
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
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.

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
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.

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
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
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
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

Unique in many ways
It is a special feeling to know that the famed Sruti magazine has completed over three decades of classic, critically creative, and ultimately contributory existence in the Mecca of Indian classical arts - Chennai! Sruti has completed 37 years and is marching forward fearlessly!

A virtually exciting musiCarnival
The lockdown has exposed music lovers to several online events—live performances, conversations with artists and personalities, cook-out with artists, listening sessions and more. But what we did not expect but did experience was a ‘carnival’…