Dr. Suma Sudhindra is a classical musician and veena exponent from India, in the Carnatic Music genre. She is a performer, teacher, researcher and administrator. President of India to confer Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for the Year 2017 : Suma Sudhindra - Carnatic Instrumental – Veena. She was awarded Karnataka's second highest civilian award, the Rajyotsava Award, in the year 2001.
11/02/2019
Dr.Suma Sudhindra :
President of India to confer Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for the Year 2017 : Suma Sudhindra - Carnatic Instrumental – Veena.
1. Profile :-
Born India
Origin Karnataka, India
Genres Carnatic music
Occupation(s) Musician, instrumentalist, veena
Instruments Veena
2. Introduction :-
Dr. Suma Sudhindra is a classical musician and veena exponent from India, in the Carnatic Music genre. She is a performer, teacher, researcher and administrator. President of India to confer Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for the Year 2017 : Suma Sudhindra - Carnatic Instrumental – Veena. She was awarded Karnataka's second highest civilian award, the Rajyotsava Award, in the year 2001.
3. Early days and personal life :-
She was trained by her gurus vidwan Raja Rao and vidwan Chitti Babu.
She is based in Bangalore. Her spouse is a dentist and she has two daughters. She is an avid bonsai collector.
3. Career :-
She has the Chittibabu style known for the melodic sounds of the Veena. She has widely toured and given performances in United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Malaysia. She has also led numerous veena ensembles over the years.
4. Tarangini veena :-
Suma has created the "Tarangini Veena" which is a compact version of the veena. Dr. Suma Sudhindra is regarded as one of the best players of the Veena (a plucked Indian instrument).Her latest contribution to the world of music is her innovative ˜Tarangini Veena, which has become adopted in her native Bangalore.
5. Carnatic-Jazz :-
She has rendered numerous fusion performances along with Dutch Jazz group Spinifex for many years.
6. Other initiatives :-
Suma is the Director outreach for the Centre For Indian Music Experience (IME), a new kind of museum in the making where one can touch, feel and experience music.
She co-founded the Artists’ Introspective Movement (AIM) along with kuchipudi danseuse Veena Murthy Vijay. AIM organizes the Bangalore International Arts Festival (BIAF) since 2007. BIAF is a cultural platform for artists.
7. Awards & felicitations :-
Karnataka Rajyotsava Award in 2001
Kalaimamani Award from the Tamil Nadu Government
Ganakalashree Award from Karnataka Ganakala Parishat
"Vainika Kalabhushani" from Thyagaraja Ganasabha
President of India to confer Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for the Year 2017 : Suma Sudhindra - Carnatic Instrumental – Veena.
8. Special :-
DR. SUMA SUDHINDRA is one of the acclaimed Veena artiste of the country today. Trained under Veena Maestros Raja Rao and Chitti Babu. She has blended into her music the classical conservatism at the dynamic spirit of innovations.She has been conferred the tile of Ganakalabhushana by the renowned Karnataka Gana Kala Parishat, the only body of musicians in the country.
Dr.Suma Sudhindra's biggest contribution to the music world is her innovation - 'Tarangini Veena', which is a small version of Saraswathi Veena. "The Tarangini Veena, for which I hold the patent, is very compact and light, making it small enough to be comfortably portable and easy to play." Her organisation Tarangini Arts Foundation conducts cultural festivals every year to promote the cause of Indian classical music apart from imparting lessons in veena and classical music.Her recent contribution to the music world is her own new innovation 'The Tarangini Veena' which has made a tremendous impact in the music circles. She received ''Rajyotsava Award' from Karnataka Government in the year 2001 .
Recollecting her childhood days, Suma said she started learning vocal at the age of five and veena at the age of eight. "When I was 18 years, I secured first rank in the Vidvat exam conducted by the Karnataka Higher Secondary Education Board. Later, I went to Madras to learn veena from Dr Chitti Babu to pursue my career," she adds. Trained under maestros like Raja Rao and Chitti Babu, Suma has blended into her music the classical conservatism and the dynamic spirit of innovations. "I've played jugalbandis with almost all the leading artistes of North India like Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Shahid Parvez," she adds. Every day Suma practises for about two hours and teaches music in the evening. She also teaches students abroad online. She has her own band for last 25 years called - 'Megha', where they play fusion, Carnatic and jazz. Suma has released about 25 music albums on Carnatic classical, fusion, jugalbandi and experimental music.
9. Synchronised strings : OCTOBER 10, 2013 : MADHAVI RAMKUMAR : THE HINDU
*Colourful mosaic of divergent tones and textures.
"A good blend of technique, style and co-ordination enhanced the melodic appeal of Naada Tarangini, a veena ensemble"
Naada Tarangini, a fifty veena ensemble led by Dr. Suma Sudhindra performed recently as part of the Bengaluru International Arts Festival, an initiative of AIM, Bangalore that staged diverse performances spread over nine days at nine different venues in the city. The array of percussion instruments accompanying Naada Tarangini included mridanga, kanjira, ghata, tabla and rhythm pads and was led by mridangist Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma.
