S Sowmya

[rupavathi]

Two bits of information picked up from Smt. Sowmya's official fb page:

Sept. 4th 2012
Congratulations, DOCTOR Sowmya!
(Smt. Sowmya today successfully defended her dissertation titled "A study of the effect of temperature variations on the pitch of a double-headed drum - mrdanga" at the University of Madras, capping six years of research, under the guidance of Dr. Premeela Gurumurthy)

Sept. 3rd 2012
Smt. Sowmya accompanied by Parur MS Ananthakrrishnan, Neyveli Narayanan & KV Gopalakrishnan will be on a concert tour of USA & Canada from Sept. 8th - Nov. 18th 2012. The tour is organized by Viji Mani & Mahalingam Mani of Sankritilaya, California. The schedule:

9/8/2012 White Plains, NY
9/9/2012 Boston, MA

9/16/2012 Phoenix

9/21/2012 San Diego
9/22/2012 LA
9/23/2012 San Jose

9/30/2012 Charlotte

10/5/2012 Indianapolis
10/6/2012 Chicago
10/7/2012 St Louis

10/13/2012 Calgary
10/14/2012 Buffalo

10/20/2012 Toronto
10/21/2012 New York

10/26/2012 Columbus
10/27/2012 Austin
10/28/2012 Houston

11/2/2012 Rochester
11/3/2012 Washington DC
11/4/2012 Atlanta

11/10/2012 Philadelphia
11/11/2012 Denver

11/16/2012 Dallas
11/17/2012 Sacramento
11/18/2012 Portland

[mahavishnu]

Congrats to Dr. Sowmya. Very interesting thesis topic!

Given the breadth of her knowledge, I would have expected her topic to be more related to the pannisai in the Silappadikaram or something like that. But then again, her knowledge of physical chemistry & thermodynamics probably came in very handy in studying the effect of temperature variations on the mridangam's pitch.

I would be delighted if someone could post a pdf copy of her thesis (if it is public domain material). Most dissertations in the US/UK/Canada are archived and available to the public.

Looking forward to her upcoming concert tour.

[vasanthakokilam]

Interesting thesis topic. Congratulations Dr. Sowmya. Her thesis title reminded me of Fourier Transform, given such a similar problem in a different context is what motivated Fourier on that monumental intellectual achievement nearly two centuries ago. As a self-proclaimed Fourier devotee, it will be fun for me to see if she went mathematical in the FT route. As Mahavishnu said, it will be interesting to browse through her thesis.

Hope to catch her concert when she comes our way here.

[ramanathan]

Ramesh / VK: Having been a witness to Smt. Sowmya's research work and its outcome (mostly as a helping hand, nothing more!), I must say that the innocuous-sounding title of the thesis masks what will eventually be acknowledged as a path-breaking PRACTICAL innovation to stabilize the pitch of the instrument, which varies widely across climatic variations and ambient conditions, posing a challenge to performers especially in this age of globe-trotting! Importantly, this has been done WITHOUT tampering with the basic construction or natural materials traditionally used in constructing the mridangam. Professional percussionists and mridangam craftsmen have been involved in the work. I believe the thesis can be made public only after the convocation, with the University's formal consent. As of now, the results have been publicized only at her final viva voce that happened on Sept. 4th, wherein the examiners recommended that Sowmya be conferred with the Ph.D.

[vasanthakokilam]

Thanks Ramanathan. Sounds very interesting. We will look it over and learn from her work once it is made public after her convocation. Kudos to Dr. Sowmya.

[harimau]

I must say that the innocuous-sounding title of the thesis masks what will eventually be acknowledged as a path-breaking PRACTICAL innovation to stabilize the pitch of the instrument, which varies widely across climatic variations and ambient conditions, posing a challenge to performers especially in this age of globe-trotting! Importantly, this has been done WITHOUT tampering with the basic construction or natural materials traditionally used in constructing the mridangam.

I think she should patent her innovation first. She can check with Rohan Krishnamurthy who, I am sure, can refer her to a competent patent lawyer.

[mahavishnu]

thanks, Ramanathan. Look forward to hearing more when it is appropriate to release the material.
Harimau:

[kvchellappa]

Dr Sowmya's lecture on "Ragas as envisioned in Padam & Javali", at Voices of Tmrw 2013, Sastri Hall, Chennai, Nov..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A_OH0eJ ... e=youtu.be

[kvchellappa]

From twitter of the artist:
Vidushi Sowmya has been nominated by the Ministry of Culture, Govt of India as a Member of the Governing Board of Kalakshetra Foundation, Chennai

[cacm]

quote="vasanthakokilam"]Interesting thesis topic. Congratulations Dr. Sowmya. Her thesis title reminded me of Fourier Transform, given such a similar problem in a different context is what motivated Fourier on that monumental intellectual achievement nearly two centuries ago. As a self-proclaimed Fourier devotee, it will be fun for me to see if she went mathematical in the FT route. As Mahavishnu said, it will be interesting to browse through her thesis.Hope to catch her concert when she comes our way here.

