For all this, he just turned a teenager. His name is Lydian Nadhaswaram.
The 13-year-old is a versatile and a unique child prodigy from the Indian city of Chennai who first demonstrated his talent by playing the drums at the age of two. His father, Varshan Satish, a music composer himself, recognised the talent early and decided to give his son every opportunity for him to excel in music.
Apart from his father and his elder sister, Lydian gets his training at K.M Music Conservatory in his home city, the music school run by Oscar winning musician Dr A. R. Rahman.
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Australian connection
Varshan Satish is familiar to Australia’s Tamil community. From 2006 for over a decade he worked with amateur musicians in Melbourne, training and guiding young talent. Lydian delighted audiences in Melbourne audience in 2010, when he was barely four, with his masterful percussion skills.
‘The World's Best’ is a reality talent competition television series featuring international performers evaluated by three judges - Drew Barrymore, RuPaul, Faith Hill, and an international panel of 50 experts in various fields of entertainment. It premiered on American television, CBS, in February this year with 28 competitors.
After three weeks of auditions, and another three weeks of knockout rounds, 12 competitors were chosen for the Champion Rounds.
Lydian’s journey to the Final Round was not without sceptics casting doubt on his talent. He had played Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Flight of the Bumblebee at three tempos - the third twice as fast as the piece is usually played.
Lydian Nadhaswaram in Australia at an age of 4 Source: Mani Ananthan
In an interview with SBS Tamil Lydian said: “Although I can play at 350 beats per minute, I had to reduce it to 325 beats per minute because the keys sometimes will not get back in position in time and I didn’t want to take any chances.”
On his second appearance in the competition, he played an excerpt from Chopin’s Fantaisie Impromptu, but his appearance will probably be most remembered for his blindfolded rendition of Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca (Turkish March). Lydian got the show’s host, James Corden, to wear the blindfold and vouch to the audience that he could not see through it.
Lydian, who says he does not watch TV or go to movies much, learned in less than a day to play the theme from Steven Spielberg’s movie ‘E.T’. Touched by Lydian’s performance, Drew Barrymore, who starred in the film, went on stage to give Lydian a hug and was further surprised when the host, James Corden, informed her that Lydian had listened to the theme only once the previous day and had memorised it enough to perform the next day.
Lydian Nadhaswaram with the World Best Title, Host, Judges and his father Source: CBS
Lydian practices playing the piano four to five hours a day. He also plays the guitar, drums, and Indian percussion instrument Tabla. To accommodate all this, he gets homeschooling.
He told SBS Tamil that he does not have many friends because he does not attend regular school.
“But,” he said, “of late I have been making many friends from all over the world. Though I was competing for The World's Best with other young talents like TNT Brothers, I have made friends with most of the other competitors.”
Lydian Nadhaswaram Source: Facebook
Lydian Nadhaswaram’s name itself means music. Of the seven modes of Western Music (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrain) Lydian is the fourth. Nadhaswaram is a traditional Tamil wind instrument that is still played at Temples (even in Australia).
Lydian has completed his Grade V piano with distinction from Trinity College of Music in London.
But his music is not done.
“I want to take my piano to the moon and perform there,” he said.
And it’s not just a dream; he says he is preparing for a meeting with Elon Musk who is working on his SpaceX Program to send artists to the moon.
SBS Tamil interview with Lydian Nadhaswaram (and his family), in Tamil:
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World Fastest Piano player
SBS Tamil interview with Lydian Nadhaswaram and his father, in Tamil, after him winning the title:
