Seven years ago, sometime in April, Chennai-based Carnatica.com’s founding team KN Shashikiran, Sowmya and Ramanathan Iyer were meeting and drinking coffee with RmKV’s (a well-known saree brand) creator, late Vishwanathan. “I remember, and very vividly,” Shashikiran says, “The discussion was centred around music, events and the need for corporate support.” Somewhere amid that conversation, Shashikiran had an idea. He wondered the possibility of curating an exclusive festival with an interesting line-up of artistes from different genres and from across India. He struck gold mine with his timing. Seven years hence, the Bharat Sangeet Utsav (BSU) which arrives in Chennai with the monsoon at the break of November, every year, has come to be recognised not only for its choice of artistes, their artistry and aesthetics, but also as a befitting curtain-raiser to Margazhi, the season of music and dance in Chennai.
The Utsav that began on November 2 with a vocal recital by Dr M Balamuralikrishna will see music of myriad genres — classical, semi-classical, devotional and experimental — reverberating in the city’s prestigious Narada Gana Sabha till November 11. This year, in addition to the veterans in Carnatic music — TV Sankaranarayanan, TN Seshagopalan, Vijay Siva, Neyveli Santhanagopalan, Sanjay Subrahmanyam, just to name a few — the festival is offering innovation in creativity. Chennai-based pianist Anil Srinivasan and classical vocalist Sikkil Gurucharan will collaborate with percussion maestro Mark Stone (from the US) on his first ever visit to India. For those who like their dose of fusion, there’s a programme titled Carnatic Fusion Dream where Dr Jyotsna Srikanth teams up with the
Carnatica Brothers.
“We work closely with all our artistes and suggest themes that are one-off and offbeat,” Shashikiran says, “In addition to a variety of genres, we also attempt to create rare opportunities where senior artistes accompany young musicians. We believe every performance must be an experience, both for the performer as well as the listener.” It helps that he is an eminent musician and more importantly, an arts activist committed to foster consciousness among people. Many years ago, with a singular objective of integrating technology and its many possibilities with Carnatic music, and thereby taking it to a wider cross section of people across the world, Shashikiran and Sowmya — a classical musician, started Carnatica. Since then, the brand has earned both status and reputation as being an organisation with a vision for cutting-edge innovation in music and its many aspects. In addition to being pioneers in launching an online portal for Carnatic music, and start the tradition of an online modern Gurukula, Carnatica has also created platforms like a voice gym wherein voice experts and specialists train those interested in ‘voice care’ and the importance of maintenance.
The latest from Carnatica is an internet radio station. At a press meet at Hotel Woodlands in Chennai, last week, Shashikiran announced the launch of The Carnatica Channel on Bangalore-based radiowalla.in — a direct to consumer audio platform which offers created and curated 30-plus streaming audio channels to the netizens. A subscription channel exclusively offering Carnatic music, specialisation is among its forte. “You see, right now there is no channel that appeals to the old and young alike,” Shashikiran says. “The idea of this channel is to programme and package the content in a way that Carnatic music becomes accessible, enjoyable and of course, universal.”