CHENNAI: She is passionate about music and arts and has taken up the task of reinvigorating fine arts. Radha Bhaskar, who holds a doctorate in music, launched Mudhra, an organisation which works for the revival of music, drama and Indian culture, along with her husband.
She is also the editor of 11-year-old Samudhra, the only magazine which covers all areas of fine arts such as drama, dance, arts, cinema, with music being the primary area of interest. “Samudhra will cover 140 issues by this June,” Radha says and adds, “Whatever I and my husband have learnt has to be put to use. I needed space to express myself as a musician, which paved the way for Samudhra.”
The magazine has coverage of interviews with popular musicians. Radha says, “We had interviews of violin maestros Ganesh Kumaresh, Balamurali Krishna and many others. Since, our goal is to make people aware of the present scenario, our primary focus is on contemporary artists.”
Many a time, rasikas are spellbound by music but are unaware of the kritis and ragas. Radha says, “There are several things which rasikas aren’t aware of, while listening to a classical song. Samudhra will help them identify the kritis and ragas. The ‘know your kritis’ section will help them find out the composition and the raga it is composed of, along with similar compositions. There is also a ‘know your raga’ section in the magazine where information about various ragas is given.”
Mention any sabha, be it Music Academy, Narada Gana Sabha or Krishna Gana Sabha, Radha has been part of all.
An artiste, whose main aim is to make people aware of music, she has been going places. From Muscat to Singapore to the US, she has been giving lectures on music.
Radha has also been part of many workshops conducted for children. She also has to her credit six music DVDs.
Involving children in mass singing programmes and inter-school info quiz competitions have been her earlier activities.
One such programme was the congregational singing event of 5,000 children from 50 schools, which was attended by former President APJ Abdul Kalam.