My Guru, Sri. O.S. Thiagarajan (OST), passed away on December 31st. When I started lessons with him, I was a young child, completely unaware of (and uninterested in) his musical skills or pedigree. The first piece he taught was Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s MahA GaNapate in NaTanArAyaNi – he was kind and…
The many awards Kollengode Viswanatha Narayanaswamy (KVN) received, including the Padma Sri, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar and the Sangita Kalanidhi, served only to publicly highlight the talents of an artiste who was already acknowledged in his own lifetime as a consummate Carnatic musician. KVN’s all-round expertise was packaged in…
Hemavathy, the recently released biography of Parassala Ponnammal, sheds light on the lifelong Kerala- based Carnatic musician academic who became known outside her native state for the first time only at age 82. She went on to get several prestigious awards subsequently, the capstone being the Padma Sri in 2017…
Sruti Magazine January 2022 Cover Story (Note: The following is only an excerpt. To read the full article, subscribe to Sruti.) How Sikkil C. Gurucharan became a vocalist is itself curious — even to him! Born in Chennai on 21 June 1982 to V. Chandrasekaran and Mythili (daughter of Sikkil Kunjumani, the elder of the Sikkil Sisters flautist-duo), he recollects his grandmothers testing the blowing ability of prospective flute students by asking…
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…
“…being sure of my music. Never get carried away by what peers do or get pressurised by anything that might seem like a fancy trend but is not something that is natural to me….” Ashwath Narayanan on his Guru-s’ advice. Carnatic vocalist Sri. Ashwath Narayanan tells us about his musical…
From his role as an engineer to his somewhat unconventional musical trajectory to his passion for the trinity, particularly Muthuswami Dikshitar, Carnatic vocalist Sri. G Ravi Kiran articulately gives us a glimpse into his thoughts. He leaves us with a rendition of ragam Varali – a shloka of Adi Shankara…
“I don’t believe in making something look or sound difficult. Any complexity or hard work should be behind the screen, off stage, because it should not be a burden on the listener.” – Dr. Pantula Rama Senior Carnatic vocalist and scholar Dr. Pantula Rama is known for opening up creative,…
In this episode, Kunnakudi Sri. Balamurali Krishna, Carnatic vocalist, says that as he engages in teaching, he finds himself reflecting on the genius of his Guru, Sri. PS Narayanaswamy, who managed to impart the intricacies of every song appropriately for each student understanding each individual’s strengths. He presents a Jayadevar…
Vocalist Sri S Saketharaman talks about how, with his wife being a physician specializing in Emergency Medicine, he feels for those on the front lines. He discusses handling more responsibilities at home and with his children. Musically, he is tuning kriti-s, learning and recording more compositions, working on new pallavi-s…