Bubbly, enthusiastic, cheerful – these describe multi-faceted Sumesh Seshadri Nath Narayanan to a T. As a vibrant mridangist, he has accompanied Bombay Jayashri, Abhishek Raghuram, S Sowmya, Sikkil Gurucharan and more. A key member of the fusion bands IndoSoul and Sparsh, he has also acted in the recently released movie,…
Intuition coupled with rigorous practice has made the violinist a front line performer. Her silky smooth bowing, unhesitating fluency, thorough competence and immaculate accompanying skills make Charumathi Raghuraman a sought-after violinist for leading artistes in the Carnatic firmament such as Ranjani Gayatri, Sudha Ragunathan, Vijay Siva, Gayathri Venkataraghavan, Ramakrishnan Murthy…
Renowned vocalist Abhishek Raghuram put it perfectly when he called the Chennai Music Season (referred to as just ‘the season’ by aficionados) a huge cultural extravaganza. Indeed, heritage walks, lectures, lecture demonstrations, interesting combo events (such as sarees and music) etc. abound, besides music, dance and, well, food (but that…
I rounded off my intermittent attendance of this music season with my final concert for the year, yesterday, that of Sri. Abhishek Raghuram at the Music Academy. Driving in at about 6.10 pm for the 6.45 pm concert, I approached the valets. They told me unequivocally that there was no…
Facile singing, tremendous creativity, immense appeal and a completely pliant voice are hallmarks of this precociously talented, award winning, seasoned Carnatic vocalist who just happens to be young. Ramakrishnan Murthy’s countenance, manner and speech are as traditional as his music, belying the fact that he spent the bulk of his…
Torchbearer of the DKJ/DKP bani, Vijay Siva is not one to compromise on classicism. Total conviction, clarity of thought, unstinted devotion to patantharam, wholehearted commitment to the cause of music and the courage to follow through — these make Vijay Siva stand out in the realm of Carnatic music .…
This week marks 14 years since my father passed away. He left knowing two grandchildren were on the way but without seeing them – suddenly, abruptly. With no precursive events. I felt too young when it happened. I wondered ‘why me’. Soon, though, I realized he left without suffering. And…
Ever since I returned to Madras over a decade ago, I have been strongly dissuaded from traveling on the bus saying “It is not what it used to be. It is not safe” etc. etc. However, it is important to me to have the ability to negotiate public transport to…
One of the ways I attempt to alleviate tension in my life is to identify the stressors and eliminate/reduce them consciously. While I do drive, and am confident about driving, parking can be a downright headache in Chennai. I decided a long while ago that if I am traveling to…
Sangeetha Ramprasad believes in the calming power of sahaja yoga Stress seems to dog everyone these days — from young children to the elderly. Sangeetha Ramprasad comes to their rescue, bridging the world of Carnatic music with meditation, the art of stilling/calming the mind. Sangeetha had her initial training from…