The Sacred River Festival | Music at the centre of the universe

“Look, she’s coming up,” someone said, and just like that, a group of us turned around to see a glorious full moon rise from the ramparts of Ahilya Fort. We were seated on the fan-shaped ghats leading from the fort down to the river Narmada. For the last half hour, the young santoor exponent Satyendra […]

Continue Reading

Margazhi with an AI twist: What does Madrasana have up its sleeve this year for the music season?

Singer Abhishek Raghuram, and a cryptic AI-generated version of an image of artiste | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement “Try it with me once…just once. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.” I don’t know if Madrasana founder Mahesh Venkateswaran is convincing me or himself, but colour me intrigued. He goes on, as if he’s […]

Continue Reading

Carnatic vocalist NJ Nandini curates a music-themed fete to be held in Thiruvananthapuram on May 13

It is music for the ears of all those who enjoy melody and rhythm. Carnatic vocalist NJ Nandini organises Sa Re Ga Ma Gala, a one-day music carnival filled with board games, activities, live performances and lucky draws. Stalls selling refreshments and homemade products will add to the carnival ambience. The young musician from Thiruvananthapuram, […]

Continue Reading

Malayalam hit ‘Jimmiki Kammal’ singer Renjith Unni turns composer in Tamil cinema

Singer Renjith Unni | Photo Credit: Sangeetha Nair “Every day is a different one for a musician,” says singer Renjith Unni, peering outside at the drizzle on an otherwise sunny morning in Chennai, “You never know when something might click.” He is speaking from experience. Renjith was aboard a local train in Kerala to music […]

Continue Reading

South Indian band Agam on Carnatic-progressive rock and their love for Chennai

Agam at a 2018 concert in Chennai | Photo Credit: VEDHAN M Agam’s music can be best described as brilliantly seamless. Even though the popular South Indian band’s iterations are characterised by contrasting genres, in layman terms, nothing ever sticks out. Their almost 12-years-long repertoire flits between familiar Carnatic verses, ragas and thalams, while effortlessly […]

Continue Reading

Meet futuristic cyborg Meenakshi, on a mission to preserve Indian culture

Cultural cyborg Meenakshi is the protagonist of Elsewhere in India | Photo Credit: special arrangement Meenakshi, the cyborg, is out of work. The once-dancer finds herself in the dystopian landscape of 2079 where all culture is in danger of being lost. She is in desperate pursuit of familiarity, holding on to nodes of South Asian […]

Continue Reading

Where’s the diversity in Indian classical music, asks T.M. Krishna

In the late 1980s, when I was around 12 years old and trying to listen to every classical music concert in town, the often-heard lament was about declining audiences and that those who did attend were older people. The fear was that, once a few generations passed, the art form would fade away. The conservatives […]

Continue Reading

Where’s the diversity in Indian classical music, asks T.M. Krishna

In the late 1980s, when I was around 12 years old and trying to listen to every classical music concert in town, the often-heard lament was about declining audiences and that those who did attend were older people. The fear was that, once a few generations passed, the art form would fade away. The conservatives […]

Continue Reading

Where’s the diversity in Carnatic music, asks T.M. Krishna

In the late 1980s, when I was around 12 years old and trying to listen to every classical music concert in town, the often-heard lament was about declining audiences and that those who did attend were older people. The fear was that, once a few generations passed, the art form would fade away. The conservatives […]

Continue Reading

Music on the streets of Mylapore: Why Carnatic vocalist Saketharaman is celebrating an age-old tradition

Narada gets off his father’s scooter, and high-fives Andal. It’s exactly 6 a.m. at Mada Street in Chennai’s Mylapore, and school children dressed as various mythological characters are getting ready to perform. Popular Carnatic vocalist Saketharaman gives them the cue, and the group begins walking along the road, singing ‘Margazhi Thingal’, a verse from the […]

Continue Reading