Tiruvaiyaru Tyagaraja aradhana 2021 - A lifetime experience

Tiruvaiyaru Tyagaraja aradhana 2021 - A lifetime experience

Certain things in life, while they begin as a one-off activity, become a part of yourself and your life by design. That is what my annual visit to Tiruvaiyaru has become -- a design and strong pattern that shines through over three decades of my life.
Enjoyable instrumental fare at the Academy

Enjoyable instrumental fare at the Academy

The Music Academy had allocated two slots for violin concerts (A. Kanyakumari, Lalgudi G.J.R. Krishnan and Vijayalakshmi), three for veena (Jayanthi Kumaresh, N. Ananthanarayanan, Ramana Balachandran) and one for flute (J.B. Sruthi Sagar) in the instrumental music category.
Chitravina Ravikiran

Chitravina N Ravikiran as composer

Ravikiran is among the more prolific composers in Indian Music with over 800 compositions to his credit. About half of these are traditional classical pieces which include about 400 krtis, 30 varnams, 35 tillans besides javalis, padams, pushpanjalis, kavittuvams, shabdam, bhajans, chindus etc. Several of Ravikiran’s works have been presented by leading musicians and dancers.
Merging parallels

Merging parallels

Every country, sometimes every region in a country, has its own style of music. Such exposure to varied genres of music during her Masters and Post Masters Fellowship studies at Berklee College of Music, led to the growth of Apoorva Krishna’s fascination for the concept of chords and the realm of harmonies in Western music.
Margazhi and Andal - global outreach of Tiruppavai

Margazhi and Andal - global outreach of Tiruppavai

Andal came in myriad forms in music, dance and discourse in solo and group presentations. YouTube buzzed with song and dance too numerous to keep track of. There was even a choral singing by film and TV stars like Suhasini Maniratnam, Anu Hasan, Revathi and others with abhinaya by Shobana.
Sruti Magazine Covers - 2021

Sruti Magazine Covers - 2021

Sruti Magazine cover art. Reproduced with permission. All Rights Reserved. www.sruti.com
THE LALGUDI SIBLINGS - Complementing each other

THE LALGUDI SIBLINGS - Complementing each other

Besides playing as a duo, both of you have been accompanists too. What is it to accompany vocalists and other instrumentalists on stage? (Vijayalakshmi continues to provide accompaniment in concerts, Krishnan stopped a long while ago.)
P.S. NARAYANASWAMY - a great acharya

P.S. NARAYANASWAMY - a great acharya

With the passing away of Sangita Kala Acharya P.S. Narayanaswamy, the music fraternity has lost one of its most valuable gems. Truly he was a great acharya in many respects, and in his role as a teacher he has trained many disciples and helped them to advance in their musical career.
A tribute to unsung heroes

A tribute to unsung heroes

Music enthusiast, philanthropist and owner of Arkay Convention Centre, Arkay Ramakrishnan, has been providing free, live concerts for most days in a year for several years, under his banner Madhuradhwani. Owing to the pandemic, music aficionados are truly missing the live concerts.
S. RUGMINI GOPALAKRISHNAN - Strings spread serenity

S. RUGMINI GOPALAKRISHNAN - Strings spread serenity

When we delve into the history of music, we can find several musicians across generations who have been leading a solitary life in their native land, devoting their time to teaching and accepting the rare concert opportunities that come their way.

A time to relook and relish the music

It is hard to fathom Bombay Jayashri, as she said once, “My music will tell you more about me than I ever could”. Indeed, her recent music says a lot about the diversity of her art, as well as the churning inside.

Music of M.K. Tyagaraja Bhagavatar in films

It is over six decades since M.K. Tyagaraja Bhagavatar passed away on 1 November 1959. This article is a study of the music of M.K. Tyagaraja Bhagavatar in films, that has been appended in a Compact Disc, to the book titled MKT Bhagavatar - Isaiyum Vaazkkaiyum by D.V. Balakrishnan