Introduction

I am a South Asian immigrant, a mother, an artist, a social worker and a teacher. I am a person of few words and blogging isn't my thing. But music is. I have been practicing vocal carnatic music (a southern Indian classical art form) through my life. I am excited to document and share here some of my experiments with music.

Monday, March 23, 2015

A Jazzy Adventure

...with a Carnatic touch. I present  My Funny Valentine: a recorded practice session at the Seattle Jazz Night School . Check 'em out for a fun learning environment!

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Northwest Folklife Festival 2014

Come and join me in two performances soon at the splendid Northwest Folklife!

Sunday 25th May 2014 : 
1:10-1:40pm at the Center Theater, Seattle Center: http://sched.co/1mmsUs5.

Upload Update: Listen to this piece at http://www.nwfolklife.org/may-25-2014/

What is music devoid of meaningful words set to tune? Can music portray depth and meaning owing just to the notes and the melody? I invite you to experience this intriguing concept with me within the boundaries of carnatic music. Playing with me this afternoon are Ravi Ramamurthy on the violin and Murali Krishna on the ghatam. 

About my talented co-artists:

Ravi Ramamurthy is interested in all forms of music and has a profound interest in Carnatic music and its interpretation using the violin. He has studied with the late Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman, one of India’s greatest classical violinists and composers. He has performed in Seattle as both an accompanist and a solo artist (including performances in Utsav and the Northwest Folklife). Outside of music, he works for Microsoft.

Murali Krishna is a student of T.H.Subashchandran, a renowned South-Indian classical percussionist. In addition to his Ghatam training Murali also trained as a singer. He brings his musical sensibility to his Ghatam playing. He lives and works in Portland, Oregon.

Thursday 22nd May 2014

I will be performing at the NW Folklife Pre-festival at the magnificent Chihuly Glass Museum auditorium. Come and enjoy a condensed glimpse of a carnatic music concert. Sharing the stage with me this evening are Rajiv Bharadwaj on the flute and Jagadeeswaran on the Mridangam.

About my talented co-artists:

Jagadeeswaran (aka Jaggu) started learning Mridangam at the Pondicherry Music college from Sri.Gopakumar, a senior disciple of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr.TK Murthy, Sri.Sridharan and was also mentored by veteran Guru Sri.Tiruvarur Krishnamurthy. He had the opportunity to learn at different times from Smt.Sukkanya Ramgopal in Bangalore and Ghatam Vidwan Sri.SV Ramani.  He is now a disciple of Sri.B.Ganapathyraman in Chennai. He holds an Interdisciplinary masters in Music and Computer Science from GeorgiaTech - Atlanta, where his research focused on algorithms that analyze and interpret Indian Classical Music. 

Rajiv Bharadwaja began taking flute lessons at a young age from Sri. S. A. Shashidhar in Bangalore. He also trained under vocalist Sri. C. M. Venkatachalam in San Diego and then from Sri. Ashok Kumara in Bellevue. Learning vocal has helped him refine his fingering techniques on the flute, and appreciate the finer aspects of shruthi and laya. Rajiv resides in Redmond and is a software engineer at Google. When he’s not working and/or listening to music, he enjoys skiing, and analyzing the various ways in which the cosmos and music are intertwined.

I am excited to collaborate with such talented musicians from the Northwest and look forward to seeing you there!


Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Third December - A song on the 1984 Bhopal Gas Disaster

This is a song I composed in Hindi in Raga Shubha-panthuvarali for the 30th year of the struggle for justice for survivors of the Bhopal Gas disaster of 1984.

Click here to read more about what happened and here to learn how you can support the international campagin for justice in Bhopal.

A translation of the song:

Third December – A day of black clouds in Bhopal.
Eyes like red chillies, ears filled with screams, chest burning,
Young and old, they run desperately to escape all misery. 

Thirty years have passed,
The atrocities they have lived with (are unimaginable).
Listen to the voices of injustice.

The land is poisoned, the water is poisoned.
The people are poisoned, at birth and death. 
‘We are flames, not flowers’ exclaim the sisters of Bhopal.
Let us lend our ears to their demand for justice. 
Third December – A day to remember.


Thursday, September 26, 2013

EPP

That's my acronym for 'Enakku Piditha Padal', a tamil song from the movie 'Julie Ganapathy' by the maestro Ilayaraja. I had the chance to record this for a television show in Singapore. I present my first recording experience in 2003.

http://www.box.net/shared/dk9jr6m8rv

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Priyam Venkatesam: A Carnatic Album

In 2004, in a laidback recording studio in Vadapalani, Chennai, India I encountered my second experience with professional recording, and my first with an album production. Needless to say, it was a fantastic experience.

This album presents traditional pieces from the Carnatic music repertoire, all composed by various historical and contemporary composers in praise of the Indian god Vishnu (Venkatesa). Performing with me on the mridangam (drum) and the violin are Sri and Smt. Jayakumar.

Priyam Venkatesam:
http://www.box.net/shared/ryxyqg9kb8

Monday, May 6, 2013

My Musical Biography

Priya Raghav began her musical journey in Singapore, learning carnatic vocal from many established gurus, namely Smt. Shobha Sekhar, Smt. Vijaya Murthy, Smt. Leelavathy Gopalakrishnan, Sri NR Prashanth and Smt.Gowri Gokul, who are disciples of the legendary DK Pattammal, Musiri Subramania Iyer, TM Thyagarajan and Thitai Krishna Iyengar. She feels fortunate to be able to continue her training with Smt. Meera Krishna in Seattle. 

Priya has performed concerts in Seattle, Singapore and India (Chennai). She released a Carnatic album titled 'Priyam Venkatesam' through Kalavardhani's in Chennai in 2004. She has also lent her voice to a classical fusion piece for a Walt Disney production, 'The Legends of the Ring of Fire'.

Priya also enjoys learning through teaching and finds joy in cultivating the love of carnatic music amongst eager students.