East meets West: All of 11, Chennai girl Maya Neelakantan, took the stage of America’s Got Talent by storm with her guitar rendition
Sheetal
Eleven-year old guitarist from Chennai, Maya Neelakantan has taken the world by storm after her debut stage performance at America’s Got Talent. Maya’s rendition of Papa Roach’s Last Resort, which showcased her equal love for thrash metal and Carnatic music, was praised for its West meets East fusion. Maya shared, “I already chose the song Last Resort a couple of weeks ahead of my performance and practiced it for a week while in the US for the audition round.”
While Maya’s father introduced her to thrash metal much later, Carnatic music reached her ears through her grandmother when she was two years old. Maya had earlier performed just once in her grandmother’s ashram, where she played Carnatic music in front of 30-50 people for an hour-and-half. She was 10.
Child prodigy
She first expressed her desire to learn the guitar at the age of six after watching a music video of Metallica’s For Whom the Bell Tolls. Interestingly, it also happens to be the first song she ever learnt on guitar. “I just really loved how everybody was having so much fun. The way the band members acted and went crazy. I wished to play like these guys. The video made a big impact on me,” she added. Other than music, Maya enjoys playing Playstation with her younger brother. “Also, I am a fast reader and enjoy documentaries, especially those based on animals.”
Love for bindis
Mesmerised by her traditional avatar in AGT performance and those head-bangs, one wonders whether it was an attire for the occasion or her lifestyle indeed. “I always wear a bindi and love accessorising myself with bangles, jhumkas and necklaces. Pairing these with traditional attire is my way of representing the fusion of thrash metal and Carnatic music,” she explains.
If thrash metal leaves Maya pumped up, the other awakens the spirituality and divinity in her soul. “I think these are two opposite ends of a spectrum and as I am trying to combine them together to make a genre of my own.”
Heart’s wish
Maya had an opportunity to witness Carnatic musician Nithyasree Mahadevan perform live, but wasn’t that lucky when it came to her thrash metal favourites. She hopes to perform with them live someday. “Although I have met and jammed with all of my favourite musicians from different bands, I am sure it would be a memorable and surreal moment when I get to perform with them live on stage.”
Maya, who is enrolled in online schooling, as she shuttles between Chennai and Sydney, Australia, counts Adam Jones (Tool), Gary Holt (Exodus/Slayer), Alex Skolnick and Eric Peterson (Testament), and her guru ‘Guitar’ Prasanna as her inspirations.
Manali memories
Maya celebrated her tenth birthday in Manali and the trip is forever etched in her mind. For, one she got a call from America’s Got Talent while she was enjoying a family vacation in the lap of Himalayas, and, secondly, she had fun trying adventure sports like para-gliding and river-rafting.
