Meet Guitar Prasanna, a musician extraordinaire. On September 20, at 5.30pm, his guitar will play the sublime strains of the revered Carnatic trinity Tyagaraja, Dikshitar and Shyama Shastri.  Two hours later, at 7.30pm, the same strings will slip into the lilting moods of three other masters who embody Indian film music — Ilaiyaraaja, RD Burman, and AR Rahman. Two concerts. Two genres. Multiple moods. And at the heart of it is one man and his guitar.

Prasanna is no stranger to Dubai. His earlier concerts here left audiences mesmerised. This time, he says, it is special because this is his first Carnatic concert in the city. He believes that the unique spirit audiences in Dubai has will make this double concert memorable, both for him and them. Dubai, with its mosaic of cultures and tastes, is the perfect stage for this rare double act, he says. It’s a space where the classical and the popular, the East and the West, can meet without borders. The Dubai concerts come under a series of events that he has been doing all over the world titled, “One Man, One Guitar, Many Worlds."

Prasanna has long been a bridge between tradition and new audiences, and this dispels any doubts that might arise about Carnatic being unfamiliar territory to many audiences in Dubai. The fact that the audience here is curious, diverse, and open to crossing genres makes his music easily acceptable to all.

“I’ve performed in places like Alaska, Hawaii, Slovenia, Ghana — countries where people had never even heard a Carnatic concert, let alone a Carnatic guitar performance,” he says. These experiences, he explains, have taught him how to make classical music inviting and engaging, ensuring that listeners from all walks of life can experience its beauty and nuance.  

The guitar came into Prasanna’s life early, as a four-year-old boy in Chennai, India. There were no musicians in the family, no formal tradition. There was just a neighbour who played in the church and little Prasanna would watch, wide-eyed, as chords floated into the air. From that fascination grew a resolve that it was the instrument that he would own and play one day. He didn’t know then what kind of music he would play. He only knew the sound had captured him. 

After his initial dalliances with traditional western styles, he changed tack to Carnatic, making him a forerunner in a field where the veena, violin and other traditional Carnatic instruments took centre stage at concerts. As he progressed with his pathbreaking pursuits, he realised that the guitar was capable of a lot more than what he practised.  It carried worlds within its six strings — flamenco, hard rock, heavy metal, reggae, blues, classical. However, he wasn’t content with limiting himself to the style that he had pioneered, and felt a compelling urge to master all that the six strings of the guitar could represent. It was a challenge he set for himself.  

Guitar Prasanna with AR Rahman

“I wanted the guitar to be complete,” he says. “Not confined. Not limited. I wanted it to be a vehicle for every expression I could imagine.” And thus he set out on a voyage to discover newer pastures where his guitar could graze, be nourished and thus become his unique musical identity.  

Restless curiosity became the engine of his journey. “Maybe the piano is versatile,” he admits, “but no instrument has the breadth of the guitar. Chord picking in Western music. Oscillations in Carnatic. Each style has its own logic, its own voice. To straddle them is rare. To fuse them flawlessly is rarer still.” 

He learned this by sparing no effort. He steered through the entire gamut — first in India by training in Carnatic, then at Berklee College of Music, where he spent two years of pure jazz, steeped in phrasing, harmony, improvisation, then switching to Western classical. He didn’t do it to tick checklists or to establish himself as a pioneer, but to dive deep into of the ocean of music, which according to him is liberating with its limitlessness. With every genre, he found a new world to explore, a means to satiate his curiosity, hunger, amazement. And in exploring them, he found his true voice that now resonates across the world as pure magic. 

For Prasanna, the instrument is more than wood and strings. It is a storyteller. A medium capable of weaving centuries-old ragas and contemporary melodies into a single, compelling narrative with its scope for wide imageries.   

If one figure crystallised this approach of bringing together different orders of music to create a voice of his own, it was Ilaiyaraaja. From the maestro, he learned that influences need not compete. They can coexist, intertwine, and emerge as something entirely personal. “Every tradition, every sound, can find a place,” he says. “If only you have the courage to let it.” 

It’s this lesson he carries into workshops across North America and Europe, where audiences who may never have heard Ilaiyaraaja are drawn into his world. Sharing, for him, is as vital as performing. The more doors music opens, the richer the journey becomes. 

Guitar Prasanna with Ilaiyaraaja

Prasanna has crossed continents and genres, collaborating with AR Rahman, Ilaiyaraaja, Victor Wooten, Vijay Iyer, and countless others. He composed the score for the Academy Award-winning documentary Smile Pinki and founded the Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music to nurture the next generation. 

Perhaps, what brings him the greatest joy is mentoring young musicians. In 2024, Maya Neelakantan, his student, stunned America’s Got Talent judges. It’s a triumph he shares with quiet pride. His students carry not just skill but a philosophy: be open, explore freely, and never be confined. He proudly takes the names of his numerus students — including that of Neil Nayyar who plays117 instruments — who have “taken his musical approach and extend it to their own musicality and create wonderful music”. 

On September 20, Dubai will experience that philosophy in two sharply contrasting performances. The first, Endaromahanubhavulu, would immerse listeners in the Carnatic expression interpreted with freshness and fidelity on the guitar. The second, Yeh Shaam Mastani, will infuse the audience with nostalgic melodies reimagined and made new. What’s more, there will also be interesting segments of audience sing-alongs which will make it a truly interactive experience between Prasanna and the fans.  

On the surface, the concerts could not be more different.  One devotional, the other playful. But in Prasanna’s hands, they are both facets of the same truth: music is a universal language. He says that regardless of where he plays, he connects with the audience. It’s about showing how music can speak to everyone, anywhere, anytime. 

In an era where labels confine artists and genres, Prasanna shakes them off. The guitar is not rock, not jazz, not Carnatic — it is all of them, and more. His message is simple yet profound: keep your ears, mind, and heart open. Absorb everything the world has to offer. Shake off limitation. Step out of your small shell.  

And for those who approach music as an ocean that cannot be fathomed he says, “Let not the vastness intimidate you. Instead let it set you free to swim wherever you want to.” Dubai will hear that message soon enough when the six strings in Prasanna’s guitar will disburse pure magic that will echo through time and tradition.