1) Cauvery In A Puddle: The 3 page article starts "The total hijack of the South's rich classical arts into airless, Brahmins-only monopolies is stifling genuine growth" and ends "Perhaps only a realisation that monopoly runs counter to the grain of art. For now, they're caught in a dark warp, waiting for light."

Interesting read...

Do not miss the Rants and Raves for this article too !

If you are a Tamil Brahmin... donot get offended... someone is expressing his point of view... Any criticism is good for growth... Let us look for ways to improve the situation...

If you have not watched tamil film 'Nandanaar'... please do watch it :-)

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2) Why Carnatic Music?: As a Westerner interested in Carnatic music, I am frequently asked to explain my interest and to articulate what makes South Indian music special. Both Indians and Westerners ask the same questions. Since I did not grow up with it, but rather chose it for myself from among a broad range of world traditions, Carnatic music is special indeed. There is always a sense in which cross-cultural interactions serve not only to broaden one's horizons, but also to set one's own cultural identity more strongly in relief. My more direct and natural interest in Western traditional music has been nourished by an appreciation for Indian music, and the same can hopefully apply in reverse. Here I hope to describe some points in common, as well as some of the strengths of Carnatic music from my perspective.

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3) A Gentle Introduction to South Indian Classical (Karnatic / Carnatic) Music: Many of us have grown up in India, where we were exposed to Indian classical music in one form or another. However, if you are not from a musically inclined family, the odds are that you perceived classical music to be something esoteric that only a selected few could understand and appreciate. An occassional devotional song or a 'classically tuned' film song would have made you stop and take note. Your curiosity could have been aroused. But, you may have quickly ignored the instinct and made a beeline for the usual pursuits in life. Even if you were interested enough to find out about classical music, you did not know what books to read or who to talk to. Even if you managed to talk to someone, it is likely that the person made you feel inadequate about your lack of musical abilities or proceeded to give you a long lecture about music with a million buzzwords that confused you and weaned you off your curiosity. It is unfortunate that there is an almost total lack of simple, readable, introductary texts on Indian classical music, especially when compared to volumes and volumes of elementary books available on Western Classical music. No wonder an average college-educated person in the USA is at least mildly knowledgeable about Western classical music whereas an average Indian is by and large ignorant about the technicalities of Indian classical music. This primer is a feeble attempt to introduce Karnatic music in a gentle way, in a language presumably we all can understand. I want to be able to rekindle your interest and help you discover some of the 'method' and grammar of Karnatic music. Even though these notes are aimed at introducing Karnatic music, a lot of of what I have to say also apply to Hindustani Classical music. This primer is obviously not meant for experts. I have intentionally kept this text simple. read everything

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4) Carnatic Music Primer: "Nature has endowed this universe with many beautiful life forms, of so many different shapes, sizes and abilities. Most animal forms have the ability to produce sounds and some of them even have the capability to communicate using varied sounds. Man is unique in that he can express his thoughts using sound." This is how Swami Jayendra Saraswathy, the Sankaracharya of Kanchipuram, introduces the Kamalaambaa Navaavarna Kritis of Muthuswamy Dikshithar. The ability to express thoughts through sounds has evolved into an art which we call music. Music can thus be defined as an art form that arranges sounds in a fashion that follows certain natural principles and provides that special inner feeling of happiness and contentment. It is important to note that the basic principles are natural and thus the theory of music is only an attempt by man to rationally explain what is already beautiful. As a fringe benefit, this rationalization helps in understanding the inherent beauty of music and creates increasingly higher levels of appreciation in the listener. more

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5) Mohan Krishnamoorthy: A few articles on Carnatic Music: Mohan states "Over the years, I have collected articles on Carnatic music from here and there. I have written a few of these myself. Also included here is the Bibliography and Percussion Primer FAQ for the RMIC Usenet Newsgroup."

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