied, my parents introduced me to music and bought a five octave keyboard for me. For a short while, a tutor used to come home and teach me some basics. Once he left, I used to fiddle around with it all by myself.
I wanted to learn to play the keyboard and piano. But for almost 10 years or more we struggled to find a tutor. From 1996 to 2009, I did not have any teacher. The problem was that western music is mostly notation based and since I was blind, many tutors candidly told us they did not know how to teach a blind person. My mother did some research and got some western notation books in braille from London. That’s how I got to learn braille and western notation in braille.
So did a tutor finally come to teach you?
In 2009, I found a tutor, Edwin Williams, who taught me all the basics for two years. During this time I met an elderly gentleman Mr. Harish. He was good with notation. He used to come home and read out notations of jazz standards. I used to type them in braille. This way, with his help, I had written several jazz standards. But I did not have any idea of jazz basics, cycles or anything. It took some more time to learn them. During all these years, I was learning carnatic vocal music. This has really helped me understand ragas and use them in my compositions later on.
Did you move to taking any exams from Trinity college of London?
So after learning the jazz basics, I did Grade III of Trinity College of Music and in 2013-14, we moved from Chennai to Hyderabad. Here, in 2014, I did Grade IV of ABRSM (an examination board and registered charity based in the United Kingdom) under training of the late Joseph Thomas. After that, I learnt jazz from a gospel jazz pianist Chanti Soloman. He is from MI Hollywood Institute. He was a stern but loving teacher, and also a good friend. One day in early 2018, I came to know while browsing the internet that Berklee College of Music, Boston was offering a 3 month summer course. Normally, they select students by live auditioning in cities like Bengaluru and Delhi. But in my case they asked me to send YouTube links of my works and selected me for admission to the course. I went to Boston and completed the course in May-August 2018. In November 2023, I passed ABRSM Grade 5 in Jazz taking the exam in NCPA.
You had a band called The Anupam Kunapuli Trio with Suparna Vontair and later a band named No Boundaries.
I used to have a band called The Anupam Kunapuli Trio but the members happened to move to other cities and our band disbanded. No Boundaries is still on and I am looking for good band mates.
How do you converse to your bandmates on the music you are playing and what is your style?
After selecting a song, I discuss the sequence, as to who will play the lead and discuss and fix certain bars to improvise for each of us. I tell the drummer to give a small roll or a turnaround on which others can come in. This is what I learnt in Berklee, “listening and giving space”, communicating with other musicians without eye contact or notation.
What are your earliest memories of playing the keyboard?
My mother often tells me that once I made a tune that was good and named it Pyramids. It seems it was in Keeravani raga. At that time, I was nine years old and did not really know much music or much about composing.
You blend jazz with Indian classical sounds, what is the process like?
When I take a certain raga, I will see what the notes in that raga are matching with western music. Then I compose a tune and match with corresponding chords.
Have you ever felt that your blindness gives you an advantage over other pianists?
No, certainly not. You see, the world is a competitive place. You need to compete and work hard to move forward and realize your dreams. I do not think my blindness gives any advantage to me over other pianists.
Who are your musical inspirations and what music do you usually listen to?
Well, my first inspiration was Ray Charles, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis and Adele. They are my western heroes. My inspirations for Indian music are Mandolin Srinivas, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, T M Krishna, Kanya Kumar garu and of course A R Rehman. I listen to Jazz, Carnatic, Soft Rock, R&B, western fusion like Enigma, Deep Forest.
Has cupid struck you?
Oh no, not yet. Cupid should hit some nice girl to fall for me.
What advice would you give children or someone with a similar handicap?
To children, yes, if they have a passion for music, then they should get a good teacher and learn properly and have patience. To someone with a similar handicap, I’d say, follow your heart, do not fear. With so much assistive technology around nowadays you can pursue nearly anything you want.
What are your future plans and do you have plans to collaborate with any musicians?
I would like to form a band and participate in national and international music festivals. I would also like to collaborate with legends like Zakir Hussain and musicians in the US and Europe. And of course it is a long time dream to meet and work with A R Rahman.
