for students and lovers of Carnatic music
In Tanjore as a Seat of Music (pp. 420-426), S. Seetha explains the scope envisaged by Venkatamakhi when presenting his mela arrangement >> Venkatamakhi while justifying the derivation of 72 melakartas by permutation and combination interestingly remarks that countries are many with people having variety of tastes and it is to please them ragas have been … Read more
The non-sacrificial, musical counterpart to Sāma-Gāna in ancient times was Gandharva-Sangīta, later Sangīta, which has three divisions; vocal, instrumental, and dance. Performed by “Gandharva” musicians in Indra’s heavenly court, earthly Gandharva-Sangīta was a replica of this celestial music. […] Gandharva-Sangīta was also associated with pūjā, a form of worship with non-Aryan or indigenous roots that … Read more
The flute has played a key role in India’s artistic life since antiquity. This is evident from writings on dance-drama, mythology, sculptures and paintings. Its playing technique must have been highly developed for a very long time. Different names are used for it, for instance kuzhal (pronounced like “kulal” or “kural”) in Tamil speaking regions; and bansuri in northern India. In poetry, song … Read more
By N S Ramachandran (University of Madras, 1938) | Compositions >> Gamaka has been defined by Sarngadeva and others as the ornamentation of a note by shaking it. But evidence from their works can be cited to show that the idea of gamaka is more extensive than the connotation of this definition; it has been … Read more
The notion of a particular time prescribed for ragas (gāna kāla) plays a greater role in Hindustani music than for exponents of its southern counterpart where sārvakālika ragas prevail: ragas suited to any day or night time. A few ragas nevertheless continue to be associated with the moods indicated by song lyrics (notably in dance … Read more
Custom SafeSearch – press and websites For up-to-date information from several leading periodicals and other websites, simply type one or several keywords such as a personal name or institution you want to learn more about (e.g. “carnatic”, “karnatak composer”, “hindustani musician”, “ragamalika”); optionally add a city or state (e.g. “Madurai singer”, “Karnataka violinist”, “Trivandrum music festival”, “Chennai music season”): … Read more
by Ludwig Pesch Carnatic music – the classical music of South India – unites people from a variety of social backgrounds. Over two hundred fifty million people now inhabit a region that comprises five modern states (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana) drawn up on the basis of their respective linguistic majorities. They take pride … Read more
Read “How images of birds enliven Indian classical music” by Chitra Srikrishna (Scroll, 2 February 2025) along with images and YouTube contents:https://scroll.in/article/1077488/how-images-of-birds-enliven-indian-classical-music Bhakti poet Andal, Marathi mystic Dhyaneshwar and Tamil poet Subramania Bharati have all used birds as rich metaphorical devices. Both the Carnatic and Hindustani classical traditions are filled with the songs of birds. … Read more
Source: ‘Dance of Freedom: A Short History of Bharata Natyam’ by Leela Samson (Excerpt)URL: https://scroll.in/article/1084893/dancer-leela-samson-on-how-bharata-natyam-adapted-indian-music-literary-texts-and-languagesDate Visited: 9 August 2025
“Unity in Diversity, Antiquity in Contemporary Practice? South Indian Music Reconsidered” by Ludwig Pesch (Amsterdam) in Music – Politics – Identity published by Goettingen University Music always mirrors and acts as a focal point for social paradigms and discourses surrounding political and national identity. The essays in this volume combine contributions on historical and present-day questions … Read more