Terminology
Avarta – a cycle of tala.
Akshara – Fundamental units that make up a tala. A tala can be expressed in terms of the number of Aksharas. Normally Adi tala would be considered to have 8 Aksharas. When no other details are specified, we assume that the Adi tala is in Chaturashra gati and rendered with 4 subunits in each Akshara.
Note that Aksharas are just measuring units for tala. An Akshara can carry any number of subunits within it , upon which depends the classification of the gati of the tala. A good analogy is just as one litre is a measuring unit for volume , an Akshara is a measuring unit for Tala. One litre could be a measurement for any liquid, water, milk or juice. Similarly the Akshara could contain a variety of subunits that represent a Tishra gati, Chaturashra gati, Khanda gati, Mishra gati or Sankeerna gati.
Subunits – The units contained within an akshara. These are erroneously referred to as ‘matras’ by some, but we will avoid that connotation in the interest of adhering to the original definition in musical treatises . The term ‘matra’ actually refers to duration of 4 Aksharas. It is not too relevant here, but we will adhere to the convention of referring to the subunits of Aksharas as ‘subunits’ and not ‘matras’.
Gati or Nadai – Pulse or gait of the tala. Gati is the Sanskrit term while ‘Nadai’ is the Tamil term and refer to the same entity.
The number of subunits within an Akshara determine the Gati or Nadai.
Number of Subunits ----------> Type of Gati or Nadai
4 or multiples of 4 ---------> Chaturashram
3 or multiples of 3 ---------> Tishram
7 or multiples of 7 ---------> Mishram
5 or multiples of 5 ---------> Khandam
9 or multiples of 9 ---------> Sankeernam
Kalai – The number of branches in a beat of a tala. Typically we might say a 2-kalai Adi Tala contains 16 Aksharas with 2 kalais in each beat.
JAti - Another attribute of a tala which determines the number of counts in the laghu of the tala. These can be one of 5 varieties,
• chaturashra jAti (4 counts)
• tishra jAti (3 counts)
• mishra jAti (7 counts)
• khanda jAti (5 counts)
• sankeerna jAti (9 counts)
jAti can also refer to a count which is any one of the numbers 3, 4,5, 7 or 9.
Jati – A rhythmic pattern represented by a ‘sol’. ( Rhythmic syllable)
Example:
A pattern of 3 could be represented by a Jati , ‘Ta ki ta’ .
A pattern of 5 could be expressed as Jati , ‘Ta ka ta ki ta’.
Yati – The progression of rhythmic patterns can be one of following:
• Sama or Pipilikam (Ants) – Constant progression like ants following one behind another.
• Gopuchham (cow’s tail) – Gradually tapering.
• Srotovaham (flow of river) – Gradually increasing.
• Mridanga ( following contours of a mridangam shape) – This is actually a Srotovaham + Gopucham -> small to big to small
• Veda Madhyamam or Damaru (following contours of a ‘damaru’ shape) – This is actually a Gopuchham + Srotovaham. -> big to small to big.
• Vishama – Random
kArvai – Silent space represented by a comma or dot in notation. Although silent, kArvais form the beauty of many rhythmic constructions and demand lot of practice to execute with precision and beauty.
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(Vocal and Mrdangam)
Dathre is an upcoming talented vocalist who along with his brother Dhruv has received critical acclaim from audiences globally with his talents , performing as Pathangi Brothers. He started his initial training under Shri K R Kannan and Shri K R Saranathan and is currently under the tutelage of globally acclaimed Sangeet Samrat Chitravina N Ravikiran.He along with his brother has several awards and accolades to his credit.
(Flute)
Heramb Hemanth, the twin brothers, affectionately called as the Flute Brothers, are two of the most sought after flautists and the only twin flute duo in the carnatic music scenario today. They started learning carnatic flute at the age of 6 under the renowned flautist, Sri Mysore AV Prakash and are currently under the tutelage of well-known carnatic vocalist, Kalaimamani Sri Neyveli Santhanagopalan. Heramb Hemanth have developed a unique, refined fingering and blowing technique, which enables them to switch between wide range of flutes, including the difficult bass and double-bass flutes. The duo is well appreciated for their innovative approach, perfect synchronization, shruthi shuddham (perfect pitching), tonal quality and the blend which makes the rasikas feel at times as if they are listening to a single flute. Their music naturally demonstrates depth and proximity to the lyrical aspect of composition, representing the 'gayaki style' of music. The brothers are on their way in creating a new dimension to the art of playing carnatic classical flute duets. Being one of the youngest recipients of 'A' grade by All India Radio (age of 18), they have performed in various prestigious organizations and festivals in the country and abroad. They are also recipients of 'The Shanmukhananda Bharat Ratna MS Subbulakshmi Fellowship' from Sri Shanmukhananda Sangeetha Sabha, Mumbai and one of the youngest recipients of 'Asthana Vidwans' title from Sringeri Sharada Peetham.
