Few instrumental musicians can it be said, will inculcate gayaki style while rendering songs. According to me, especially flute players need a command over the instrument. At this instant I need to speak about the flautist Mrs. Sikkil Mala Chandrasekhar who is one of the acclaimed carnatic musicians. She follows her predecessors and gurus, the famed Sikkil sisters Smt. Kunjumani and Smt. Neela, being the daughter for the latter.
Being born on 23rd august 1963, she started her journey with flute from the age of six. She prospered under the guidance of Sikkil sisters and by the age of fourteen she was a skilled flautist.
It was in the year 1980, she was a debutante at the Krishna Gana Sabha. She also won the first prize at AIR music competition in wind instrument and received the award by Bharath Rathna M.S.Subbulakshmi. As a consequence, she entered the family of MS, on marriage, being MS's granddaughter-in law, in the year 1986.
There after she had several opportunities to get the guidance from MS and MS's daughter and vocal accompanist Mrs. Radha Vishwanathan. Even Mala feels blessed to be a part of the family and their support for her career.
She is a savant performer with great purity of lines being rendered, liveliness in her expression making audience oblivious throughout the concert. She also performs as an accompanied artist to the Sikkil sisters and the combination often called as 'Sikkil Trio'.
She is a recipient of many awards and honors including Venugaana Siromani, Flute Mali award. Government of Tamilnadu has conferred on her the title 'Kalaimamani'. She is also the first Indian to attend the National flute convention at USA. Also has presented a paper 'The Magic Flute', at the All India Wind Instrumental Conference at Mumbai. She was also been invited to perform at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan as a mark of world's music day in the year 2007 by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.
Being inspired by MS, her dream is to become an acclaimed artist as MS. Her other role models includes Sikkil sisters, Radha Vishwanathan, Lalgudi Jayaraman, Aliyur Natesha Iyer and Aliyur Narayanaswamy Iyer.