With globalisation, Indian artforms are more widespread. Larger auditoriums, extensive travel and many more concerts have inspired rethinks on the construction of many traditional instruments. Restrictive luggage constraints made portability key. Long tours without access to repair technicians necessitated durability. Such practical needs coupled with a desire for a unique…
‘Shruti mata, layam pita’ – the saying goes in the Carnatic tradition of music. So crucial is the baseline pitch for Indian classical music – whether Carnatic or Hindustani, bhajans or ghazals, dance and more. Consequently, the tanpura (or tambura in Carnatic parlance) has been integral to the arts. Many…
“We get criticised for trying to break conventions,” says Hardial Rai, the founder of ZerOculture, a UK based organisation. “We do that to adapt to new audiences, new aesthetics and new sensibilities,” The website of ZerOclassikal, ZerOculture’s musical arm, terms it an initiative to ‘offer a radical approach to south…
Anyone with even a little interest in Indian Classical Music has probably come across an Indian Raga Labs video or two. Ranging from 2-3 minutes to a maximum of 9-10, these are excellent studio recorded music and dance productions. Indian Raga Labs was the idea Sriram Emani wrote up as…
Classical music the world over has always been a niche field. Indian Classical Music, thanks to the geographical stamp, has an even smaller following. Many construe it as rather exclusive and inaccessible to the layperson with its staid and prim and proper image and a perception of rigid rules for…
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…
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…
A comprehensive and detailed interview with dhrupadiya and rudra veena exponent Sri. Mohi Baha’ud-din Dagar where he candidly debunks myths, shares personal and family struggles, explains and demonstrates the rigorous, often ‘mystical’ training techniques of the Dagarvani and much more. He also recorded two pieces of music exclusively to accompany…
For Dr. N. Rajam, who just added the Maharashtra government’s Pt. Bhimsen Joshi Lifetime Achievement Award to her already full kitty of honours (including the Padma Bhushan, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, and the Padma Sri), the many challenges she faced in the music world are no different from how…
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…