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Readers Write In #381: Balamuralikrishna dazzles once more!
(by Jayram Sataluri) To celebrate the 91st birthday of Balamuralikrishna aka BMK, I’m sharing a “review” of a concert recording at the Krishna Gana Sabha in the year 1977 which I was fortunate to obtain from a friend. Alongside BMK in the concert are two living legends: M Chandrasekaran aka MC on violin and Umayalpuram K […]
Interview: TM Krishna (on his transformation from artist to activist)
July 6, 2021
For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2021 Film Companion.
10 favourite Carnatic songs
March 31, 2021
Kaa vaa vaa: The pleading in this song kills me every single time, especially after reading Kala Krishnan Ramesh’s extraordinary volumes of Murugan poems. Sujana jeevana: ‘Ramar-ukku alangaram pannra paattu‘ is how someone described this beauty to me. Later, I realised it was not just physical ornaments , like a bangle or a crown. It […]
Interview: Bombay Jayashri
February 2, 2021
For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2021 Film Companion.
Readers Write In #323: Reminiscences of a Yesudas concert
January 11, 2021
(by Jayram Sataluri) It was Sunday, April 17th 2011. I was at JP Stevens High School in Edison, New Jersey waiting outside the school.I did not have the exact money to pay for the ticket. But a family friend who I hadn’t seen in a decade understood my predicament and paid for it. I paid […]
Readers Write In #219: Excuse me for singing a rare raga
July 6, 2020
(by Jayram Satluri) “What a wonderful time I’ve having tonight!” I whisper to myself as I am watching greatness on the dais. The main vocalist has just mesmerized the audience with a terrific sub-main for 50 mins.His youthful enthusiasm and his beautiful voice have completely touched my heart and soul.He has just started the next […]
Interview: S Sowmya… into a musician’s mind
December 13, 2019
Music Season’s Greetings! I don’t write as much about Carnatic music anymore, so when @MadRasana asked me to be in conversation with Dr S Sowmya, I jumped at it. It’s not hardcore classical. More like a dive into a musician’s mind. Do share/ comment. For more, subscribe to MadRasana Official: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7NdODNgLYVKKs6a6VCKHQQ Copyright ©2019 MadRasana.
Hariprasad Chaurasia: Breath of Gold
December 5, 2019
A plug for my friend Sathya Saran’s book: HARIPRASAD CHAURASIA: BREATH OF GOLD, in her words (from the book). I thought it would be of interest to many readers of this blog. .1957. He watches the terrain swiftly sweep past, as the train rattles along. He is leaving behind everything familiar. Home, family, friends, and […]
Readers Write In #84: My first ever Balamuralikrishna concert
July 6, 2019
(by Jayram Sataluri) To remember and celebrate the life of Dr. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna whose birthday falls today (July 6th), I would like to share my reminiscences of the first time I ever saw him live in the US. Let’s hop into a time machine and travel back to June 4th 2006. This was held in […]
Readers Write In #53: Muted Symphony
October 14, 2018
2018 marks 25th anniversary of Ilaiyaraaja composing and recording a Symphony with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London. At that time he was the first Asian composer to do so. The Symphony was never released to the public and Ilaiyaraaja has largely remained silent about this work since then. This is a write up leading to celebrate […]
Readers Write In #47: When Left Met Right: Let’s talk about Communalizing Carnatic Music
August 24, 2018
As the nation celebrates its 72nd Independence Day, we need to have a dialogue between those who read India right and left. Before I venture further, I must admit this. I have never been too fond of labels which are, more often, borrowed constructs placed out of context. So, I am going to use the […]
The TM Krishna interview
August 3, 2017
My video interview with TM Krishna, on Tamil film music. (The promos appear first — these are bits that did not make it to the final cut of the interview.) Copyright ©2017 Film Companion.
Readers Write In #21: Unexpected blessing
July 16, 2017
You are returning home at the end of another mundane day at work. Your idle mind is starting to play games with you. You suddenly catch yourself questioning the choices you have made in your life (“maybe I really should have done MS instead of MBA, maybe I should have avoided all the show boating […]
Notes from the south
January 28, 2017
Meandering thoughts on music based on a few recent happenings. When the Carnatic musician TM Krishna unveiled Chennai Poromboke Paadal a couple of weeks ago, it felt like the musical world’s answer to the fall of the Berlin Wall, facilitating a crossover between two hitherto separate realms. “Poramboke” refers to land set aside for communal […]
Sa ri, but you asked for it…
December 16, 2016
Our annual feature, where ‘Metro Plus’ staffers (names changed), all newbies to Carnatic music, raise questions about the Season. Baradwaj Rangan attempts to keep a straight face and provide answers. An earlier installment can be found here. Dear BR: Why are most popular ragam-s named after women? Bhairavi, Arabhi, Kalyani, to name a few… – […]
A musical bridge across time
March 19, 2016
If Chitravina N Ravikiran has his way, couplets from the ‘Tirukkural’ may soon be part of the Carnatic repertoire. Last December, while preparing for his session at The Hindu Lit for Life 2016, Gopalkrishna Gandhi selected 34 couplets from the Tirukkural and asked Chitravina N Ravikiran to set them to tune. Gandhi had just translated […]
The storm and the qualm
December 10, 2015
You could drive yourself crazy debating whether the Music Season should be held this year. Baradwaj Rangan draws up a pro-con list. Con: Isn’t it awfully insensitive to go on stage wearing a silk sari in a carefully chosen shade, with carefully coordinated accessories – when so many people don’t have clothes to wear? Pro: […]
Art reorientation
November 13, 2015
A colossal performing-arts space in South Korea hopes to establish the East as the centre of the cultural world. One evening this September in Gwangju, South Korea, some 125 people watched Tishani Doshi and Shaji John slip into what seemed like a trance and demonstrate Chandralekha’s theories about “the geometry of the body.” The production, […]
The effects of ga-ma radiation
December 13, 2014
Some of the ‘Metro Plus’ staffers, all newbies to Carnatic music, had questions about the Season. Baradwaj Rangan attempts to keep a straight face and provide answers. (All names are changed.) Dear BR: If we’re listening to an earnest Abheri and the smell of the adai-avial from the canteen is irresistible, what do we do? […]
The silent musicians
December 11, 2014
Most of the artists in the performing circuit in Chennai have been groomed by individual gurus. So what about those who learn music in institutions? In a small room behind the Woodlands counter at Narada Gana Sabha, three schoolgirls, aged 13 to 17, were sitting on a mat. An electronic sruthi box lay on a […]
Baradwaj Rangan 
July 6, 2021
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