Category: Music

Subhashini Parthasarathy, Pantula Rama and M.A. Sundareswaran | Photo Credit: K. Pichumani Day 5 of the Academic Sessions at The Music Academy featured an interesting panel discussion with Pantula Rama, Subhashini Parthasarathy, and vidwan M.A. Sundareswaran. The session opened with Pantula Rama exploring the evolution of Indian classical music and the eventual division into Carnatic...

The original Shakti group: Zakir, John MacLaughlin, L. Shankar and Vikku Vinayakram. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement The master-percussionist made the tabla his own in a way that the modest drum set meticulously followed his instructions and was ever willing to roll out his experiments. But his music was not just about him; he constantly...

Watch: Rewind, record and rejoice: When swaras meet film songs Three young musicians who are also good friends, met on a breezy afternoon at Chennai’s Amoha restaurant by the Elliots beach at Besant Nagar in Chennai. As the waves lashed the shores, ragas and songs flowed seamlessly throughout the 30-minute session. The trio — mandolin...

members of the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI). | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT As the festive season has arrived, with cakes, colourful lights, bells and jingles everywhere, the musicians of the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI), National Centre for the Performing Art (NCPA), return to Ranga Shankarawith their highly anticipated concert, A Classical Christmas, on...

Day four of the lec dems at The Music Academy featured two interesting topics. The first,  on the topic ‘Kuttu Raga-s : Evoking the character’ presented by vidwan P. Rajagopal and Hanne M. de Bruin, began with an unamplified musical performance by P. Rajagopal and his ensemble, featuring Vijayan on the harmonium, Sasikumar on the...

Diljit Dosanjh performs at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club on Saturday, April 22, 2023, in Indio, Calif. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP/PTI)(AP04_23_2023_000069A) | Photo Credit: Amy Harris Singer Diljit Dosanjh reacted on stage to an advisory issued by the Maharashtra government restricting him from singing songs perceived to promote drugs,...

S Adithyanarayanan The third day of the 98th Annual Conference and Concerts at The Music Academy featured two enlightening lecture demonstrations, the first of which was delivered by R. Hemalatha on the topic of ‘Similar Phraseologies in Non-Allied Ragas’. She began by explaining the concept of allied ragas, which share common prayogas or swaras and...

Zakir Hussain in his bedroom overlooking the Arabian Sea, at Simla House, Napean Sea Road, Mumbai. | Photo Credit: Copyright: Dayanita Singh Dear Guruji, On Sunday night, as I watched the full moon rise, I thought to myself that the next Guru Purnima I had to spend the day with you and photograph you with...

Gayatri Vibhavari | Photo Credit: SRINATH M Gayathri Vibhavari is a young talent good at both playing the violin and singing. Her recent concert at Brahma Gana Sabha, with youngsters Sivateja on the violin and Sarvesh on the mridangam, was racy. Gayathri started her concert with a shloka on Saraswathi in Saraswathi raga before singing...

Watch: In conversation with Navaneeth Unnikrishnan | Notes and Chords In this episode of Notes & Chords we speak to Navaneeth Unnikrishnan, a New York-based musician who is training in both Hindustani and Carnatic music. Navaneeth uses his performances to decode and explain old film melodies using the classical prism. His interpretation of Malayalam classics has...