To me PRACTICALLY EVERY COMPLEX ENGINEERING PROBLEM'S PRACTICAL SOLUTION HAS HEAVILY INVOLVED USE OF FOURIER TRANSFORM WHICH OCCUPIES THE PLACE OF SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS! HOWEVER in many instances the results of second law for macroscopic situations are not violated while the fourier analysis can be violated (& indeed is) while the complex problem is solved with less accuracy.
It would be nice if you can elaborate further as I have done quite a bit of research on this including multi-diciplinary approaches regarding scales in music etc...VKV

[rajeshnat]

Dec 01st is always a special supplement in The Hindu. Almost all sabhas publish their schedules and lovely writeups are also written on the forth coming season
https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/ ... 123767.ece

[rupavathi]

Keynote address by Sangita Kalanidhi designate Dr Sowmya at inauguration of Academy's conference:
http://sowmya.org/2019/12/15/keynote-ad ... nate-2019/

The speech was also livestreamed on her Facebook page

[shankarank]

Vidushi Sowmya MA Dec 31, 2019 Lec Dem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbcoX6xXyGA

Here she rattles through all sorts of Srutis (not svaras ) - Svaras have now become notational symbols nothing to do with the actual thing being sought. Yes, I think right word is seek! Srutis are not hit, they are sought!

Kaisiki niSadam comes for lot of exposure in it's varied hues.

dEvagandhari - she tries to show that - what I would refer to as the dissonant piDi - sort of heard in an old AriyakuDi AIR relay ( I cannot exactly pinpoint in his exposition, but he says sabash to one such when violinist replies : https://youtu.be/aZil8kH8YH8?t=291).

These were tried for immitation by Grandpas and Grandmas.

Recently I heard Tiruvarur Girish getting that same piDI, in Ramnad centenary concert last year. He gets a Sabhash from Sri Nagai Muralidharan - IIRC! Will try to get the timeline link.

[shankarank]

We have almost forgotten to discuss the still reigning Sangita Kalanidhi.

Here is a concert upload once recorded personally by yours truly!

https://youtu.be/QZBmmX7-yd4


Vid. Sowmya - vocal
SrI R.K Sriramkumar - violin
SrI Neyveli Narayanan - mridangam

01 Narayanagowlai - varnam
02 Mayamalavagowlai - tulasi dala
03 Ritigowlai - rAga ratna malikacE
04 Shubhapantuvarali - paSupatISvaram
05 Bilahari - sarvESa
06 Kokilavarali - samukAna
07 Kalyani - ragam
08 Kalyani - KAntimati karuNAmIRa - SrI SubbarAma dIkshitar
09 <Tani>
10 Chala nattai - EdaiyyA gati
11 Nattaikurinji - Ragam, tanam

12,13 Nattaikurinji - Pallavi
Kuvalaya dala nayana Adi(2 Kalai) sama eduppu

Ragamalika swarams:
Vasantha, bhairavi, vasanta-bhairavi
Saraswathi, manohari, saraswathi-manohari
Sri, ranjani, sri-ranjani

14 BehAg - SrI MAdhava - removed due to copy right claims by Amutham
15 aTAna - Meregadu
16 yE Muthukrishnana - - removed due to copy right claims by Amutham
17 Kharaharapriya - Padimati nati - Tiruppugazh
18 Mangalam

Her neraval @ SAnta rUpa part of kantimati karuNA mIra needs special mention for the poise and verve.
Both kAntimati of her Gurus Brinda/Mukta staple and the nATTai kurinji RTP were requests by two of us, former by me and the other one by a friend @karthit if he is around.

We went all the way to listen to her Pittsburgh concert and made that request ahead of time personally.

[shankarank]

Looks like the archives are starting out to come out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=420jqXqIBRM

[shankarank]

On #77 - an anecdote: around the same time another tour of musicians , that had senior accompanists were in visit and staying in Columbus! The concert list of Vid. Sowmya were presented to them by one of the organizing members!. They felt the concert is too much for the place (inda Urukku romba adigam!) , but felt happy to know that there are people who could listen to such a concert (kETpadarkku irukkirArkaLE!). And the general feedback from the audience including those considered in the janarankam category was very appreciative, with some of them saying it is one of the best they had heard!

[rajeshnat]

Review from The Hindu dated Jan 06 2022
https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/ ... 151968.ece

[arasi]

Just heard Vasudevachar's kriti 'nannu brOchuTakkevarunnAru' in SankarAbharaNam by Vidushi. Sowmya, and what a treat it is! Thanks to YesKay, I found it today.