Category archives: Transmission
Video | Documentary on S. Rajam singer, scholar, teacher and painter
S.Rajam is a multifaceted genius with creative talents in a variety of fields such as music, musicology, classical painting and acting. In the field of music, S. Rajam is an unparalleled authority on Vivadi ragas and has done much to popularize Koteeswara Iyer’s kritis. He has the distinction of being the only musician to have recorded all the 72 compositions of Kanda Ganamutham, most of the kritis being accompanied by Raga, Niraval and Kalpana swaras. He was also well known for keeping the Classical Indian Painting style contemporary. He has immensely contributed to enrich our cultural heritage for over six decades.
Launch and screening of the movie: 11th November 2012 at Tatvaloka, Eldams Road, Chennai (2.00 PM)
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Learn & practice more
- A brief introduction to Carnatic music (with music examples and interactive map)
- Free “flow” exercises on this website
- Glossary (PDF)
- Introduction (values in the light of modernity)
- Video | Keeping tala with hand gestures: Adi (8 beats) & Misra chapu (7 beats)
- Voice culture and singing
- Why Carnatic Music Matters More Than Ever
- Worldcat.org book and journal search (including Open Access)
Paper and Lecture Recital at the International Congress of the Gesellschaft für Musikforschung
Music | Musics. Structures and Processes
15th International Conference of the Gesellschaft für Musikforschung Goettingen
Title of the presentation by Manickam Yogeswaran & Ludwig Pesch: “Unity in diversity, antiquity in contemporary practice? A fresh look at South Indian music”
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Rajeswari Padmanabhan: Vainika, teacher, friend – a tribute in Sruti, A Monthly Magazine on Indian Performing Arts
By Dr. Pia Srinivasan (15 May 1931 – 8 April 2022)
I joined Kalakshetra in 1968 to learn Carnatic music. It was there that I met Rajeswari. It was a great event in my life as I came to realise more and more. Rajeswari, along with her music, is the central figure in my book titled Il raga che porta la pioggia (The raga that brings rain) describing my first stay in India 40 years ago.
As a teacher she was totally different from the elderly gentleman who first taught me to play the veena. He was taciturn, introvert, and did not correct my fingering, so much so that I had to stand behind him to observe how he played. Rajeswari Amma (later, as our friendship grew, there was no need for the ‘Amma’) was extrovert, she immediately caught hold of my fingers to correct their position. She was a remarkable teacher, playing a passage again and again, insisting on my repeating it till I got it right. She saw my deep involvement in Carnatic music, and knowing that I would not be staying very long in India, taught me difficult pieces, like the Viriboni varnam in the wonderful Karaikudi style, with all the gamaka-s possible. I had not learnt the subtleties while learning to sing it in a class for beginners at Kalakshetra a few months earlier.
At first Rajeswari Amma was very severe, paying no compliments on how I played the Veena. I remember once when I managed to play a passage very well and she reacted with a cool “Correct”. In later years, however, she would ask me at times to sing to her students, pieces that the great Turaiyur Rajagopala Sarma had taught me – Tyagaraja’s Seetamma mayamma (Vasanta), or Seetapatey (Khamas). In course of time, I became a member of her family. […]
To me Rajeswari was inconceivable without the veena. Hearing her play the listener would be reminded of her great-uncle Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer. Sometimes she sang, matching the veena so perfectly that you were not sure who was singing – the veena or she! […]
The unique Karaikudi tradition has not come to an end, for Rajeswari’s daughter, Sreevidhya, is continuing the tradition. Back in 1969 Rajeswari did not accept the ‘mike’ (as the pick-up was then known). Playing on her veena she said, “This is the sound of the veena, and not a nasal nonsense.” Like her mother, Sreevidhya too keeps away from a ‘technologised’ veena. And her sons Kapila and Sushruta, still children, are immersed in the veena. Watch out for the Karaikudi Brothers of the 21st century!
Read the entire tribute in Sruti, December, 2008 Issue No :291 >>
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Vaitari: A musical picture book from Kerala
by Arun V.C.
More information | preview of pages | Press coverage
Ekagrata Publications, Amsterdam 2006
ISBN-10: 90-75785-04-6
ISBN-13: 978-90-75785-04-3
250.- Indian Rupees (incl. audio-CD and postal charges) within India
€ 22.50 (incl. postal charges) within the Euro-zone by bank transfer; bank details on request
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ekagrata@mimemo.net
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CHF 30,00 (incl. audio-CD and postal charges) within Switzerland by bank transfer; bank details on request