Chitravina N. Ravikiran   In December 1969, at the annual festival of the esteemed Music Academy in Madras, India, the scene was set for a truly sensational occurrence. A two and a half-year-old boy by the name of Ravikiran was seated on the stage in front of the respected Experts Committee of the Academy. The young boy stunned his highly knowledgeable audience by identifying over 325 ragas (melodic scales) and 175 talas (rhythms)! When he also answered several complex and technical questions about Carnatic music, young Ravikiran made headlines all over the world. The experts stared at a rare prodigy, glowing, “with mikes all around him and his hands full of biscuits, all the time playing, the child gave out correct answers.” Faced with such preternatural precocity, the famous sitarist, Pandit Ravi Shankar summed things up by saying, “if you don’t believe in God, just look at Ravikiran.” Today, Ravikiran is easily among the busiest artists in the world. As a soloist, he boasts pride of place in the Autumn Festival of France, Rang Raag Festival in U.K., International Music Festival of Radio France, World Circuit Arts Festival in London, Bournemouth International Festival in U.K., Brisbane International Festival in Australia, and the Harbourfront Festival in Toronto. Ravikiran’s innovations and creations in fusion works, presented with leading world artists, have won him high credit. He collaborated with blues great, Taj Mahal on the best-selling CD, “Mumtaz Mahal.” Ravikiran continued his forays into crossover/fusion, with an October 2000 collaboration with members of the world renowned BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in Global Echoes, presented with the Millennium Grants Commission of UK. Global Echoes was selected as the Best (along with 4 others) in the Millennium Festival in UK, from nearly 2000 events from various parts of the world.   Web design by JIVI solutions. Art work (c) Leelavati Bagavant.