(Violin)
PROFILE
(Vocal)
Samanvi, a very capable vocalist, is a disciple of Chitravina N Ravikiran, Aravinda Hebbar and Vasanthalaxmi Hebbar. She had also the privilege of learning under the late Ranjani Hebbar. She has performed a number of duo concerts with her friend Archana at prestigious sabhas across India and has has also bagged many prizes and awards for both her solo and duo performances. Samanvi has also co-authored a book ‘Keerthanas of Karnataka’, consisting of compositions tuned by Aravinda Hebbar.
(Vocal & flute)
Dhruv is an upcoming talented vocalist who along with his brother Dathre has received appreciation and recognition from audiences globally with his talents, performing as Pathangi Brothers. He started his training under Shri K R Kannan and Shri K R Saranathan and is currently under the tutelage of globally acclaimed maestro Sangeet Samrat Chitravina Shri N Ravikiran.He along with his brother has several awards and accolades to his credit.
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(Mridangam)
Recepient of ‘Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar’(President of India Award)
K.V.Prasad is the disciple of Ernakulam Narayana Iyer. He had further training from Professor Parassala Ravi, Principal of the Swathi Tirunal Music College, Trivandrum. He received advanced training from Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr.T.K.Murthy. 1958 born, K.V.Prasad, is a ‘A Top’ mridangam artiste retired from Chennai AIR with 34 years of service. K V Prasad is a versatile percussionist who can also play other percussion instruments.
K.V.Prasad is one of the most sought after Mridangam Artiste in the field. His deft fingering characteristic of the grand Thanjavur Style together with his intricate knowledge of rhythms results in scintillating performances. He stands out unique in the field for his special approach in accompanying compositions with his attractive tone and lively skills.KVP is an accomplished teacher with many students who are in the field.
(Vocal)
Nupur Joshi is an Indian classical vocalist, based in Mumbai. She is trained under Dr. Vikas Kashalkar and Shalmalee Joshi in Hindustani classical music and in Carnatic classical music by Shri Chitravina Ravikiran for the past many years.
She has been training students in both beginner and advanced levels in India and abroad. Nupur has won many prizes at various festivals and has performed at many venues throughout the country.Some of her concerts include those at the prestigious Saptak festival, Ahmedabad, Bhavan’s Andheri BCCA, Mumbai, Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai, Aurobindo Ashram, Vadodara,`Udat Abeel Gulal’ performances at the well- known Sangeet Kala Mandir, Bhartiya Bhasha Parishad at Kolkata, and also at Shantiniketan. She has been selected thrice for the ‘Guru in Residence Workshop’ at the NCPA, Mumbai, conducted by renowned musician Pt. Ajoy Chakrabarty ji.This apart, Nupur is a B.Sc in Mathematics, Statistics and Economics from St.Xavier’s College, Mumbai and a MA in Economics from the University of Mumbai.
(Director)
Sangeet Samrat Chitravina N Ravikiran, hailed as the ”Mozart of Indian Music” by the global media, made his debut at the age of two and “Gave a new meaning to the word, prodigy” (NPR, USA), inspiring sitar maestro Pt Ravi Shankar to declare, “If you don’t believe in God, look at Ravikiran”. Ravikiran presented vocal concerts from age 5, chitravina concerts from age 11 and was the youngest performer to be given the A-Top grade by All India Radio in his early 20s. He has “Brought new audiences to Indian music” (CNN TV) and is renowned as ”Perhaps the greatest slide player in the world today” (Radio Australia) for his “Teasing precision and dazzling effects” (New York Times).
Among the most successful gurus in the Indian Classical arena, Ravikiran has also mentored a large band of established and emerging performers across the world and pioneered distance education in Indian Classical music in 1990s and has been the consistent leader in propagating the rich traditional values on various platforms including Skype, Whatsapp etc, most of which has now been embraced by the entire field. Known for his award winning concept of Melharmony, Ravikiran has over 800 compositions to his credit in 5 languages. He made world history by setting to music the entire 1330 Tirukkural verses of ancient Tamil poet Tiruvalluvar in a matter of 16 hours. Youngest to win the President of India’s Award for artistic excellence (at age 38), Ravikiran has also been decorated with numerous awards in various countries.
(Nagaswaram & Wind Instruments)
Mylai M. Karthikeyan, an upcoming talented Nagaswaram artist started his initial training from his father Nagaswara Vidwan Mylai S. Mohanraj and then from Nagaswara Vidwan Mylai Rajendran . Later was under the tutelage by Nagaswara Vidwan Vysarpadi G. Kothandaraman for advance training in Nagaswaram. He is an A grade artist at AIR and received BHARAT RATNA Dr.MS Subbulakshmi Fellowship award and Scholarship from Sri Shanmukhananda Fine Arts and Sangeetha Sabha along with many other awards. He has performed at various sabhas both in India and abroad accompanying leading artist in the industry and solo concerts too. He is a Diploma holder(Gold medallist) in Nagaswaram from Adyar Music college- Chennai.
