I practice, how do I introduce music to kids, how do I increase
my playing speed, etc. This web series was an astounding
success garnering more than 1.5 million cumulative views
worldwide on Facebook. Apart from this, I do a lot of lecture
demonstrations and lecture concerts through SPIC MACAY,
where we reach out to school and college students and present
Indian music thereby creating new rasikas. I also periodically
conduct lecture demonstrations in institutions like IIT, IIM,
IISc and present both Saraswathi Veena and our Indian
classical music and explain to them how this system of music is
one of the most scientifically advanced, grammatically correct
and technically accurate. To make it appealing, we bring in
quite a lot of cool elements about our music about how we don’t
have notations in front of us and we improvise on the spot, and
how the synergy between the percussion and melody occurs
on stage and how every time we interpret a ragam its new and
not memorized. There are several aspects that make it really
interesting for youngsters like sawal-jawabs (back and forth
between melody and percussion), korvais or the percussion
element, moods and ragas – several such ideas to make it really
interesting for them.
Please share some nostalgic stories of your growing years
in the Lalgudi household
I was living in Bangalore with my parents and my
sister. Lalgudi mama used to visit Bangalore very often for
concerts for Rama Navami. What is most nostalgic is his
rendition of pieces like “Mokshamu galada”, “Naadaloludai”,
“Mohana Rama”, “Teliyaleru Rama”, “Sabapathyku”. the list
goes on. There are many instances about how he used to do
musical choreography, the way he taught certain kritis. When
he left for the concert, the atmosphere at home - how he would
get ready, how he would keep pacing up and down in the hall
thinking about what he would play, how his feet and hand
would always be practicing a particular rhythm and how one
channel in his mind would always be music, how he would
surprise everyone with something new every concert. Seeing
mama leave for a concert, going with him to the concert and
listening to him was a great experience in itself.
OFF CENTRE
A typical weekend for me is
While everybody is resting, weekend is a time when I
usually spring into action. When everybody is chilling
in their homes, I will be travelling to some place to
perform. The travel leaves us weakened but the music
keeps us energized.
If not for music, I would be
If not music, I would have been a writer. I used to
write and lot of poems, articles and short stories. I
chose to take up a Masters in English Literature for
the love of the language. I definitely would have taken
up writing if my calling hadn’t been the Veena.
Top 5 songs on my device
- Duduku gala – by Shri. Lalgudi Jayaraman mama
and Palghat Raghu ji
- Kishori Amonkar ji’s Gurjari Thodi Raag
- Kalavathi Kamalasana yuvathi – by Shri.
S.Balachander
- Flights of Fantasy – by Ganesh-Kumaresh ji
- Sur niragas ho – Shri. Shankar Mahadevan – Katyar
Kaljat Ghusali
- Chick Corea
- Shravanam – by Bombay Jayashree ji
- Kanmaniye kaadhal enbadhu karpanayo – Ilayaraja ji
- Hazir – Album by Hariharan ji
One late musician I wish to have collaborated with
Mandolin U.Shrinivas ji
My current muse
Abhishek Raghuram
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
15