Traditions: Ohio Heritage Fellows; 202; Vidita Kanniks interview, part 1 of 2

Q: Say and spell your name

VIDITA: My name is Vidita V-i-d-i-t-a and my last name Kanniks, K-a-n-n-i-k-s.

Q: Tell me about the music you perform.

VIDITA: Umm, well I’ve been learning Indian classical music from my dad for as long as I can remember and that was my first, umm, form of actual music study, I guess. And, umm, my umm, experiences with western music started probably when if was 6 or 7 I started piano lessons and I’ve been doing piano every since then. And, I also started playing the western violin when I was 12 years old and I still continue to play that, I’m in my school orchestra and western singing also came up somewhere when I was maybe 8, 9 10ish. Umm, at school we always, you know, sang songs in music class and I learned the Star Spangled Banner and whenever we would have Indian, umm, cultural program and such for holidays they would want to sing the American National Anthem and the Indian. And, I would always volunteer to sing the American National Anthem and umm, kind of got involved in singing that way and, uh, us joining the Cincinnati Children’s Choir, umm when I was in 4th grade and I loved that, I learned so much. And, really, umm, started to develop my western and Indian, umm, singing experiences and, umm, recently...