Hindustani Music – Shoba Narayan

Carnatic Instrumentalism

By: Shoba Narayan December 12, 2014March 20, 2019

Arts, Carnatic music, Columns, HT Media, Indian classical music, Music, The Good Life/Mint LoungeAnil Srinivasan, Anita Ratnam, Balamurali Krishna, Carnatic music, Chembai, Chitravina Ravikiran, Flute Mali, G.J.R. Krishnan, Ghatam Karthick, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Hindustani Music, Hotel California, Jayanthi Kumaresh, Kadri Goplanath, Kumaresh Ganesh, Lalguidi Jayaraman, M.S. Subbulakshmi, Mandolin U.Shrinivas, monophonic, Muthuswami Dikshitar, Mysore Brothers, orchestra, Papanasam SIvan, polyphonic, Priya Sisters, Rajaji, Ranjani Gayatri, Ravi Shankar, Sanjeev Abhyankar, Shashank, Shyama Shastri, Sikkil Gurucharan, Stan Getz, Sudha Raghunathan, T.N. Krishnan, Vijayalakshmi., Western classical music, Zakir HussainLeave a Comment

When Mint Lounge’s new editor, Sanjukta Sharma, contacted me with the idea of doing a cover story on the Chennai December Season, I had no hesitation about what I wanted to write: instrumentalists. My previous columns on singers had produced so much ire from instrumentalists for writing “vocal centric columns,” that I thought it was…

Reinventing Carnatic Music

For those who want to delve deeper, here are some books and papers that I read. The delight of research is discovery. You sift through reams of stuff and come upon some gems that make your hair stand on edge. If you must read one, just read this. From the Master himself: Ariyakudi on the…

Evolution of Music

By: Shoba Narayan March 8, 2014September 21, 2017

Arts, Carnatic music, HT Media, Music, The Good Life/Mint LoungeAriyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Carnatic music, Chennai, concert, cutcheri paddhati, format, Hindustani Music, TM KrishnaLeave a Comment

My friend, Chitra Srikrishna and I are doing a music event together on March 14th. Details here. A happy result is that I am reading a lot about Carnatic music. Ranging from Pantula Rama’s book to Sangita Ratnakara to white papers. Two chance conversations started this. In both cases, the two music lovers were gushing…

Song from the navel

By: Shoba Narayan January 11, 2014September 22, 2017

Arts, Carnatic music, Columns, HT Media, Indian classical music, Music, The Good Life/Mint LoungeCarnatic music, Dikshithar, Hindustani Music, tambura, tanpuraLeave a Comment

One of the tough things about writing is that the piece that you think is great will not resonate with readers and the piece that you think is so-so will elicit unusual responses. FIRST PUBLISHED: SAT, JAN 11 2014. 12 50 AM ISTHOME» LEISURE» THE GOOD LIFE Music should begin at the ‘nabi’ or navel,…

Culture and Specificity

Nice response to the piece below in Livemint website. I wish The Skeptarian, whoever she or he is had said some more. I don’t agree with her or his notions about culture as talking to sweeper. That’s my milklady version. The Skeptarian • 7 hours ago − This article just re-articulates a certain sameness in…

80th Birthday

What after you have seen 1,000 moons? Life for many of us is not about artistic genius or business impact. It is about small pleasures, rich relationships and the ability to make peace with your soul The Good Life | Shoba Narayan Posted: Fri, Aug 17 2012. 8:32 PM IST In the last six months,…