(Vocal)
Petreeza Sabu is a talented vocalist, undergoing advanced training from Sangeet Samrat Shri Chitravina N Ravikiran. Petreeza commenced learning from very early on and her mentors were Shri Chandramana Narayanan Namboothiri & Dr V R Dileepkumar. Also passionate about music theory, she holds a Master’s Degree in music from Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady and MPhil from Queen Mary’s College, Chennai. A 1st prize winner for classical vocal competition in Inter University National Youth Festival 2018 held at Ranchi, Jharkhand, Petreeza has performed in various venues across India including at the Chennai Music Festival.
(Vocal)
Archana G Upadhyaya, a very capable vocalist, is a disciple of Chitravina N Ravikiran, Aravinda Hebbar and Vasanthalaxmi Hebbar. She had also the privilege of learning under the late Ranjani Hebbar. She has performed a number of duo concerts with her friend Samanvi at prestigious sabhas across India and has has also bagged many prizes and awards for both her solo and duo performances. Archana has released 2 audio albums and co-authored a book ‘Keerthanas of Karnataka’, consisting of compositions tuned by Aravinda Hebbar.
(Veena)
Veena Akhilandeshwari, a talented performer, started her initial training under the tutelage of Dr Banumathi Nagarajan before getting for advanced lessons from Dr Veena Sivakumar, himself an A-Top grade artist in AIR, Trichy. She has rendered solo concerts and also provided veena support to her guru across India. A Gold medallist of the All India Radio competition, she is also a recipient of the Government of India’s CCERT Scholarship. Akhilandeshwari has received several awards and mentored students at various levels. She holds a master degree in Music after completing an undergraduate degree in Commerce.
(Vocal and Violin)
Apoorva Ravindran is a brilliant vocalist who along with her sister Anahita have enthralled audiences globally with their prodigious talents. She started her initial training under her paternal grandmother Smt. Shanti Jayaraman and is currently under the tutelage of globally acclaimed Sangita Kalanidhi Chitravina N Ravikiran. She is a gold medalist from the All India Radio.She has several awards and accolades to her credit. She is a recipient of the CCRT Government of India scholarship. She has also been conducting classes for many years and trained many students both in beginner and advanced levels.
(Vocal and Chitraveena)
Anahita Ravindran is a sought-after young vocalist who has received rave reviews from the music world for her outstanding performances laden with bhava and intellect. She is a Gold medallist from the All India Radio and is a graded artiste. She was awarded the ‘Best Performer’ by Krishna Gana Sabha for 2 consecutive years and is the recipient of many prestigious awards. Anahita has also been the lead Vocalist for Dr. Vyjayantimala Bali’s dance programs and has had the fortune of performing with stalwarts like Pt Birju Maharaj, Prof C V Chandrashekar, Smt Leela Samson, Smt Sudha Raghunathan, Smt Bombay Jaishree and others, apart from her Guru, Chitravina Shri N Ravikiran. She has been training students worldwide over in both beginner and advanced levels and has conducted several workshops in India and abroad, for school as well as college students.Apart from being a much sought after young vocalist, she is proficient in playing the Chitravina too.
(Vocal)
Siva Prasad, versatile in both music and dance repertoire, had intensive training in Carnatic under guru K M Krishnan and in the Sopaanam style from his father V N Narayan Nambudiri. Through his journey of innumerable stage performances with globally renowned artists over 30 years in top venues including the Central Theater in New York, he has won prestigious awards such as Mumbai Gaurav, Kalaratna and Nrtya Sangeeta Sevamani, Nadavedashree (from India) and Sangeeta Praveena in Switzerland. He also lends his voice for fusion music bands and recordings and has been featured by both All India Radio and Dooradarshan.
(Vocal and Chitraveena)
Bhargavi Balasubramanian, a disciple of Sangita Kalanidhi Chitravina N Ravikiran is a naturally talented, multi-faceted and versatile performer in both vocal and chitravina. Her deep-rooted classical mind and her ability to handle core-Carnatic ragas with ease have won her critical acclaim, not only with rasikas but also among fellow musicians. She has performed numerous solo vocal and chitravina concerts all over the world and collaborative concerts with many reputed musicians and dancers.Bhargavi is a graded artiste of All India Radio in both vocal and chitravina and has been recognized and honored with many titles. Bhargavi is a much sought-after Guru and is well known for her contributions as a core-trainer for the ‘Sustaining Sampradaya’ programme, at the prestigious Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival. Her teaching methodologies and skills have been highly appreciated and her disciples have won several prizes in music reality shows such as Sangeet Samrat, Carnatic Music Idol, Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival and many of them are actively performing budding artists today. For more info, visit www.bhargavibalasubramanian.net
(Vocal)
Sowmya Acharya is a graded artist from All India Radio and a talented vocalist blessed with a melodious voice. She has made several significant contributions not only as a performer but also as the founder of Acharyanet.com, an online resource for high-quality lessons taught by great gurus. Sowmya has performed in many prestigious organizations in India and abroad and is dedicated to spreading the joy of learning music through teaching and organizing special Master Classes with renowned musicians. She has been taking advanced training from the revolutionary music educator Sangeeta Ratnakara Shri Chitravina N Narasimhan and Sangita Kalanidhi Chitravina N Ravikiran for the past decade and continues her journey with music learning, performance and teaching.
