All craftsmen in Miraj are musicians – the wonderfully resonant Tanpura (Tambura)

Miraj is famous for tanpuras made by its craftsmen, who honed their skills by first becoming trained musicians. How did it ever strike someone to stick a piece of wood on a dried pumpkin, build this bridge and that and twist some strings on it, to make this wonderfully resonant thing one calls the tanpura? … Read more

A storm of songs: India and the idea of the bhakti movement

by John Stratton Hawley Review by Vinay Lal (Professor of History & Asian American Studies, UCLA) in Canadian Journal of History: A Storm of Songs: India and the Idea of the Bhakti Movement by John Stratton Hawley: “The idea of a ‘‘bhakti movement’’ has long been one of the largely unexamined verities that have played … Read more

Acharyanet courses for subscribers & Mini courses

Streaming Plan Sign Up: Join the Acharyanet Premium Subscription and get access to over 400 hundred video lessons taught by top gurus, to learn at your own pace. Obtain unlimited access to all lessons from basics to advanced including varishais, geethams, varnams, krithis and many more. | Pricing details >> Mini courses by Sangita Kalanidhi … Read more

“I completely enjoyed the role of being an observer and a commentator”: Sebastian and Sons by T.M. Krishna celebrates the contribution of mrdangam makers

Read the full interview in the Deccan Herald >> The writing in Sebastian and Sons introduces us to the storyteller in T M Krishna like never before. It’s a non-fictional work written with a novelist’s touch. It makes for a riveting read with the musician’s earnestness to absorb the stories of his subjects and his … Read more

The mridangam makers of Mylapore

Jesudas and his son Edwin are skilled craftsmen, known in the Carnatic music universe of Chennai and elsewhere for the mridangams they give life to, though they still face occasional communal biases | Read the full article with more images in full size here >>