Last December, violinist Sangita Kalanidhi A. Kanyakumari began a thematic series to showcase Thyagaraja’s Ekaika rAgam-s – those in which only one kriti is thought to exist. She began on Friday, December 13th, 2019 with E dAri sancarintura in the rAgam Srutiranjani. She had envisioned it purely as a three-week…
After having performed concerts for many years, the 24-year-old student approached the new Guru. “You should not touch the mridangam for five years. I have to teach you new fingering.” G. Guru Prasanna, whose musical trajectory has seen him play multiple instruments initially, before settling on the kanjira, says, “I…
Most know Anantha R. Krishnan (Anantharaman Krishnan) as a skilled mridangist and the grandson of Sangita Kalanidhi Palghat R. Raghu. However, the Ivy League educated Anantha cannot be encapsulated in a single sentence. He is an artiste who looks at art itself with broad horizons – well beyond the mridangam…
Giridhar Udupa literally grew up surrounded by percussion as his father Ullur Nagendra Udupa was a mridangist who taught extensively. At age 4, he started learning mridangam and learned that exclusively until the age of 9. Then, at a concert organized by his father, Giridhar was roped in to play…
This artiste was extremely clear that music was what he wanted to pursue and would have discontinued his studies after 12th Grade, had his Guru not persuaded him to complete his degree. “I had stubbornly refused to listen to my parents,” says L. Ramakrishnan who can be seen accompanying practically…
Smt. Vishakha Hari, noted Harikatha exponent, concludes this podcast by bringing in a philosophical perspective. She talks of a ‘jvarA’ (fever) mentioned in Srimad Bhagavatam, and other anecdotes from the scriptures, to make sense of the malady we are currently amidst. She suggests programs resume in green zones, with adequate…
Smt. Vidya Subramanian, rasika, entrepreneur and vocalist, gets into listeners and musicians, supply and demand, income streams and more, in this candid conversation. She says listeners and musicians fall in two broad categories and that, for the vast majority of listeners, physical concerts will take a back seat, for now,…
Sri. A.S. Ramakrishnan says listeners are eagerly awaiting resumption of concerts and that he is ready to begin conducting them. He discusses the modus operandi he would follow and also a different idea, should rules for gathering be very restrictive. This video is part of the Melodies during Maladies podcast.…
Smt. S. Mahathi categorically states that online concerts can never be a substitute for physical ones, making her point with a simple analogy and discussing the elephant in the room – artistes’ compensation. She thinks it is too early to get back to live performances, however, much as she would…
“I feel this culture of the sabha-s themselves giving ‘All are welcome’ concerts should be gradually phased out.” Providing a listener’s perspective, Sri. Ramanathan Iyer says if all stakeholders do their respective parts, he would be eager to attend physical concerts now. As a curator of artistic events, in addition…