Sruti Magazine articles reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. www.sruti.com

Mannargudi A. Easwaran

Mannargudi A. Easwaran

Mannargudi A. Easwaran is a reputed and popular mridanga vidwan, who through his exemplary ability to enhance, embellish and admirably blend with any style of music, has carved a niche for himself in the field of Carnatic music.
Indian music and the West: An exploration

Indian music and the West: An exploration

From the 17th century, Indian mythology and ideals have exerted an indefinable influence on Western thought and artistic practice. The use of certain types of note intervals, experiments in transilience (equivalent of the gamaka), as well as atonal/functional harmonies have found their place periodically in themes that were generally classified as mystical or exotic.
REMEMBERING MLV Amma: my guru and mentor

REMEMBERING MLV Amma: my guru and mentor

To me MLV Amma was many figures rolled into one—teacher, mentor, parent, friend and guide. It was she who shaped me into the person I am today.

DKP birth centenary celebrations

The birth centenary of Gana Saraswati D.K. Pattammal - one of the female trinity of Carnatic music—is being celebrated on a grand scale. In order to spearhead the year-long celebrations DKP 100 (A unit of D.K. Pattammal Charitable Trust) has been constituted with around 50 members comprising the family, disciples and fans of the legend with the guidance of patrons like N. Murali, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, N. Gopalaswamy, R. Seshasayee, and Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti.
MDR

REMEMBERING MDR

Vandeham Varadadasam, a celebration of the music of Carnatic music legend M.D. Ramanathan (MDR), was organised recently by his son Balaji Ramanathan at Raga Sudha hall in Chennai. It was an enjoyable evening listening to the introductory speech of Sangita Kalanidhi T.V. Gopalakrishnan who recounted his association with MDR—providing insights into the late musician’s personality.
Jim Reeves

REAR WINDOW - JIM REEVES

For innumerable Western music fans in India their idea of nirvana or total bliss is to close their eyes and listen to the velvety voice of Jim Reeves. His 54th death anniversary falls on 31 July and his 95th birth anniversary on 20 August, and as such it is a good time to remember the singer whose voice and words have touched millions of lives around the world.

Brothers on song

The Malladi Brothers are indeed a breath of fresh air when they ascend the concert stage. With their foreheads streaked with bright splashes of vibhuti, they look bright and sparkling in their usually pearly white jibbas and veshtis, their eyes taking in the audience in an intelligent sweep that seems at once to gauge its level of appreciation, its stylisitic preferences.

TRIBUTE - Balantrapu Rajanikanta Rao by Seetha Ratnakar

It was a sad day for the music world when the oldest living vaggeyakara, Balantrapu Rajanikanta Rao breathed his last in Vijayawada at the age of 98, on 22 April 2018. He reached the pinnacle of glory even in death when he was awarded the highest State honour, a 21 gun salute by the Andhra government.

Debate - of microphones and acoustics

Who amongst us has not been at a concert where the singer kept on asking the sound engineer to adjust the volume? Worse yet, I remember one or two concerts marred by repeated tweaking of the sound system throughout.
VECHOOR HARIHARASUBRAMANIA IYER (1925-1994)

Musicians of Kerala - Vechoor HariHaraSubramania Iyer (1925-1994)

The establishment of the Sri Swati Tirunal College of Music in Tiruvananthapuram in 1939 was a milestone in the history of Carnatic music in Kerala. It was the result of the vision of three outstanding individuals— Maharani Sethu Parvati Bayi (mother of Sree Chithira Tirunal Maharaja), Sir C.P. Ramaswami Iyer (Dewan of Travancore) and Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer.
RADHA VISWANATHAN (1934-2018)

Radha Viswanathan (1934-2018)

For most of her first 50 years, she was celebrated for her beauty and charm. For the next 35 years of untold suffering, she was an invalid, steadily declining in health, wheelchair bound, needing a caregiver all the time. She was totally bedridden towards the end of her life—which came on 1 January 2018. This was the tragedy of Radha Viswanathan, M.S. Subbulakshmi’s stepdaughter, steadfast companion and sterling vocal accompanist.
DKP 100 - The eclectic traditionalist

DKP 100 - The eclectic traditionalist

An exciting slew of events has been planned to celebrate the centenary of one of Carnatic music’s enduring icons starting on Saturday 17 March and culminating in her 100th birth anniversary on 19th March 2019. Sruti’s inaugural issue proved an instant success as it had Sangita Kalanidhi D.K. Pattammal on the cover.