As promised, here is the second part of my fireside chat with the Prince. Prince talks about his passion for different kinds of music, Opera, Arabic etc. He feels that those who stick with only one kind of raaga or music only enjoy Idly and Sambar, they are not willing to try Pizza or Fajita. […]

“I like dissolving tension rather than creating tension” said Prince Rama Varma to my question on his perspective on a performer’s mindset. I had the good opportunity to meet up and have an informal chat with Prince Rama Varma when he visited Boston last month (May, 2010). Prince Rama Varma is a direct descendant of […]

There are somethings you can get away in this world with little or no practice. I enjoy the fun, surprise element of extempore speeches and creating marketing promotions, challenging wits with others on the fly. I am learning that Music is not something you can get away with in an impromptu fashion. If there is […]

Many debates have happened and many stalwarts have been banished from the courts of Music in India on this topic of whether a music composition should be left as is or can it be experimented with to enhance the experience for the current time and age.

I was listening to one of the upcoming artists, Sikkil Gurucharan’s classical renditions and they are awesome. Sikkil Gurucharan hails from the famous Sikkil family that has the internationally acclaimed Carnatic flutists for several generations. He is the grandson of the senior of Sikkil sisters, Smt. Kunjumani and, the nephew of Sikkil Mala Chandrasekhar, another […]

I wrote about my musical sojourn to Wesleyan University, the journey continues, now it is local, Tufts University. I met up with three vibrant young musicians couple of days back. Saish Gunturi, a student at Tufts University and a savvy guitarist, Swarup Swaminathan, a Masters student at Harvard University and an avid Harmonium and Piano […]

Earlier I wrote about my visit to Wesleyan University and being part of the student concert and interviewing them. My 2 hour drive on a weekday from Boston to Bloomington, Connecticut was worth every moment, these students are all extremely inspiring and hugely talented. Solkattu by the students was a terrific performance, Prof. David Nelson […]

Raphaelle Brochet, the lead vocalist says she was inspired to learn South Indian Classical music the first time she was in India at the age of 17, she went back to France, moved to Paris to start her carnatic music lessons, check out my interview with Raphaelle here

On April 28th I was at Wesleyan accepting an invite from Prof. Balasubramanyam at Wesleyan. His students were performing in a carnatic music concert and they sang 6 wonderful krithis. What’s amazing is not that all the artists are westerners, but that their sincerity and devotion to an art form that is exotic even to […]