NJ Nandini

Two years ago, a december evening, a well wisher and friend of mine gave me a call. I was on the stage, about to receive a felicitation, after winning Ragaratnam which was telecasted in Amrita TV. I couldnt answer the call and convinced myself to call him back once the function was over. After a couple of minutes, another call came from the same number. There was no way I could have attended it that moment. I took the call. Once I heard 'hello' from the other side, I conveyed to him in a brisk manner that I was on the stage and would call him back later. But as usual, by the lapse of time, i forgot the incident till he called me the next week. After initial greetings he told me that, the 'Hello' which I heard the other day, was not his, but of someone else whom i wanted to talk to, ever since I happened to hear his Thillana in Sindhubhairavi; a person who mesmerized me with a korvai in Bhairavi and the finesse with which he elaborated a Rasaali, after listening to wh...

The past week was a horrendous one for me. The frequent travel and engagements had taken a toll on my body and the result was nothing short of a fallacious fever coupled with body pain. The antibiotics took its own time to act and by the time i somehow managed to escape from it's grip, came the demon in the form of severe throat pain and infection. This derailed all my preparation schedules. The more saddening thing is that my beloved gurus had adjusted their plans accordingly for my sake this week, which has all gone in vain. Hopefully this week turns out to be better. The probabilities of it becoming better is high as things cannot take a downward route from this low point.

Finally i was able to pull it off... and in a satisfactory manner. Undoubtedly one of the most memorable tours i have ever had. A big thank you to all my friends, co-artists, organisers and well wishers for their relentless support and incessant love, affections and blessings. The tour was  shaped up in December 2010, when I had visited Mumbai to perform for Chembai Smriti Gana Sabha. After the concert, Smt Radha Namboothiri, a batchmate of my guru, suggested my name to Shanmukhananda ( where i had  last performed in 2008 ). Ever since the deed day was fixed as the 15th of May, I had a lump in my throat which i got over only when the curtains fell at the MS Subbulakshmi Hall at 9.30pm. If Shanmukhananda was all about the classicism and heritage, Vashi Fine Arts was characterised with adventure and frivolousness. I tried my best to include pieces which suited the moods and demands of both the occasions, which i hope yielded the desired results to a reasonable extent. I rea...

This Article Should Have Been Posted On The Mother's Day, But Due To Travel And Other Commitments I Am Posting It Now. ( Its Time To Get A Laptop..!!!) If we manage to put in some time and effort we can find that each of the 365 days in the calendar year shall be special in some way or the other. Sometimes i wonder why should we select a particular day to celebrate certain things. The affection and the personal bond  which each one of us share with our mother is something unique and is certainly not something to be "celebrated" once in a year, but something to be cherished and treasured each and every moment of our life. Then why do we have a Mother's Day? Well.. let me put this way, its simple. They have bought us anything and everything we have ever desired of. But rarely do they accept anything back from us, in my case it is so close to 'never'. This day gives me an opportunity to thrust something upon her forcefully, without being labeled as a sp...

Work hard.... if you do not succeed,work harder...all of us have come across a lot of people who advice this. But this need not work always. I believe working smart pays you more rewards than working hard. Of course dedication is required, but more than that i opine that channelization is crucial to success. A man never reaches his destination if he does not know the path he has to travel. By asking to work smart, i am not in anyway suggesting anyone to fall upon the short-cuts, simply because they never yield the desired result. Even if they yield, they dont last ( just like out thalaivar said, kashtapedama kadaikkarathu...). Smartness here simply means - knowing 'what you can do ' and knowing 'what you do' . Chanakya has said in Arthashashtra that it is smarter to battle against opponents who are meaner than you and not against those who are capable of destroying you. The real meaning behind these words are to make friends with those who are more powerful, gain k...

A bouquet in cadence  http://www.hindu.com/fr/2011/04/29/stories/2011042950110200.htm Endowed with a good voice, N.J. Nandini , a Thiruvananthapuram-based youngster still in her teens, structured her maiden concert in the Capital very impressively the other day. Nandini presented song after song that spoke highly of her depth in Carnatic music. The concert was organised jointly by Gayathri Fine Arts and the India International Centre at the latter's auditorium. The short virutham spanning a couple of minutes which preceded the invocation song on Lord Vinayaka in raga Hamsadhwani provided ample hints of her musical talent at the very outset. Nandini's crisp and fast-paced swaraprastaras that followed “Namami Vighnavinayaka” (Hamsadhwani) was lively. In Swati Tirunal's “Jayajaya Padmanabhaanujesha” in raga Manirangu, she brought out the finer aspects of this raga embedded in the lyrics. Tarangampadi Panchanada Iyer's composition “Biranabrova ide” in raga Kalyani and...

Finally i get a gap of  4 days without much commitments. And say what... it feels good. The past week has re-kindled a lot of thoughts. New projects, new ambitions.... To start with, I had a very prestigious concert to render at a venue where is used to run around when the stalwarts used to perform, Swati Tirunal Sangeetha Sabha, Trivandrum. I felt honoured and humbled to be at that stage once again. Not that I was performing there for the first time, but you get an inimitable 'high' every single time that huge curtain opens..!!! That rounded off my performances for the month of April, and the last week is occupied by a couple of recording sessions and other functions. Now that I am relatively out of concert commitments atleast for the next one week, it provides me with an opportunity to fine tune my skills, learn new compositions and widen my repertoire. Kicked off that process by listening to DKJ rendering 'Thaye Thripura Sundari', a compostion of Periyasami Th...