Priya Purushothaman – Podcast
“I struggle between feeling that music and art is a pretty lofty luxury at a time like this, but at the same time it also feels like it is the one thing that can remind and connect us with our humanity.”
– Priya Purushothaman
In this episode, we hear from Smt. Priya Purushothaman, part of the new vanguard of diverse Hindustani vocalists and music educators. She is a disciple of Vidushi Aditi Kaikini Upadhya and Pandit Sudhindra Bhaumik, and has received specialized training from the late Agra gharana stalwart Pandit Dinkar Kaikini and Smt. Shashikala Kaikini.
Smt. Priya takes us articulately through her journey, from growing up in a South Indian family in New York state, learning Carnatic vocal and Western violin and graduating from Columbia University, to moving to India and taking up Hindustani vocal, at age 22, for the first time. She sings rAg-s tilak kAmod and sohini for us, exclusively for this podcast.
This podcast is part of the Quarantunes series, featuring Indian Classical Musicians, recorded during the worldwide shutdown resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Released one by one, the full series is at https://lakshmianand.com
Smt. Priya has performed around India and abroad in noteworthy venues including the Barbican Centre, London; Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert Series, New York; National Centre for Performing Arts, Mumbai; and Kalakshetra, Chennai, among others. She teaches a select group of students, conducts lecture-demonstrations and workshops at institutions in India and abroad, and publishes writing on music and art. She has documented her extensive interactions with Pandit Kaikini in her book, ‘Living Music: Conversations with Pandit Dinkar Kaikini,’ published by Popular Prakashan. In 2019, she was an artist-in-residence for the Bagh Sound Lab, during which she researched the compositional aesthetics of Pandit SN Ratanjankar.
On hearing from Priya Purushothaman, the question arises within me, why the doors are shut for Hindustani music, in the Southern parts of India. As one learns French, German, Hindustani music can also be learned. Priya also teaches on Skype. If iam correct, this is the first podcast in the series from a Hindustani musician. The story of a young musician, born and bought up in NewJersey, US, after learning Carnatic music showing the profound love for Hindustani travelling to India on summer holidays, gets the help from Uncle to learn from popular Hindustani vocalists..and today Priya is a versatile Hindustani musician. She is also trained in violin, and learnt western classical music adds more qualifications to her name. In this podcast she spoke about her Gurus like Adhithi kaikiniji , Mr.Bowmick. She talks about the flexibility provided by Hindustani music, and the speciality of raags, the improvisations and so on. She has also mentioned how she chose to be alone for 21 days, cut from others, only thinking about music in heart, moved only for preparing food. She has also talked about the pandemic at length, its impact on people and Country, never liked to be in this situation for whatever reasons, even for an invisible enemy. Like other musicians she is also practicing yoga, eats nutri foods, and keeping herself healthy. Rightly she found happiness, in her house roof top, enjoying the waves of the sea and sounds. The bandish on raag… gave us fulfillment, a feeling of satisfaction, as ears are kept open, even during the lock down. We understand whether it is carnatic or Hindustani, the composers invoke God through Nature. Her singing the few lines of the last song , taken us deep into the forest to the screeching of birds. Sincerely thank Mrs.Lakshmi Anand for introducing the viewers to new musicians and to more varieties of the art form.
Thank you, Sir. There were two other Hindustani musicians featured earlier. Kindly search for Anupama Bhagwat and Arijit Mahalanabis. There are a few more coming up.