Carnatic music, known as Karnāṭaka saṃgīta or Karnāṭaka saṅgītam in the South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and portions of east and south Telangana and southern Odisha. It is one of two main subgenres of Indian classical music that evolved from ancient Hindu texts and traditions, particularly the Samaveda. The other subgenre is Hindustani music, which emerged as a distinct form because of Persian or Islamic influences from Northern India. The main emphasis in Carnatic music is on vocal music; most compositions are written to be sung, and even when played on instruments, they are meant to be performed in gāyaki (singing) style.
Śruti or shruti in Sanskrit means "that which is heard" and refers to the body of most authoritative, ancient religious texts comprising the central canon of Hinduism. Manusmriti states: Śrutistu vedo vijñeyaḥ meaning, "Know that Vedas are Śruti". Thus, it includes the four Vedas including its four types of embedded texts—the Samhitas, the Upanishads, the Brahmanas and the Aranyakas.
Ramaswamy Krishnamurthy, better known by his pen name Kalki, was an Indian writer, journalist, poet, critic and Indian independence activist who wrote in Tamil. He chose the pen-name "Kalki", the future incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu. He founded a magazine, which was also named Kalki, with T Sadasivam being the co-founder, in 1941. Krishnamurthy‘s writings include over 120 short stories, 10 novellas, 5 novels, 3 historical romances, editorial and political writings and hundreds of film and music reviews.
The College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG) is a public engineering college situated in Chennai, India. It is Asia's oldest technical institution, founded in 1794. It is also the oldest technical institution to be established outside Europe.
Sundaram Balachander was an Indian veena player and filmmaker. He directed, produced, and also composed music for a few of his films. Balachander was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1982. He died of a heart attack at the age of 63, while on a music tour of India.
Subbiah Muthiah was an Indian writer, journalist, cartographer, amateur historian and heritage activist known for his writings on the political and cultural history of Chennai city. He was the founder of the fortnightly newspaper Madras Musings and the principal organizer of the annual Madras Day celebrations. Muthiah was also the founder-President of the Madras Book Club.
Guru Mani Madhava Chakyar (15 February 1899 – 14 January 1990) was a celebrated master performance artist and Sanskrit scholar from Kerala, India, considered to be the greatest Chakyar Koothu and Koodiyattam artist and authority of modern times. He was considered as the authority of Abhinaya and Nātyaśāstra.
Palghat Kollengode Viswanathan Narayanaswamy, often referred to as K. V. Narayanaswamy was an Indian musician, widely considered to be among the finest Carnatic music vocalists of the 20th century. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1986. He was described as the "Perfect Knight" of Carnatic music, a phrase from Geoffrey Chaucer, by V. K. Narayana Menon, art critic of India and recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship.
K.V. Ramachandran (1898-1956) of Coimbatore and Madras was a 20th-century Indian music and art critic. He had a reputation for being extremely opinionated and influential, and people who knew him recall that he instilled fear in musicians, dancers and artists around the country. In addition to books, his writings were featured in The Hindu, India's national newspaper, and the Journal of the Music Academy.
Raghunath Manet is a French classical musician/music composer and dancer/choreographer, writer, film maker and actor, born in the Union Territory of Puducherry. He is trained in Bharathanatyam and plays the Veena, a Carnatic instrument. He has collaborated with Gilberto Gil, Aldo Brizzi, American Jazz musician Archie Shepp, American dancer Carolyn Carlson, French performers such as Richard Galliano, Didier Lockwood and Michel Portal and Indian musician Dr Balamurali Krishna and Drums Sivamani.
Chandralekha is a 1948 Indian historical adventure film produced and directed by S. S. Vasan of Gemini Studios. Starring T. R. Rajakumari, M. K. Radha and Ranjan, the film follows two brothers who fight over ruling their father's kingdom and marrying a village dancer, Chandralekha.
Trippunithura Narayana Krishnan was an Indian Carnatic music violinist. Along with Lalgudi Jayaraman and M. S. Gopalakrishnan he was considered part of the violin-trinity of Carnatic music. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1980. He was also the recipient of the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour, in 1992, and earlier, the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour, in 1973.
Padmini Ramachandran was an Indian actress and trained Bharatanatyam dancer, who acted in over 250 Indian films. She acted in Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and Russian language films. Padmini, with her elder sister Lalitha and her younger sister Ragini, were called the "Travancore sisters".
Venkataraman Raghavan (1908–1979) was a Sanskrit scholar and musicologist. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Padma Bhushan and the Sahitya Akademi Award for Sanskrit, and authored over 120 books and 1200 articles.
Alarmel Valli is an Indian classical dancer and Bharatanatyam-Pandanallur choreographer.
Bangalore Nagarathnamma was an Indian Carnatic singer, cultural activist, scholar, and devadasi. A descendant of devadasis, she was also a patron of the arts and a historian. Nagarathnamma built a temple over the samadhi of the Carnatic singer Tyagaraja at Thiruvaiyaru and helped establish the Tyagaraja Aradhana festival in his memory. Within a male-dominated festival, she was the feminist strong enough to ensure that women artists were given equality to participate in it. She "was among the last practitioners of the devadasi tradition in India," and the first president of the Association of the Devadasis of Madras Presidency. She also edited and published books on poetry and anthologies.
Chetput Ramaswami Iyer Pattabhiraman was an Indian lawyer and politician from the Indian National Congress. He was the eldest son of Indian statesman C. P. Ramaswami Iyer. He served as a Member of Indian Parliament from Kumbakonam from 1957 to 1967 and as a Union Minister from 1966 to 1967.
N. Pattabhiraman was the founder and editor-in-chief of the Indian performing arts journal Sruti, after an earlier career as a diplomat.
P. R. Thilagam, popularly known as Thiruvarur Thilagam, is an Indian composer, vocalist and exponent of Kuravanji, a traditional form of dance drama popular in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. She hails from Kondi parampara of the Isai Vellalar community, a sect of women dedicated to the worship at Thyagaraja Temple, Tiruvarur.
J. Vaidhyanathan affectionately known as JV is a Mridangam exponent from Tamil Nadu, India. He was the first mridangist to receive the Yuva Kala Bharathi Award, Vellore Gopalachariar Memorial award and Isai Peroli Award. He also received several other awards including Kalaimamani the highest civilian award for artists in Tamil Nadu and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists.
