Known for nuanced and sensitive accompaniment, veteran mridangist and academic Sangita Kalanidhi Trichy Sankaran has played for Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, Musiri Subramania Iyer, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar, Ramnad Krishnan, Madurai Mani Iyer, G.N. Balasubramaniam, M.D. Ramanathan, K.V. Narayanaswamy, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Flute Mali and many others across generations. “I jokingly say…
Senior mridangist J. Vaidhyanathan believes his commitment to accompaniment begins right from arriving well on time for the concert. “A concert is like a yagna, a lot of effort—we should not cause any consternation to either the organiser or the artists—rather, we should ensure that we do whatever we can…
Praveen Sparsh’s recent passion project, Unreserved, puts the mridangam in settings outside its traditional confines, and marries it with sounds he painstakingly recorded over the years on treks, at traffic signals, airports, rail and bus stations. To hear music, or the potential for music, in noise – or what the…
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…
50 uniformed children, ages 5-10, happily clap their hands and recite konakkol phrases to a refrain of simple instrumental music from a cell phone. Just some twenty minutes earlier, their master of ceremonies had gently introduced the word ‘rhythm’ and got the children to chip in, conveying the message that…
In this episode of Quarantunes, we hear from young mridangist and percussionist Sri. Sumesh Narayanan. He is known for his vibrant accompaniment in Carnatic concerts where he plays for leading artistes. This podcast is part of the Quarantunes series, featuring Indian Classical Musicians, recorded during the worldwide shutdown resulting…
“The question of getting bored cannot arise for a musician, in my opinion.” – K Arun Prakash Sri. K Arun Prakash, senior mridangist, tunesmith and composer, says that musicians can keep any available time completely occupied – there is a plethora of aspects that one can practice, in countless ways,…
“The minuteness of whatever it is that I do is reinforced. And I like that.” -Anantha R. Krishnan The grandson and disciple of Sangita Kalanidhi Palghat Sri. R. Raghu, Sri. Anantha R. Krishnan began performing at age 7, and has won several awards for his mridangam skills. Don’t miss the…