Category: Carnatic Music

  • A Trip to Vadivudaiamman Temple, Tiruvotriyur

    Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar, the great composer, had traveled to many temples and composed songs on the deities there. Vadivudaiamman Temple (also known as Sri Thyagaraja Swami Temple) in Tiruvotriyur, at the outskirts of Chennai, in one of them. Dikshitar composed the song “AdipurIshvaram sadA bhajEham” in the rAgam Arabhi at…

  • Lec Dem – The Beauty of Sangeetham & Sahityam in Muthuswami Dikshitar’s Compositions

    Vid R.K. Shriramkumar presented a lec dem on “The Beauty of Sangeetham and Sahityam in Muthuswami Dikshitar’s Compositions” on 9th Nov 2008. He was accompanied on the violin by Vid Amritha Murali and on the mrudangam by Vid Manoj Siva. The lec dem was organized by IIT Madras Music Club.…

  • Concert for Nadopasana

    Played mrudangam for the vocal concert of Vid. Niranjana Srinivasan at Dakshinamurthy Auditorium, R.K. Mutt Road, Mylapore on 13th Sep 2008. The concert was organized by Nadopasana.   Artists: Vocal: Vid Niranjana Srinivasan Violin: Vid Sudha R.S. Iyer Mrudangam: R. Ramkumar (That’s me)   List of songs: 1) calamEla (varnam) – darbAr – Adi…

  • Concert at Vidwath Samajam, Mylapore

    Played mrudangam for the vocal concert of Vid. Ganga Mani at Sri Thiagaraja Sangeetha Vidwath Samajam, Mylapore on 27th Aug 2008. Artists: Vocal: Vid Ganga Mani Violin: Vid Karaikal Venkatasubramaniam Mrudangam: R. Ramkumar (That’s me)   List of songs: 1) jalajAkSA (varnam) – hamsadwani – Adi – mAnmbuchAvaDi venkaTa subbaiyer…

  • The maestro and his music!

    I am not sure if only I feel this way but almost every favorite artist of mine seems to give his/her best performance in venues that are not very famous and that many a times have just a handful of people attending. For example, some of the best concerts of…

  • A Bird’s Eye View of Muthuswami Dikshitar’s Compositions

    Venue: Raga Sudha Hall, 85/2, Luz Avenue, Luz, Mylapore Organizer: Music Forum Date: 15th June 2008 Topic of Lec Dem: A bird’s eye view of Muthuswami Dikshitar’s Compositions Presenters: Vid R. Vedavalli (RV) & Vid S. Sundar (SS) Vocal support: Vid Sumathi Krishnan & a student of Vid S. Sundar…

  • Sensuality in Music – Lec Dem by T.M. Krishna

    Vidwan T.M. Krishna (TMK) presented a lec dem on “Sensuality in (Indian) Music” for Karthik Fine Arts’ Natyakala conference on 22nd Dec 2007 at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mylapore, Chennai. He was accompanied by Vid Amritha Murali on the violin and Vid K. Arun Prakash on the mrudangam. Here is…

  • Thyagaraja & His Vinta Ragas

    This was the title given to Dr. Prameela Gurumurthy’s music and discourse session held at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai on 3rd May 2008. Dr. Prameela was accompanied by Vid Anuthama Subramaniam on the violin and Vid Neyveli Narayanan on the mrudangam. The following songs were sung: 1) nAda tanumanisham…

  • TNS Harikatha on Valmiki Ramayanam

    Vidwan T.N. Seshagopalan (TNS) presented a five day harikatha on Valmiki Ramayanam at Hamsadhwani last month. I must say that it was a wonderful experience watching the genius at work! The speciality of the harikatha was that it was scholarly and not bookish like some discourses tend to be. Instead…

  • Concert of rarely sung Thyagaraja Kritis

    Sri R. Krishnamurthy presented a concert of rarely sung Thyagaraja compositions under the aegis of Naada Inbam at Raga Sudha Hall, Mylapore on 28th March 2008. He was accompanied by Vid S.P. Ananthapadmanabha on the violin and Vid Erode Nagaraj on the mrudangam. The following songs were sung: 1) nAdabrahmA…

  • Interview with Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman – Kalaignar TV

    Last month, Kalaignar TV broadcast an interview with renowned mrudangam maestro and one of the all time greats in the field, Umayalpuram Sri K. Sivaraman (UKS). Here are some excerpts from the interview. The interview was in Tamil. Any errors that might have happened during the translation are entirely mine.…

  • TNS – The phenomenon

    There are quite a few Carnatic singers whose music I love to listen to. But if there is one Carnatic singer who has inspired me the most and has never ceased to amaze me with his vidwath, it is Sri T.N. Seshagopalan (TNS) I had not been able to attend…

  • Lec Dem on Tamil Padams

    The mother-daughter duo of Dr. Nirmala Sundararajan and Dr. Subhashini Parthasarathy gave a very informative lec dem on Tamil padams on the morning of 31st Dec 2007 as a part of Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha’s music festival. Dr Subhashini began the session by reading out the write up they had…

  • Sanjayism & Rahmania

    Two hours of vintage Sanjay Subrahmanyan, live and a few hours of A.R. Rahman ….  I probably couldn’t have asked for anything better after wrapping up office work today. I had missed quite a few Sanjay concerts this season and was eagerly waiting for today’s fare. What made it all…

  • Lec dem on the Carnatic Music Trinity by Smt Vidya Shankar – Part 2

    Part 1 of this post can be found here … cont. from Part 1 Sri Thyagaraja: Sri Thyagaraja wrote his first composition on the wall of his house. He is said to have been only about 13 years of age then He composed a lot of songs in bhajana sampradAyam…