Lakshmi Sreeram

Apr 7, 2024 | frontline.thehindu.com | Lakshmi Sreeram |Paranjoy Guha Thakurta |Abir Dasgupta |Vaishna Roy

Urdhvordhvam aaruhya yad arthatattvam dheeh pashyati sraantim avedayanti / Phalam tad aadyaai parikalpitaanaam vivekasopaanaparamparaanaam. (Having climbed higher and higher the stairs of discrimination created by and received from the tradition, the mind is able to grasp the essential truth.) —Abhinavagupta (Abhinava Bharathi)“His destiny was to be elusive of (conventional) orders...

Mar 29, 2024 | frontline.thehindu.com | Lakshmi Sreeram |Paranjoy Guha Thakurta |Abir Dasgupta |Aditya Mani Jha

The Sangita Kalanidhi is a coveted award given annually by The Music Academy, Chennai, to a Carnatic musician. By convention, the designated awardee presides over that year’s prestigious Music Conference and over the other concerts in December. This year, The Music Academy awarded it to T.M. Krishna.

Jan 24, 2024 | frontline.thehindu.com | Lakshmi Sreeram |Rakesh Sood |Vaishna Roy

As a teen growing up in a relatively orthodox and religious family, my favourite deity was Rama worshipped at a little temple near our apartment in Wadala in Mumbai. The dark vigraham (stone statue) was beautiful; I said many a prayer to that deity, and I loved being in that presence. Like my mother, I, too, wrote hundreds of “Sriramajayam” in a notebook. And yet I feel no joy at the Rama temple in Ayodhya.

Jan 1, 2024 | thehindu.com | Lakshmi Sreeram

Does dance, more than any other performing art, offer us the alaukika experience that Abhinavagupta wrote about? Welcoming the audience at Kalavaahini’s Dance for Dance festival, Malavika Sarukkai spoke about the mismatch between the “staggering beauty” that dance brings to us and the rewards of those who take to the path of dance.

Feb 9, 2023 | thehindu.com | Lakshmi Sreeram

The Music Academy and HCL Concerts presented Pt. Venkatesh Kumar in a Khayal recital. Accompanied by Satish Kolli (harmonium) and Keshav Joshi (tabla), he presented raags Marwa, Shankara and Kaunsi Kanada, a thumri in Mishra Khamaj and a couple of devotional pieces towards the end.