His calm and composed countenance belies the vidvat within. RK Shriramkumar’s is profound all-round musicality, signifying an amalgam of intellect, knowledge, creativity and bhAvam (the conveying of emotion) combined with dedication and deference to the artform itself. He is a solo violinist, accompanying violinist, respected vAgayEkkAra (a lyricist who also…
Though popularly known as a Carnatic violinist, Sri. RK Shriramkumar is trained in vocal music too and is Guru to several leading Carnatic performers and aspiring performers, and mentor to even more. In this podcast, he expresses his belief about the power of faith to tide us through these unprecedented…
A sparkling, confident on-stage persona and an approachable, cheerful demeanour characterise this lady, known for weighty classicism in vocal Carnatic music. A faculty member at The Music Academy’s Advanced School of Carnatic Music, there is a lot more to Dr. G Baby Sreeram than meets the eye. Augmented only periodically…
“Her music is full of gnanam and sukha-bhavam. The high level of technical competency in her singing is most aesthetically presented,” says Bombay Jayashri. Doyen vocalist, and sought-after expert and teacher, Suguna Varadachari states, “Regardless of the ragam or the kalapramanam, she sings beautifully. It is only when songs are…
This year’s Sangita Kalanidhi designate, Dr. S. Sowmya, is a musician’s musician – at 50, the second youngest female recipient evokes the epithets ‘scholarly’, ‘erudite’, ‘cerebral’ etc. among fellow artistes, old or young. Given her long list of award winning academic and musical accomplishments, it is no wonder that many…
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…
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…
This article appeared in The Hindu. Spearheaded by musician and scholar Lakshmi Sreeram, The Music Club of IIT Madras flagged off the centenary year celebrations of MS Subbulakshmi (MS) in the city, with the concert of noted violinist Nadayogi VV Subrahmanyam (VVS). As the chief guest Gopalkrishna Gandhi, former diplomat…
This is the fourth and concluding part of an article on Sanjay Subrahmanyan that appeared in The Hindu. Parts 1, 2 and 3 are here. Sanjay Subrahmanyan talks about teaching, his foray into the virtual world and more. Sanjay Subrahmanyan has been singing on stage now for almost 30 years…