In 1974, he had to jump over a wall to listen to MS Subbulakshmi in his native Ernakulam. Barely ten years later, he was her regular mridangist. For almost five decades now, Krishnan Visweswara Prasad, this year’s Sangeetha Choodamani awardee from Krishna Gana Sabha, has been a steady and dignified…
What challenges do physically impaired Carnatic performers face? Four musicians shared their thoughts. Doyen violinist Sangita Kalanidhi M. Chandrasekaran, blind from age 2, has travelled the world over and performed alongside the most revered Carnatic musicians. “My mother and Guru, Charubala Mohan, insisted I was no different from others.” Charubala…
Amrutha Venkatesh’s creative and out-of-the-box presentations are piquing audiences’ attention everywhere she sings. Extensive research underpins her innovative pallavis in uniquely structured tALams. A polyglot who knows the meaning of every song she performs, this Carnatic vocalist uses no visual aids in presenting an enviable repertoire that includes numerous lesser-known…
Mridangist, vocalist, violinist, trained in Hindustani, PhD in music and Guru to many, 92-year-young Dr. T.V. Gopalakrishnan (TVG) is an incredibly versatile musician and talking to him was a walk through over 75 years of music. At age 9, TVG played second mridangam for Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar (Chembai) at a…
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…
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…