The concert began with a two-speed rendition of ‘Vanajakshi’, the adi thala varna in Kalyani. Muthuswami Deekshithar’s krithi ‘Maha Ganapathim Manasa Smarami’ in Natta was prefixed with a raga sketch and ornamented with kalpana swaras played in turn by the lead artiste and three others, the entire ensemble coming together for the crowning rhythmic sequence, a technique that was followed in subsequent items as well. Better coordination and cohesion among the large number of musicians on stage was discernible as the concert progressed, and judicious use of percussion, at times alternating between the many instruments and at others combining impeccably, created a rousing impact.
A short elaboration encapsulating the evocative beauty of Kalyanavasantham led to the Thyagaraja krithi ‘Nadaloludai’ in rupaka thala, also adorned with kalpana swaras, to which a brisk and melodious ‘Manavyalakincharadate’ in Nalinakanthi raga and adi thala provided a vivid contrast. A compact, yet complete alapana of Hamsanadam, and thana in Hamsanadam, Malayamarutham, and Madhyamavathi was followed by the Thyagaraja krithi ‘Bantureethi’ in adi thala. Fluent kalpana swaras at the charana line beginning ‘Rama Nama’ ended with a spate of diminishing thala cycles around the thara sthayi shadja.
The main focus of the evening was on ‘Priya Tarangini’ a ragamalika in Kharaharapriya, Gayakapriya, Ratipatipriya, Bhaktapriya and Rasikapriya composed by Suma Sudhindra. The item was a complex, well-rehearsed and riveting exposition of the five ragas, replete with captivating melodic patterns and refrains. The sweet classicism of Kharaharapriya yielded to the sombre hues of the vivadi raga Gayakapriya, while the plaintive core of Ratipatipriya gave way to the lilting essence of Bhaktapriya. The unearthly appeal of Rasikapriya, another vivadi raga, completed the colourful mosaic of divergent tones and textures. Absorbing percussion interludes bridged the raga segments which were couched in multiple rhythms and gaits, and culminated in a thani avarthana that highlighted the individual and collective expertise of the participants. Better sound quality would have augmented the overall effect of the performance, which was well conceived and presented with commendable synchronisation.
10. A different melody altogether Fusion : Mar 04, 2012 :, MAR 03 2012, Subhra Mazumdar : DECCAN HERALD.
The term ‘fusion’ has risen to be suspect in the eyes of diehard classical aficionados who revere its purist state with a vengeance.
But when veena maestro Suma Sudhindra took the stage at prestigious platforms of the country, including the India International Centre in the capital, the mood was a complete bowl over.
Even at the practice session on the winter afternoon at the venue auditorium, the mesmerising strains featuring the famed Dutch Jazz group Spinifex playing alongside Suma Sudhindra, had attracted a stream of curious listeners, drawn by the novel and yet enticing sounds.
The performance of the evening and on all other sessions where this group has come on stage, listeners have been captivated by the elements of familiarity coupled with a mix of novel differences woven seamlessly into the concert layout. At one point, it seems that saxophone in the hands of Tobias Klein is playing the opening notes of a raga number when the mood transforms into a characteristic strain of pure jazz, all the while gelling the composition without angularities.
One learns later that the music one has just heard is actually a scored piece so that every part of the play is well rehearsed and thereby made appealing.
As the mood of the evening matures and audiences are engrossed in the happenings, one is drawn into assessing the lead musician’s role in the piece. Suma Sudhindra claims: “I play pure Carnatic style and the Jazz group plays around the Indian component. In this way, listeners in India find the concert mapping extremely sonorous to Indian ears, for the improvisations and the rhythmic combinations are based on Carnatic tenets and the drums and bass guitar enrich the compositional calibre of the music by their inputs rather than their individual inclusions.”
Another advantage that this ensemble enjoys is in the choice of the southern format for its fusion character. The intrinsic nature of the Carnatic style is created around a rhythmic patterning, making for lively passages and thus ideal for music of an orchestral nature as rhythm is an inherent mood uplifter in any form of music. The instrumentation collaboration of the jazz component ranges around instruments that have a timbre of like-minded instruments.
The heavy bass guitar and the resounding nature of drum beats add volume to the play while the trombone in the hands of Joost Bius of the group provides the correct highlights to the continuous musical strain. Of course, the veena, decidedly the richest of Indian string instruments, holds its own, even in this medley of western make as the sounds are amplified to the right pitch and the strings reverberate into a classy instrumentation quality that would please even the severest of fusion critics.
In the final count, it is Suma Sudhindra who herself explains why her fusion experiment has been such a runaway success globally. “I have been playing with this group both in the Netherlands where they hail from, and also in India, over several years. We understand each other’s musical capabilities and we are very confident of ourselves on stage.”
As she plays her Carnatic style with aplomb, the others in her five-band team fall in step as they play out faint waftings of Hansadhwani or Malhar or Des ragas complete with repetitive cycles of rhythms in the classical Indian style, giving audiences on both sides of the globe an enriching and satisfying evening so that listeners recall with pleasure the experience of the evening long after the stage lights are dimmed.
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https://youtu.be/zY3aSz1NwWA
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