“I don’t understand when it is said that Indian music is abstract. I can only say that it takes an Ali Akbar to create immediacies of the sensuousness, of dark, of unutterably sad and desolate and of the vibrant gold tranquilities, each of which comes through with the specificity of touching one’s love in the dark.” I wrote these lines down in 1988. I had only recently become a sarod student of the maestro Pt. Rajeev Taranath, then. Some of us — disciples, friends, and fans — wanted to put together a felicitation event for him on the occasion of...

Jayalakshmi Sekhar offered exclusive kritis on Devi for Navaratri Utsavam. | Photo Credit: RAGHUNATHAN SR Jayalakshmi Sekhar’s veena concert was interesting with the choice of kritis and ragas. The performance was backed by excellent percussion support — B. Ganapathyraman on the mridangam and Trichy Murali on the ghatam. The concert was held at Arkay Convention Center, under the aegis of Madhuradhwani. What added to the overall impact of the performance was Jayalakshmi’s meticulous introduction to all the pieces. She also sang some passages of the compositions. Leisurely pace As the concert was held during Navaratri, Jayalakshmi chose songs on Devi....

Liam Payne’s voice is the first one heard in the culture-shifting boy band One Direction’s debut single: “What Makes You Beautiful” launches into a bouncy guitar riff, a cheeky and borderline gratuitous cowbell and then, Payne. “You’re insecure, don’t know what for / You’re turning heads when you walk through the door,” he sings, in a few words assuring a cross-section of generations that he’s got your back, girl, and you should like yourself a little bit more. Payne, who died Wednesday after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at just 31, was also the last solo...

Abhay Rustum Sopori. | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives Watching Abhay Rustum Sopori play raag Bhagwati, his own creation, on the santoor at a recent concert during the Pandit Kshitpal Mallick Music festival in Delhi, one thought about the instrument’s long journey from the hills to the plains. Thanks to the efforts of two musicians from Jammu and Kashmir – Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma and Pt. Bhajan Sopori, the santoor shed its ‘folk’ tag to become part of the classical music world. Both exponents brought in necessary changes to enable the santoor’s 100 strings to reproduce raag, taal and swar....