Anil Srinivasan

sundance · Post by **sundance** » 04 Jul 2009, 00:45

Anil Srinivasan is a trained western classical pianist who has pioneered a new concert format with his album "Madhirakshi".

He slowed down the tempi of familiar songs and set them to the background of an ambient bed of sound (as opposed to the "wall of sound" we usually hear) played against the voice of Sikkil Gurucharan. (Three more albums have since been recorded: Maya, This and the Other and The Blue Divine). His collaborations with GJR Krishnan, Unnikrishnan and Ravikiran are also becoming popular.

The strength of Anil's compositions on the piano is that they both underline and complement the raga of the song, sometimes with allied ragas and ragamalika-like detours. The construction of harmony follows classical western rigour, but at the same time mindful of not sacrificing the purity of the Carnatic content.

Of late, he has also taken to writing about classical music and musicians in the Sunday supplement of The New Indian Express.

It would be interesting to discuss this unique artist, who, in my opinion, deserves wider recognition. But it is gratifying to see increasing numbers of regulars at his concerts, some of whom seem to have been introduced to Carnatic music through this "Madhirakshi" format.

A few clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d7MUJgEyms

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ6Ps_s2XzY

sriramnh · Post by **sriramnh** » 26 Jul 2009, 23:38

( mod note: Moved several posts from http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... hetra.html to here )

Dear Rasikas,

Thanks for the comments. Apparently I wanted to share an information that the sample music are available in Anil Srinivasan's official website i.e. www.anilsrinivasan.com within the Gallery. There are 4 audio clips and an instrumental piece. I was really moved by the music. I thought everyone should feel the same.

Thanks a lot again.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 27 Jul 2009, 10:03

Thanks sriram for the link. It must be quite a challenge for a Carnatic trained musician (like Gurucharan) to sing while there are harmonies going on in the background

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 27 Jul 2009, 10:34

The solo madhuvanthi piece is quite interesting. It sounded like any other western classical piece but in madhuvanthi with chords galore. It sounded very nice.

The CM songs with harmony was very good. We sometimes complain about the violin completing the vocalist's ideas etc, here voice is given so much prominence with sparse and tasteful instrumentation. The piano complements the vocalist's idea in an orthogonal dimension and that is a new thing. That works for me.

The vocalist's transition from the piano felt a bit un-bridged. The piano transition from vocal was just fine. That was just a minor thing I noticed.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 27 Jul 2009, 20:08

I agree with VK. I enjoyed the ahir bhairavi which gave new insights into the raga with the digital perspective. In fact the piano appears to open a whole new world in CM which goes with calm meditation! Regarding the vocal/piano combine the voice gets full freedom while the piano is non-obtrusive but yet again adds to the meditative mood unlike the violin which dominates the melody. Anil works in this case like an artist adding subtle touches of paint to an exquisite work of art.
Awaiting eagerly for the audio of the program.

Are there commercial Cd's available of more on Gurucharan/Anil collaboration?
Much obliged for any references...

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 27 Jul 2009, 21:49

I have 2 of their albums - the first intoxicating one was apporpriately called 'madirAkshI' and the next was 'mAyA - The color of rain'

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 28 Jul 2009, 04:05

Linking in a related thread from the Review sub-forum about Anil Srinivasan: http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... hetra.html

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 28 Jul 2009, 06:30

Also readers may visit
http://www.anilsrinivasan.com/
to hear more audio samples...

anandabhairavi · Post by **anandabhairavi** » 28 Jul 2009, 07:36

There are 2 other private albums "Blue divine " and " This and other" sponsored by TVS group of company.I enjoy them when I am in a long drives.Supers blending of Gurucharans voice and Anils Piano.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 28 Jul 2009, 07:45

Thanks
I just got Madhirakshi. Very interesting. There is no shruti accompaniment. Can somebody explain the absence of shruti.

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 28 Jul 2009, 08:06

anandabhairavi wrote:There are 2 other private albums "Blue divine " and " This and other" sponsored by TVS group of company.

"The Blue Divine" appears to be available to the public here: http://www.abstractlogix.com/xcart/prod ... ctid=24042

Do you know if the other CD is available anywhere? Also, could you, Anil, or anyone with the information post a list of Anil's CDs and where there are available?

(This business of private albums bothers me a bit. While artists clearly have the right to taunt their listeners in this manner, I submit that it is better to release recordings to the public, either for sale or for free. The web makes this particularly easy.)

Edit: I begin with my (short) list:

Charsur has released two CDs - Madhirakshi and Maayaa
The Blue Divine is available through Abstract Logix

anandabhairavi · Post by **anandabhairavi** » 28 Jul 2009, 14:23

"This and Other" was done for TVS group of companies I heard.The company who has the right to distribute or release the cd on commercial scale.I dont think Anil or Charan can do anything about it.

rajaglan · Post by **rajaglan** » 29 Jul 2009, 15:30

sriramnh wrote:( mod note: Moved several posts from http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... hetra.html to here )

Dear Rasikas,

Thanks for the comments. Apparently I wanted to share an information that the sample music are available in Anil Srinivasan's official website i.e. www.anilsrinivasan.com within the Gallery. There are 4 audio clips and an instrumental piece. I was really moved by the music. I thought everyone should feel the same.

Thanks a lot again.

Hi , I listened to them. Actually I was listening to SSI's Sree krishnam baja manasa..
and then I saw this post and quickly played this. This music is a very different experience.
Initially it takes time to and then you get absorbed. I guess how quickly you get absorbed depends on your previous state of mind like a melay machine.
And when I listen to shirabdi kanniyaga, I really thought if Anil could play along MS's old record doing some techlology mixing (not that the singer is bad but a wish).