F I N E  A R T S

Music

Indian music, has it’s   origin in the Vedas, Sama Veda in particular. In fact the arts of music and dance are classified as ‘ Gandharva Veda ‘- the Veda of celestial musicians and singers. Shiva plays ‘Dhamaru’ (drums), Krishna  plays  'Venu’ (flute) and Saraswati the goddess of learning plays the ‘Veena’ (stringed instrument). These are the classical Indian musical instruments. Evolution and adoption have added several new types of instruments in all three categories of percussion, wind and string. Western instrument like the Violin has now become as much a part of Indian musical scene  as the Veena or Sitar.

Basically there are two systems of classical music, called

 Carnatic  and  Hindustani.

The ‘Carnatic Sampradaya’ encompasses music written in Sanskrit and South Indian languages and has a history dating back to the Vedas.

The origins of Hindustani classical music called the North Indian style (Gharana) can be traced to the courts of the Persian and other Islamic rulers  of fourteenth century India.

The seven notes  (Sapta Swara) – Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni

 are common to both styles of music. Whereas these classical forms of music are for connoisseurs, there are other musical forms, of universal appeal. These are folk music, light classical music (Bhavageet  or  Sugama  sangeet) and film music. In terms of variety, volume, popular appeal,  and  number  of fans, film music is indeed phenomenal..

Historic perspective

 Vyasarayaru (A.D 1447-1539) the celebrated Vaishnava guru (Mathadhipati) at Udupi, whose disciples include, the most revered composer Purandara Dasa, is credited with taking Carnatic music to new heights of glory.

The honor of being recognized as the trinity of Carnatic music goes to Saint Thyagaraja (A.D 1759-1847), Shyama Shastri (A.D 1762-1827) and Muthuswamy Dikshitar (A.D 1775-1835). Between them they have composed over a thousand melodies (Krithis).

  Saint Thyagaraja

  Gems of the past

 Great  Composers and Singers in Carnatic Sampradaya.

          Annamacharya. 
          Ariakudi Ramanuja Iyengar.
          Bidaram Krishnapa.
          Chambai  Vaidyanatha  Bhagavatar.
          G.N. Balasubrhmanyam.
          Maharajapuram Santanam.
          Musiri Subramania Iyer.
          Mutthiah Bhagavatar.
          Mysore Vasudevacharya.
          Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer.

          Most revered Devotional composers and Singers

         Chaitanya Deva. 
           Sur Das   
           Tulsidas

          Great Composers and Singers in Hindustani tradition

          Bhav Bhatt. (1674-1709)
          Damodar Mishra. 17th century A.D
          Tanna Mishra. 16th Century A.D. (Tansen, one of the Navaratna in Emperor Akbar's court)

          Renowned  Instrument players.

          Emani Sankara Sastri (Veena). 
          Veena Seshanna. 
          Veena Subbanna.
          Veena Venkatagiriyappa.

           Some Contemporary Masters

           D.K.Pattammal (Carnatic singer).
           Maestro Bhimsen Joshi (Hindustani singer).
           R.K.Srikantan (Carnatic singer).
           Lalgudi Jayaraman (Violin).
           Nikhil Chakravarti (Sitar).
           Palghat Mani Iyer (Mridangam).
           Rajan and Sajan Mishra (Singers).
           Shivkumar Sharma (Santoor).
           Dr L. Subramaniam (violin).

Dance

Birju Maharaj

Brij Mohan Mishra, the living legend of the dance form called Kathak was born in Lucknow in 1937. Dancer par excellence and a great guru, he has single handedly shaped over a hundred budding talents, some of whom are shining as stars in their own right. His contributions to the development of Kathak Kendra, the National  Institute of Kathak at Lucknow, is immeasurable. 

Rukmini Devi Arundale

Born in Chennai in 1904, she established ‘Kalakshetra’ at Chennai for training artists In Bharatanatyam. This has grown to be a venerable institution.  

Samjukta Panigrahi

Much acclaimed Odissi dancer