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Can we turn Varanasi into a music city?
Photo by Srivatsan Balaji on Unsplash The Nashville metropolitan area has a population of under two million, comparable to Varanasi in India, but gets approximately 16 million visitors annually, driven by its positioning as Music City USA. In 2019, Varanasi, according to government data, had a record number of nearly nine million visitors—most were pilgrims. Yet music rose to prominence in Varanasi as early as the 14th century, during the Vaishnava Bhakti movement. The poetr
Apr 61 min read
Playing the same Carnatic tunes for 100 years
"I have never heard this song before,” an elderly audience member told me right after my recent concert in Bengaluru. The song he was referring to was Athi Saavadana , composed by the 17th century Thanjavur Maratha king Shahaji I. While the raga (Paras) in which the song has been composed is not uncommon, the composition itself is rarely heard on stage. In a typical Carnatic concert, or kutcheri as it is known in Tamil, one usually hears songs composed by the musicians refe
Apr 61 min read
In striking verse, how the women saints of Bhakti movement told their stories
A copper statue of Karaikkal Ammaiyar. | In public domian, via Met Museum There is an apocryphal, though riveting tale of Karaikal Ammaiyar, a 6th century poet-mystic of modern-day Tamil Nadu. Abandoned by her husband who viewed her as a goddess after witnessing her miracles, she found herself harassed by a society that found it unpalatable for a married woman to live alone. Legend has it that this is what led Karaikkal Ammaiyar to seek divine intervention to do away with her
Apr 61 min read
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