The Endangered Tambura Artiste

R. Lakshminarayanan, R. Vaidhyanathan, Latha Venkataraman and Kalyani Viswanathan have been on the most prominent of Carnatic concert stages for 15-50 years. Yet, most readers would not know who they are. They are tambura players – unknown, unnoticed and mostly uncredited. Vocalist Nisha Rajagopalan cannot imagine performing on stage without…

UAA and Y. Gee. Mahendra

In 1952, Y.G. Parthasarathy (YGP) and N. Padmanabhan founded United Amateur Artistes (UAA), branching off from Suguna Vilasa Sabha. Y. Gee. Mahendra, son of YGP, says, “It was chaste, literary Tamil in theatres then. To reach the common man, they wanted to create plays in normal spoken Tamil, with an…

Margazhi – A Play by Theatre Nisha

Theatre Nisha’s play Margazhi is a candid portrayal of the people and situations a Bharatanatyam artiste encounters Theatre Nisha’s online play, Margazhi, portrays chapters from a dancer’s journey through learning, recognition, stage performances, compliments and criticism, struggles and compromise. Though the protagonist is a Bharatanatyam artiste, Margazhi could be the story of any…

Sikkil R. Bhaskaran

Veteran violinist Sikkil R. Bhaskaran passed away on 20 July 2021. Dedicated exclusively to accompaniment, the artists he shared the stage with straddle generations and read like a who’s who of Carnatic music—from Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, K.B. Sundarambal and M.M. Dandapani Desigar to Sikkil Mala Chandrasekhar, N. Vijay Siva and…

V. Sai Subramaniam

V. Sai Subramaniam who (along with vocalist Palghat Dr. R. Ramprasad) is the recipient of this year’s Kalki Krishnamurthy Award, is the first morsing exponent to receive the prestigious honour in the over 25 years since its inception. According to ghatam exponent G. Chandrasekara Sharma, Sai is, in fact, the…

Abby V

A smiling young man opens the door to a beautiful house and sings 10-12 second snippets of 73 Indian classical rAga-s in quick succession when prompted, effortlessly and instantaneously, whilst casually walking around the home. The camera follows him around, shooting without any cuts, for the entire ~14 minutes. Abby…