Tag: December Music Season 2018

  • Kshetras visited by Purandaradasa

    Kshetras visited by Purandaradasa

    We all know of Muthuswami Dikshitar as an indefatigable traveller. His contemporaries Syama Sastry and Tyagaraja travelled less but nevertheless did so. Among his predecessors it would appear that Purandaradasa was quite widely travelled as is evident from his songs. Much of his movements ran in parallel to the expanding Vijayanagar Empire and taken together,…

  • Different People, Different Attractions

    Different People, Different Attractions

    It takes all sorts to make a December Music Season, as the Man from Madras Musings discovers.

  • Podcast on the December Music Season

    Podcast on the December Music Season

    The Hindu this year did a podcast series on the December Music Season. Put together by young journalist Jayanth Sriram, it has interviews with artistes, organisers and others. A link to my podcast, on the history of the Music Season is attached. https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/music/the-hindu-music-podcast-in-conversation-with-historian-v-sriram/article25858630.ece

  • The Mother With The Beard

    The Mother With The Beard

    The sudden switch of awardees with their family members as recipients can pose some strange moments

  • Navarasas @Sanjaysub #MusicAcademyMadras Concert

    Navarasas @Sanjaysub #MusicAcademyMadras Concert

    Today is Sanjay Subrahmanyan’s concert at the Music Academy, an annual event that is always a high point in the December Music Season calendar. These are the navarasas/emotions of his fans.

  • It Happened One #DecemberMusicSeason – 11

    It Happened One #DecemberMusicSeason – 11

    Among the many stalwarts that dominated the music world was Sangita Kalanidhi Kumbhakonam Rajamanikkam Pillai. A man who was as large-hearted as his physical frame, he taught many students. Each time one of them performed at a concert and came back he would ask how he, the student, performed. If the person replied that he…

  • It (Did Not) Happen One December Music Season

    It (Did Not) Happen One December Music Season

    Like the Nityasuris of old many NRIs come flying down each December and tell me tales. Some are good, some plain bad, and some rollicking. I will put this story in the last category. It concerns a Carnatic artiste who has a tendency of telling everyone that had he taken to law, he would have…

  • It happened one #DecemberMusicSeason – 10

    It happened one #DecemberMusicSeason – 10

    The Empress of Tamil Nadu holds a unique record as far as the Academy is concerned – she is the only one who has inaugurated its December Music Season thrice. Well twice actually, because she did not come one Season, sending her Chief Secretary instead, citing the severe floods that ravaged Tamil Nadu as a…

  • The Sanskrit Influences on Muthuswami Dikshitar’s Lyrics

    The Sanskrit Influences on Muthuswami Dikshitar’s Lyrics

    Sanskrit Influences on Muthuswami Dikshitar’s Lyrics, A Talk When we think of Sanskrit compositions in Carnatic Music, the first person who comes to mind in Muthuswami Dikshitar. Much has been written and spoken about his life and his songs. A not so well-explored area is the corpus of works in Sanskrit that may have influenced…

  • A tribute to TR Kamala Murthy

    A tribute to TR Kamala Murthy

    TR Kamala Murthy has gone, leaving Kathakalakshepam orphaned. A tribute.