A young man who is well versed both in carnatic and Hindustani music, who plays flute and shehnai with equal ease, is making waves at present in the world of music.

Visweswaran, a flutist who played for G Ramanathan, the popular Music Director of yester years, is this young man's father from whom he has acquired this musical talents.

Venkatraman alias Shyamali Venkat as he is fondly known, is the young man who mesmerizes the listeners with his rendition in Flute and shehnai.

"My first guru was my father... I learnt to play on the Flute only from him... There was seldom a Tamil film in those days, in which his flute couldn't be heard....." says Shyamali when he reminisces about his father.

His interest in music was innate and so he decided to learn to play on the Flute. Arduous training and effort have brought him up to this level.

Apart from his father, he learnt from Raghu and Ravi who are known as the 'Chennai Brothers'. He has played as an accompanist for many eminent vidhwans on the stage.

Shyamali has played on the Flute in the 'Mahaperiyava' troupe of Vikku Vinayakaram, the popular Ghatam artiste. He joined the six-year certificate course in 'Venu Gana Vidyalaya' run by the Chennai Brothers and passed out successfully. Raghu is working as a professor (Flute) in Tamil Nadu Music College.

While    talking    about    his   speciality ,  Shyamali  says  that  he  played  'base  flute' continuously  for  two  hours , which is an achievement on its own. He says that one plays on base  flute  only  at  the  end  of  a  concert  and  that  too  one   or   two   songs   at   the   most.  

When he heard Ashok Kumar playing on his shehnai in radio and television, he was enthralled and decided to learn shehnai and became Ashok Kumar's student.

He plays on both the instruments with equal expertise and says that there are plenty of differences between both the instruments. Many albums have been produced and released on his performance with the flute and shehnai in them.

He joined Kalaimamani Usha Parameshwaran and her 'Natya Arunanjali' troupe in 1984 and till 1987 he was with them conducting Indo-German cultural programmes. He has also successfully given flute concerts abroad, especially in Singapore and Germany.

In 1987, once heard his flute concerts continuously in Taj Hotel, Chennai. He also participated in many musical programmes in AIR and Television channels.

His most memorable  and  unforgettable  concert was in  Bharat   Kalachar  in Dec. 2000, in the presence of  the CLASSICAL MUSIC JAAMBAVAN "SHRI. CHEMANGUDI SRINIVASA IYER",  (Pranavanadham Music  Group) ,    where   at  the    beginning  of  the  function,  he  played  on   base  flute  and   shehnai  which  drew applause and immense appreciation from the audience.

He  feels that   while  playing  on  base flute,   the  audience go in to raptures,  which give  them  -  the artistes  real  satisfaction.   Their appreciation  and   applause  gives  them  the  recognition  in  their respective fields, he affirms

He wants  to  achieve  a  lot  in  his  field  and   his  future  plan  and   wish  is  to introduce  new dimensions in carnatic music by combining the flute and the shehnai.

According to him this art is growing and will continue to grow in future without any doubt.

When one sees Shyamali playing on his flute and shehnai, one is certain to feel that when it comes to good music, there is no division between the north and the south. True indeed!