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Nothing But Wind

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To make a musical instrument speak a language, to make it express a range of emotions, is no ordinary musician’s feat. It needs an extraordinary musician to translate notes into not words but feelings! His concerts always open to a good audience, and it was not surprising to see a full house at Raga Sudha Hall, despite it being (the so called) ‘after the season’ concert. What was impressive is the nature of the audience…. these were not the usual dazzling people, who probably plan the previous day itself, what to wear and plan the accessories as well. After all, they need to look almost as good as the artiste on stage, which is not easy if it is someone like RaGa .The easiest artistes to match up to, in terms of dress code, will be Sanjay or Kunnakudi Balamurali or Palghat Ramprasad, who decide to keep it all white ! This audience is not those who are more interested in the canteen menu than the concert, in any case Raga Sudha Hall, which is tucked away behind Nageshwara Rao Park, has
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Saketharaman

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  Today everything is marketed or projected in a powerful way, for example Power Yoga…yoga is supposed to give a person, balance of mind and flexibility but with power yoga, hot yoga ( Bikram’s Hot Yoga) weight loss became the priority. So, how can another person better this marketing jargon…they can brand it as Ultra Power Yoga? HotterYoga ? What has to give you peace causes excitement. Fast is another buzz word, faster the better, fast food, fast deliveries, intermittent fast and all that is meant to be Satvik has become Rajasik. Carnatic Music is also not spared, in this Race for Pace. Almost every concert I had gone to, the recital was soooooo fast and so much of neravals, ghamkas, brigas and what not ! Infact, more popular the artiste, more the pace, making me gasp for breath watching them sing. I admire them, enjoy their singing, but wonder if they enjoy what they are singing or just playing to the gallery ! Gone are the days of GNB, Ariyakudi, Semmangudi, DKP when they sang fast
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Ramakrishnan Arrives

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Some years ago, there was young lad who had arrived from The United States of America, choosing a future in Carnatic Music over a life there. These kind of stories are always charming for a Carnatic music lover or anyone who is proud to be an Indian, more proud to live in India. Now that being impressive, the proof of his talent in singing was in listening to him. This was year 2016, where I heard him at The Music Academy and was adequately impressed, but the sceptic in me, wrote ‘that people were praising him too early and he has to keep delivering to an ever critical audience, and there has to be a continuous improvement, if he needs to last in the field of Carnatic Music. The following year 2017, I attended his concert in Marghazhi Maha Utsavam, and had to acknowledge that he had grown as a musician and I could predict that he is there to stay…not just stay but to rule someday! As he was growing, so was my admiration for his music and he ranked top among my favourites. This year 202
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Sangeetham Aishwaryam

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As I walked into the Music Academy on 19th afternoon, I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot people, who had come to listen to Aishwarya Shankar sing. That increased my expectation and trust me, I was not disappointed at all. Aishwarya is a very committed vocalist who has a bright future. She began her concert with Dikshitar’s ‘Sri Gananatham Bhajare in Ragam Isamanohari. Clear diction with very good voice quality, good training and sincere rendition…..isn’t this a prescription for a good performer. All this was clearly in her to reach better heights, as she moved to her next song, by Patnam Subramania Iyer in Ragam Lathangi ‘Aparaadhamulanniyu’. Very beautiful Ragam ( but all Ragams are beautiful ) which has been incidentally used for a good number of film songs. Aishwarya was very impressive & confident with the Swaras and her voice is very clear and melodious. Her next song was Shyama Sastri’s popular ‘Brovavamma Taamasamele’ in Ragam Manji. Here Shyama Sastri expresses his lon
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Sanjay Uvacha

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  Whenever I have seen a group of men wearing pure white half sleeved shirts and pure white veshti, I immediately think (most often I am correct) that they are a group of politicians. And here we have on the stage, Sanjay and his loyal team all-white, ready to take us through music devoid of not just politics but everything that is not music. Now if this seems little confusing and difficult to understand……it is the impact of his kutcheri which was much more confusing & difficult to understand-why he chose what he did. The concert I am referring to, was at RR Sabha, on 9th December when it was raining crazy. If anyone thinks why a take so long to write after every concert, my reply would be, if I am all the time attending concerts, where do I have the time to write…all this between some very difficult medical emergencies running for days at a stretch. With torrential rains and impending cyclone,other Sabhas postponed the concerts scheduled for the same day, but BGS made a statement
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  Jharna …..a fountain of beauty     It was two weekends of wonderful display of dance, music and tholbomalatam at the Dhananjayan’s own school Bharatakalanjali. It was an idea born out of this school’s Alumini and now a Creative & Executive Director of Bharatakalanjali, a senior Bharatanatyam artiste of her own merit ….Shobana Bhalachandra’s passion !  The whole idea of having twelve performances of about one hour each stretching over two weekends, including Fridays, was to give an opportunity to young talented artistes to show their creativity and competence. In order to truly encourage them, they were all remunerated.   The festival started on the 11th of February for a niche live audience, and it was also streamed online. Srinivasan, one of Bharatakalanjali’s students gave the first performance in a traditional manner. His performance was good and had no mistakes, but he certainly has a long way to go. The next person to perform on Shreema Upadhyaya from Bangalore. One of the n
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Isolation sparks Creativity

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I can confidently say that I don’t remember anyone in my generation, who has lived through a situation like this pandemic has thrown us in. Among other things, one thing that is happening in excess, is all art forms being flooded on the social media, giving anyone who has a smart phone too much to choose from. Everyone is posting or uploading. their singing, dancing, cooking and everything else they do ! I often feel mentally choked, not because I watch but just this unsolicited splurge of creative (often mediocre) outbursts are so distracting. I have to admit that this experience with the pandemic is awe-inducing in it’s commonality. And, creative responses in the form of art, literature, cinema, dance, music and many more are bound to keep emerging for years to come. Now more the ever, are the words of Lenin making sense….. ‘There are decades where nothing happens and there are weeks where decades happens’. I agree that this is probably the right time for great exploration of ideas.
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