A recent Carnatic concert presented in the south-eastern city of Atlanta in the United States reflected a beautiful amalgam of cultures, faiths, diasporas and demographics. The event was organized by Emory University’s Office of Spiritual and Religious Life, and Telugu Studies at Emory. The venue, Cannon Chapel, within Emory’s…
Hemavathy, the recently released biography of Parassala Ponnammal, sheds light on the lifelong Kerala- based Carnatic musician academic who became known outside her native state for the first time only at age 82. She went on to get several prestigious awards subsequently, the capstone being the Padma Sri in 2017…
Though more women than men learn and teach music, they are heavily underrepresented in all other aspects such as composing, organising and producing. In fact, a 2017 report said that only 1.8 percent of the music programmed by major orchestras in the United States was written by women. These statistics…
The strummed tambura wafts in through arresting scenery, the sounds of birds, critters and water, as musicians perform in carefully curated natural, outdoor settings. Filmed across India, First Edition Arts’(FEA) Blue Planet series, launching today evening, hopes to highlight the connections between the living ecology of the planet and the…
In December 2019, violinist A. Kanyakumari began showcasing Thyagaraja’s Ekaika rAga kriti-s (only a single kriti in that rAgam) on the violin, releasing one every Friday on her Facebook handle (for more detail on this project and a full list of the 100 kriti-s showcased so far, with links, please…
Recently, Carnatic vocalist Sanjay Subrahmanyan began a series on his YouTube channel titled ‘On That Note’. In the around-2-minute clips, Sanjay sings a refrain from the titular ragam and shares anecdotes from his rich reminiscences. Delivered mostly in English with occasional Tamil, the videos are branded with a distinctive logo…
With time on their hands and normalcy nowhere in sight, Carnatic musicians are resorting to thought provoking, interesting and carefully curated video series’ to engage with others. This reflects a change from the first lockdown fourteen months ago which resulted in a surfeit of ad-hoc, generally poor-quality programming, in what…
This article appeared in The Hindu. Spearheaded by musician and scholar Lakshmi Sreeram, The Music Club of IIT Madras flagged off the centenary year celebrations of MS Subbulakshmi (MS) in the city, with the concert of noted violinist Nadayogi VV Subrahmanyam (VVS). As the chief guest Gopalkrishna Gandhi, former diplomat…