Video | The idea of classifying ragas – Akshara & Kiranavali Vidyasankar

Akshara Samskriti is the daughter of Carnatic musician Kiranavali and scientist-philosopher, Vidyasankar Sundaresan. This video was recorded on Nov 1, 2013, when Akshara was 4 years old. It was originally in multiple parts for educational video compilation, and has been put together as a single video here. The 72 Melakartas are regarded as the parent … Read more

Audio | Numbers in Indian music and beyond (rasa): Zero & Nine– CBC Ideas

The story of zero: How ‘nothing’ changed the world Before it could be used, it had to be invented. “This invention of the zero and the way we write our numerals today is what is now the basis of all modern technology,” Princeton mathematics professor Manjul Bhargava told IDEAS. “We often take it for granted. But … Read more

“Bhava” and “Rasa” explained by V. Premalatha

“Rasa is realised in from the combination of the sthāyibhāva (permanent and dominant emotional mood) with the vibhāva-s (the objects of emotions such as the hero and the heroine, and the exciting causes such as the spring, flowers, moonlight and the bower), anubhāva-s (the external manifestations of emotions such as the movement of the eye-brows, … Read more

“Learning should be a source of joy” – V.V. Sadagopan on Music education

Audio source: singing by the author | Find details for “78RPM – V V Sadagopan” on Archive.org >> It is a curious irony that we, who claim to “hear” our music,1 are less sensitive to tone quality than the Westerner who “sees” his music. Happy exceptions apart, musicians and listeners (especially of the South) are … Read more