Maya Swell Press

So Bangalore on a whim an accident a chance meeting and hells own bus ride from the coast. One of the cities I’d not expected to get to. I am not surprised by it. It’s dirty, probably slightly more polluted than Chennai, though less piss and shit on the pavement, and a few more trees. […]

The marriage of Kadri’s son, Mani, to Adhithi in Mangalore was one of the big social events of the year for this corner of the Tamil music scene. Many of Kadri’s family, friends and close connections are making the journey to Mangalore. Many more will be at the reception in Chennai in the first week […]

On the night before I was scheduled to leave Chennai for Mangalore, I had a fortunately timed call from Nagi, one of the ostentatiously gold draped film music producers I’d met within my first few days in India. Every time we’d tried to connect in the last two months we’d had to cancel, largely because […]

The first week and a half at TVG’s school flow by gently, or so it seems. TVG, and his daughter Acca are generally not around. I practice ragas for 3-4 hours in the morning. There is not a lot else to do. The girls sit around, watching movie channel on the idiot box, and sing […]

The first few lessons with Kadri are alternately inspiring and frustrating. He is a wonderful musician, a great teacher, and a warm and funny human being … but saxophone in Carnatic music is very different to the traditional instruments of Carnatic music (voice in particular), and very different to saxophone in normal western jazz/pop/classical usage. […]

The debate is raging in my head. Raga-ing in my head, perhaps. What is the music of India that has such a strange and wonderful hold on me, and where is it headed, and where and how can I get an understanding of it? Much of the clash between new India and old India is […]

Music season is drawing to a close here, and I’m settling in to a fairly hefty practise schedule on the sax. However, many gems have been cropping up in the musical calendar out of the blue. Last night saw what I’d regard as one of the two best vocal concerts I’ve seen here so far. […]

There has been a deluge of musical happenings events and connections over the past few weeks, but the most important and most challenging one began today. I’m here in India for several reasons, perhaps some of which I’m not even aware of yet. But my focus here in has been twofold. First, to see as […]

The music festival here in Chennai has been wonderful, simply divine, and totally inspiring. But in truth, the whole of India is a festival of sound in various stages of organization and disorganization. Foremost in Chennai is the carnatic music, the Southern Indian Classical tradition. That is not to say that Carnatic music is the […]