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The status of Carnatic instrumental music today

The status of Carnatic instrumental music today

Carnatic music has been evolving, probably, from the time it took its roots in south India. The evolution involves forms of compositions, usage of ragas, introduction of new ragas, themes of compositions, concerts, formats, duration, emphasis and more.
Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan

THE MAHA MELARAGAMALIKA (PART 3)

In the third and concluding part of this series on the monumental composition of Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan, let us look into some of the aspects of the melody of this ragamalika. In the first two articles on the melaragamalika, we analysed the structural and lyrical features of the composition.
MANOJ SIVA

MANOJ SIVA

Manoj Siva is a disciplined musician trained under Kumbakonam Rajappa Iyer and Palghat Raghu. His style is replete with sunadam during accompaniment for kritis and his tani avartanams are marked with technical brilliance.
T.A.S. MANI

T.A.S. MANI

With increasing concert opportunities, T.A.S. Mani started accompanying many senior artists. Browsing through photo albums of his concerts is like walking through a portrait gallery of leading musicians of the past.
Yuva Rasikas

TAKING MUSIC TO SCHOOL CHILDREN

Music Forum, in association with The Music Academy, organised a mega workshop titled ‘Yuva Rasika’, for school students, at The Music Academy, Madras, on 31 August 2019. Now an annual feature, Yuva Rasika has become a sought after event for school students. Twenty schools from across the city, and as far as from Vellore and Sholingur, participated.
Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan

THE MAHA MELARAGAMALIKA (PART 2)

As mentioned in the September issue of Sruti, the language employed in this ragamalika is Sanskrit. The sahitya for each raga section extends to two avartas of Adi tala. The name of each of the 72 melakarta ragas is embedded very skillfully and beautifully in the respective sahitya portions.
AMRITHA MURALI

AMRITHA MURALI

A first-generation performing artist, Amritha Murali, born on 16 July 1982 to Rama and G. Murali, is an established vocalist and an accomplished violinist. Amritha continued to do both comfortably until recently when she decided to concentrate on her solo performances as a vocalist and also to resolve this identity crisis of whether she is a violinist or vocalist.
Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan

THE MAHA MELARAGAMALIKA

The Melaragamalika is a masterpiece and one of the longest compositions in the repertoire of Carnatic music. Though the Ragatalamalika of Ramaswami Dikshitar is popularly known as the ‘108 Ragatalamalika’, only 62 raga sections of that composition are available to us today.
Western influence on Indian music

Western influence on Indian music

The classical music of the West has influenced our musical culture, although it may not have done so in ways and on a scale easily comprehensible to us. The four broad areas in which the Western influence manifests itself are: (1) the two systems of classical music namely, Hindustani and Carnatic, (2) film and light music (sugam sangeet), (3) commercial TV advertising and (4) music education.
NELLAI T.V. KRISHNAMURTHY

NELLAI T.V. KRISHNAMURTHY (1920-2006)

Nellai T.V. Krishnamurthy was a respected musician and teacher who served as Principal of Swati Tirunal Academy of Music, Tiruvananthapuram. Scion of Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar, he was born in Tiruvarur, Tamil Nadu, to Muthulakshmi Ammal and Viswanatha Iyer on 24 November 1920. His is an unusual story of a boy born in Tamil Nadu going to Kerala to emerge as a Carnatic musician.
TANJAVUR R. RAMADAS

SAVAL-JAVAB - TANJAVUR R. RAMADAS

Tanjavur Ramadas was born in a musical family and it was but natural for him to play the mridangam from a very young age. Initiated into mridangam-playing by father Ramamurthi Iyer, he was fortunate to come under the tutelage of the doyen Palghat Mani Iyer.
Dhvani

PERSPECTIVES - Mangalam: the song auspicious

‘Mangalam’ in Sanskrit means auspicious, welfare, good fortune. It is common practice in the Bharatiya tradition to wish others with “Mangalaanee bhavantu” in Sanskrit, “Mangalam undaagattum in Tamizh or “Mangalmay ho” in Hindi.