classical heritage . Then I will have to look at Carnatic Classical Music .
What were the challenges you faced while building this resource ?
Our music has never been documented properly and therefore researching and collating facts have been so difficult . Also , I need a lot of donations to complete this massive work I have undertaken . Till now , I have been spending whatever I have been earning with partial support from my music Foundation Kalashree . I will be grateful if people can donate to my foundation , which is a non-profit Tax exempt one to help me complete this mission . People who donate can get tax exemption on their donations . I also need people to come forward to help me on different subjects like research , website maintenance , design , writing etc . I also have paintings made to project the mood of each raag , the colour of each raag etc , therefore I am open to people who want to join me to depict the raag through their paintings and artistry
What are 3 takeaways for a person who visits this site ?
Anyone who is a curious listenerrather a layman , a student of music , a professional musician and even a connoisseur will have something for them here . This is the first site to have indepth description of raags and their terminologies in 4K videos with demonstrations . Each video has a painting bringing the raag to life along with the explanations with demonstrations of how to invoke the raag to give you a vision which you will find nowhere in the web .
Your efforts to bring Indian Classical Music to light is phenomenal . What do you plan to achieve in the near future through this ?
Make the world sit up and realize how beautiful our music is and make our music and all the young , talented artistes I plan to invite get known all around the world . Also pick the brains of all the maestros to benefit the youngsters and let the world know through them what a heritage we have . Lastly to make every Indian proud of his or her heritage and dispel the notion that classical music is hard and not everyone ’ s cup of tea .
What do you think about youngsters and Indian Classical Music ? How would this help them ?
Youngsters and Young Stars !! Many of them are very good and I feel many of the raags that are getting obsolete as no one gets to perform them much- one can get to this online library if one wants to check them and brush up one ’ s memory .
When did you start Violin as an instrument ? Who was your teacher and your best learnings ?
I started at the age of two from my legendary grandfather Vidwan Narayan Iyer . My family is a family of musicians from seven generations who were court musicians at the Royal Court of Travancore till my great grandfather . I then learnt under a bit under my aunt Dr . N . Rajam who I wanted to emulate as a child and then for a period of 12 years from the Mewati Legend Pandit Jasraj .
You hail from a family full of legendary musicians . Was it a pressure for you to make a mark ?
There was no pressure as such but I did want to be unique in a family full of violinists .
Talk to us about upcoming projects .
I am working on a concept to project climate change through music . It had its world premiere with the Seattle symphony in March 2022 and now on 13th Jan 2023 it will premiere as a group called THE SIXTH ELEMENT ” at the Shanmukhananda Hall Mumbai , with wonderful musicians from India like Taufiq Qureshi , Rakesh Chaurasia , Ojas Adhiya , Atul Raninga and of course me too .
Message to upcoming violinists .
This is a very difficult instrument , in fact the most difficult but do not give up . Also , for those who know nothing much about this instrument , this is not a sad instrument as Indian films have made this out to be . This instrument is multi-dimensional , the most complete of all . I do not need to say more . The instrument will speak for itself when you hear great masters of the instrument . So those interested , please learn this too .
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