Dear Reader, It’s raining music in Spark this month. We have a lovely and interesting line-up of contributions from our team members for the July 2012 theme, ‘Musical Musings’. We have a very interesting interview and a special feature too! Click here to read the July 2012 issue on our e-reader, ISSUU. Coverpage photograph : Maheswaran Sathiamoorthy
CELEBRITY OF THE MONTH | Prasanna is an internationally renowned guitarist, music composer and the Founder President of Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music, the largest music college in South Asia. Prasanna has composed the original music score for the 2009 Oscar Award winning documentary ‘Smile Pinki’. He has also scored music for the critically-acclaimed Tamil feature film, ‘Vazhakku Enn 18/9’ that is currently running in theaters. A pioneer in performing Carnatic music on the guitar, Prasanna has more than 11 Carnatic albums to his credit, as well as recordings of original music such as ‘Be the Change’, ‘Electric Ganesha Land’ and more. In an interview to Spark, Prasanna talks about his fascinating musical journey of being a guitarist, composer and the President of Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music. Anupama Krishnakumar listens in.
SPECIAL FEATURE | Spark is proud to feature Harish Sivaramakrishnan, Lead vocalist at Agam, a Bangalore-based music band that has been around since 2003, Namita Devidayal, Journalist and Author of the acclaimed books ‘The Music Room’ and ‘Aftertaste’, Krish Ashok, popular blogger known for the humour that permeates his writing, RJ Prithvi, the highly popular Radio Jockey at Radio One 94.3 FM Bangalore and Vidya & Vandana Iyer, the music sisters whose rendition of ‘Munbe Vaa’, ‘Ashai Mugam’ and ‘Nee Nenaindal’ with clarinetist and composer, Shankar Tucker went viral on YouTube.
These six people talk about what music means to them and provide a glimpse of how this beautiful art form has become a part of their lives. Diverse that their fields are, it is interesting to note how music can be learnt, savoured and shared in such different ways. We hope you enjoy the feature!
In a heartfelt piece, Priya Mahadevan grows nostalgic about the music of her growing-up years, and also talks about how music has pervaded her life today, particularly with respect to her three children who enjoy music too and have their own musical tastes. Read it for this is sure to make you smile.
Ever attended lessons for something you were good at but never liked? We’re sure it rings a bell. Gauri Trivedi writes about her trials and tribulations with her mother around classical music lessons that she was enrolled in as a teenager.
Amrita Sarkar paints the Greek goddess Persephone rousing nature with her magical bird flute.
An affair with music – and a musician – that goes through the flow of a raag. Parth Pandya pens a story about Vishruti and Pranay.
In your deepest of music-related memories will be songs from long ago that you are surprised you ever liked, that tickle you, or that take you down the memory lane. Vani Viswanathan recollects a few Tamil songs in her music memory that formed an indelible part of her teenage but don’t really feature in her regular playlists – the ‘crazy’ songs, she calls them.
When she listens to a favourite playlist on her iPod, Anupama Krishnakumar travels to a different world created by music—far away from the one we exist in. In this world, music sparks memories and ignites imagination. She shares the experience through a poem.