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

Anugrah Lakshmanan presented a short thematic concert dedicated to compositions in praise of Vishnu and his various manifestations. His co-artistes that evening were V.S.P Gayatri Sivani on the violin, Mannarkoil J.Balaji on the Mridangam and S.Krishna on the Ghatam. The concert began brightly with Swati Tirunal’s Aarabhi piece ‘Narasimha Mamava’. This was followed by a Tamil composition in Asaveri ‘Sharanam Sharanam Raghurama’. This composition of Arunachala Kavi is usually

The nuances of nishadam in Surutti make it a rather tricky note to navigate. It can frustrate a veena player who tries to produce the sound by pulling the string at the dhaivatam or panchamam fret. During descending phrases, it changes its shape to form a slightly lower note than in ascending phrases. Hence it is important to understand the intention and use it carefully, according to the phrase being sung. Senior vocalist S.Sowmya’s Surutti alapana interwove choice phrases o

Bharath Narayan started his recital for Mudhra with the Kambhoji Ata tala varnam ‘Sarasijanabha’. A good grip over layam was observed when he navigated the chiseled charanam and chittaswarams of this piece. This was followed by ‘Namami Vighna Vinayaka’ of CS Krishnaswamy Ayya in Hamsadhwani. The exchanges between Bharath and R.Raghul on the violin were sharp and firm when fast swaras were sung at ‘Kumara Sodara’. Bharath Narayan | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement – The Hindu

Dr. R. Ganesh’s recital for  Mudhra  reflected the singer’s artistic maturity and thoroughness in concert presentation. A diverse selection of ragas, songs, languages and composers helped him steer the performance effectively. He was accompanied by Gayatri Vibhavari on the violin, J.P. Suriya Nambisan on the mridangam and N. Sundar on the morsing. Dr. R . Ganesh performing for Mudhra. Accompanying him are Gayatri Vibhavari on the violin, J.P. Suriya Nambisan on the mridangam

In the early 19th century, several attempts were made to recast the classical music tradition of South India. Constructing a classical music repertoire acceptable to the social and cultural milieu of those times required the positioning of certain compositional forms as core elements and relegating others to a lesser status in the artistic hierarchy. Padams and Javalis were the greatest casualties in this exercise. Thanks to the efforts of hereditary musicians and dancers fro

In 1998, the Governor of the state of Georgia in the United States of America decided to distribute free classical music CDs to every baby born in the state! This may have astounded many but what is even more surprising is that the decision was made in response to a study by a psychologist named Francis Rauscher who developed a theory known as the Mozart effect. The study basically suggested that early childhood exposure to classical music has beneficial effects on mental dev

Quite a lot has been spoken about mridangam legend Palani Subramania Pillai as his 115th birth anniversary was celebrated last April. Musicians have enthusiastically recalled how Subramania Pillai’s mridangam accompaniment blended seamlessly with the music. This effect mesmerised certain star vocalists such as Madurai Mani Iyer, who once while singing Tyagaraja’s ‘Enduku peddala’ stopped midway during the niraval at the phrase ‘Veda shastra’ just to listen to Subramania Pilla

The importance of the temple in sustaining instruments like nagaswaram and thavil cannot be stressed enough. Among the several instruments used in temples, the nagaswaram has the unique distinction of having been conceptualised to serve a dual purpose. Apart from being played on concert platforms, it is also a medium of announcement akin to instruments like the ekkalam and murasu. The nagaswaram, because of its sonorous nature, draws attention to the performance of temple rit