Gayathri Vasantha Shobha was born on November 9th 1959 in Madras. Her earliest musical memories are of her mother teaching veena at home. “I had no dolls. The veena was my doll,” she says. As soon as her mother’s students left, Gayathri would ensconce herself by the instrument, holding it…
My husband watches more movies than I do which is most helpful. He acts as pre-screener and sifts out all but what I will like and makes excellent recommendations. He asked me to check out Kurangu Pedal (in the Tamizh language) the other day and I just started watching it…
The last few years have seen arts management companies enter Indian classical arts – a field that has, largely, been unorganised. So, what is arts management? Simply put, it refers to treating and managing art like any other business – building up the product, managing it from inception to delivery…
Friends in Concert, a unique production featuring 13 well known Carnatic musicians, first aired digitally in 2020. A new, live production premieres on January 19th at The Music Academy. TM Krishna, the brain behind it, explains. “During the pandemic, musicians were putting out clips mostly by themselves. Music making, however,…
My Guru, Sri. O.S. Thiagarajan (OST), passed away on December 31st. When I started lessons with him, I was a young child, completely unaware of (and uninterested in) his musical skills or pedigree. The first piece he taught was Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s MahA GaNapate in NaTanArAyaNi – he was kind and…
On YouTube is a K.V. Narayanaswamy (KVN) concert, listing co-artistes M. Chandrasekaran, Umayalpuram Sivaraman and G. Harishankar. Presenting ‘vAtApi gaNapatim’ after a shloka, KVN sings a classic sangati at the 2 minute 52 second mark when, suddenly, mid-line, the kanjira comes in – for all of 9-10 aksharam-s – clear,…
The many awards Kollengode Viswanatha Narayanaswamy (KVN) received, including the Padma Sri, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar and the Sangita Kalanidhi, served only to publicly highlight the talents of an artiste who was already acknowledged in his own lifetime as a consummate Carnatic musician. KVN’s all-round expertise was packaged in…
In 1926, Bangalore Nagarathnamma was not allowed to perform at the annual tribute to Saint Thyagaraja – because she was female – despite constructing his temple at her personal expense. It was 1941 before men and women could perform together at the Thiruvaiyaru Thyagaraja Aradhana. Now the armed forces have…
With globalisation, Indian artforms are more widespread. Larger auditoriums, extensive travel and many more concerts have inspired rethinks on the construction of many traditional instruments. Restrictive luggage constraints made portability key. Long tours without access to repair technicians necessitated durability. Such practical needs coupled with a desire for a unique…
‘Shruti mata, layam pita’ – the saying goes in the Carnatic tradition of music. So crucial is the baseline pitch for Indian classical music – whether Carnatic or Hindustani, bhajans or ghazals, dance and more. Consequently, the tanpura (or tambura in Carnatic parlance) has been integral to the arts. Many…