Culture and Conversation

When two or more veena players get together to present a kutcheri, and when they use the arrangement to their advantage, the concert becomes a pleasant exercise.  Iyer Brothers, Ramnath and Gopinath, presented a well-planned concert at Kartik Fine Arts’ Margazhi festival 2024. | Photo Credit: SRINATH M The Iyer Brothers — Ramnath Iyer and Gopinath Iyer — excelled in planning and presentation at their recent concert for Kartik Fine Arts. They were accompanied by Chidambaram S.

Vocalist C.V.P Sastry with K.V. Krishna (violin), Burra Sriram (mridangam) and Sainath (ghatam) performing at Raga Sudha hall, Chennai on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: Akhila Easwaran On the occasion of vidwan M. Balamuralikrishna’s 93rd birth anniversary, Sarvani Sangeetha Sabha organised a concert by Chivukula Venkata Pery Sastry. The concert particularly showcased Balamuralikrishna’s contributions as a prolific modern-day composer. Beginning with a bright well-paced rendering

At a recent festival, Mudhra featured some young artistes, who presented Tamil compositions. Akshay Padmanabhan, along with his team of musicians comprising Chidambaram Badrinath on the violin, N.C. Bharadwaj on the mridangam and Venkatramanan on the kanjira took up a diverse set of songs that encompassed a wide range of Tamil composers across time periods — starting with Kulashekara Azhwar and Kambar to vaggeyakaras like Prof. T.R. Subramaniam.  Akshay Padmanabhan with Chida

Ramana Balachandran. | Photo Credit: The Hindu Picturise a concert hall filled with listeners maintaining pin-drop silence. A round of speedy kalpanaswaras are being rendered on the veena with some rigorous meetus and it is almost time for the final swara. It is one of those days when a particularly puzzling kanakku falls into place spontaneously. The mridangam and ghatam players are in full focus to trace the patterns and in that moment, the three instruments become one, res

Thematic presentations on one rasa are quite uncommon on the Carnatic stage. K.S. Vishnudev and N.J. Nandini’s joint artistic effort for Bharat Sangeet Utsav 2024 explored the queen of all rasas — Sringara. Their concert on ‘Romance in Carnatic Compositions’ consisted of an intriguing set of songs often not heard. The presentation was wholesome in terms of the variety of compositions, which the two singers shared efficiently. Vittal Rangan, Vijay Natesan and N. Guru Prasad ha

T.M. Krishna’s Vocal concert at The Music Academy. | Photo Credit: SRINATH M There was an air of impatience near the Music Academy as a huge crowd descended upon the roads surrounding the popular venue resulting in a huge traffic jam. Being one of the few venues in Chennai that is disabled-friendly, the Academy welcomed several wheelchair users and senior citizens that day. Mothers brought their infants; young grandchildren accompanied their grandparents and several members o

T. M. Krishna performing at M.S. Subbulakshmi auditorium in Chennai. | Photo Credit: M. SRINATH The unpredictability is what makes a T.M. Krishna  concert special and his recent performance at the Asian College of Journalism’s M. S. Subbulakshmi auditorium in Chennai did not disappoint the audience in this respect. Till today, Krishna is the only Carnatic musician who has the ability to elicit contrasting opinions from two music lovers who may even identify as his die-hard fa

Ramana Balachandran at one of his earlier concerts in Chennai. | Photo Credit: K.V.Srinivasan Musiri House was jam-packed and filled with a diverse array of people. Veena concerts are usually poorly attended but Ramana Balachandran has carved his own fan base. Ramana, along with Anantha R. Krishnan on the mridangam presented a three-hour chamber concert that left the audience wanting more. A fine sense of balance prevailed throughout the recital and this was one of the factor

Palakkad K.L. Sreeram with M. Vijay (violin), R. Ramesh (mridangam) and Sunil Kumar (kanjira) performing at the Madhuradhwani’s Flute Mali’s Remembrance day concert, that took place at Arkay Convention Centre, Mylapore. | Photo Credit: JOTHI RAMALINGAM B Palakkad Sreeram, who is a versatile musician and playback singer recently presented a flute recital for Madhuradhwani. The concert was organised in remembrance of maestro T.R. Mahalingam alias Flute Mali. Sreeram, who is a s

Veteran nagaswaram player Vyasarpadi G Kothandaraman presented a sublime recital along with his disciples, Tirupati B. Kesanna and Chittoor R. Devarajulu. A thorough stickler for tradition, Kothandaraman is uncompromising in his approach to practicing and performing the instrument.  Vyasarpadi Kothandaraman and team performing at the Music Academy’s nagaswaram festival. | Photo Credit: M. SRINATH Briskly beginning the recital with Tyagaraja’s ‘Janaki ramana’ in Shuddha Seeman

Aishwarya Sankar accompanied by L. Ramakrishnan (violin), J. Vaidyanathan (mridangam), S. Karthick (ghatam) Aishwarya Shankar’s recital for Naada Inbam prioritised meaningful exploration through manodharma. She focused on expanding two weighty kritis — Syama Sastri’s ‘Ninnu vina mari galada’ and Tyagaraja’s ‘Enduku nirdaya’. A team of percussionists comprising J. Vaidyanathan (mridangam) and S. Karthick (ghatam) accompanied her at the morning concert. Both Aishwarya and L. Ra

It was a life-changing moment for Hindustani musician Rumi Harish when he met transgender activist and writer A. Revathi. She asked him what he did for a living and he told her he was a classical vocalist. When Rumi found that Revathi had heard classical music only on Doordarshan during state mournings, he spoke about Pt. Bhimsen Joshi and rendered a bandish for her. Rumi narrates this experience during the dramatic reading of a play titled Journey from A to E and More for re

In the late eighties, when theatre groups in the country were mostly led by men, Bombay Gnanam successfully broke the glass ceiling to lead a drama troupe. . She scripted history by starting the Mahalakshmi Ladies Drama Group (MLDG), an all-women team that redefined Tamil theatre. Its plays, especially on social themes, received overwhelming response from the audience.  Bombay Gnanam | Photo Credit: PICHUMANI K On the eve of the 25th anniversary of MLDG, Gnanam chanced upon t

I read the book ‘Muthulakshmi Reddy – A Trailblazer in Surgery and Women’s Rights’ by V.R.Devika and I have to say it was a highly engaging biography that was simple to read and process. Those of us who know Dr.Devika are aware of the hard work that she has put in for this book, the research for which began about four decades ago. Having attended many of her online talks, I was already quite well informed on Dr.Muthulakshmi Reddy and this book provided a more extensive view o

T.M. Krishna performing with Jogappas in Bengaluru in 2016. | Photo Credit: BHAGYA PRAKASH K Picturise a village, not far from the sea, full of lush green fields with clusters of coconut palms swaying in the wind. A group, led by a woman accompanying her young daughter and friends, walks slowly to Thirukkannapuram. Hoping to make the long journey less tiring, the group breaks into a song —  thoNdIr! uyyum vagai kaNdEn  thuLangkA arakkar thuLangka  mun thiNthOL nimirach silai