Carnatic Vocal - Emmanuelle Martin
Violin - Siddarth Ashokkumar
Mridangam - Bala Skandan
Join us for a Karnatik Vocal concert by Emmanuelle Martin.
The concert will be held at the Chhandayan Center for Indian Music and also streamed live.
Emmanuelle Martin
EMMANUELLE MARTIN is renowned in France and broader Europe in the field of traditional and sacred classical music from South India - Karnatik music. She lived for 10 years in Chennai, South India, (2004-2014) where she dedicated herself to learning this style of singing and music from one of the greatest masters of this tradition, T. M Krishna. She now lives in France and travels between India, Europe, and the United States where she gives concerts, teaches and continues her own practice.
KARNATIK MUSIC is the sacred and traditional music of South India. Even though it is constantly evolving, the form as it is practiced today dates from around two hundred years ago. It is a modal music which, like other forms of Indian music, is based on the principle of raga-s (musical entities) and tala-s (rhythmic cycles). The compositions date mostly from the 19th century and are the work of three composers who form the "karnatik trinity": Tyagaraja, Mutthuswamy Dikshitar and Syama Sastri. Karnatik music is a balance between composition and improvisation, the two intermingle and enrich each other continuously.
DURING HER RECITALS, which she conceives as musical and human encounters, Emmanuelle projects the raga-s of southern India with her powerful and captivating voice. She performs compositions as well as improvisation from this very rich musical repertoire. In between pieces, she says a few words about her extraordinary experience with this tradition and expounds on its codes and poetic nuances. Indian musicians trained in the Karnatik style accompany her on the violin, the mridangam (percussions), and the tampura, a stringed instrument. She also likes to collaborate with musicians and artists from other traditions.
Emmanuelle Martin grew up with parents who received classical training in Western music. Before she could even speak, Emmanuelle was surrounded by the practice and appreciation of music with merit. She began training in Western music at the age of 4 and was introduced to Karnatik music by her father, André Martin, a student of Shri Seetharama Sharma. Emmanuelle had no interest in this style of music until Shri TM Krishna came to visit her family when she was 18 years old . After a few lessons, and after hearing his pure expression of Karnatik music, she was irrevocably hooked.
At the age of 19, after completing her studies in France, she moved to Chennai, where she lived for 10 years to devote herself to learning Karnatik music and studying with Shri T. M. Krishna. She had the chance to accompany him on the tampura for most of his concerts in Chennai and throughout India for many years, absorbing his music as well as that of many great maestros playing with him.
Emmanuelle Martin started performing in public in 2012 in Chennai, and has been performing regularly since then. She now lives in France and travels between India, Europe, and the United States where she gives concerts, teaches and continues her own practice. She is driven by a deep commitment to her art, and is passionate and committed to her work of raising awareness and appreciation of this unique art form in the West. In January 2016, she joined Ariane Mnouchkine and the world renowned Théâtre du Soleil group to train actors in singing and Karnatik music for their latest creation « A room in India ».
Siddharth Ashokkumar
Siddharth Ashokkumar has learnt the violin for the last 20 years. He is a student of Lalgudi Krishnan and previously from Vittal Ramamurthy. Siddharth is the recipient of many awards from North American Indian music festivals and competitions and has had the privilege of performing internationally for traveling artists from India as well as during the December Music season in Chennai. Siddharth lives and works in New York City.
Bala Skandan
Bala Skandan is a performer, teacher and composer of Carnatic music. He is a multi-instrumentalist performing the mridangam, Carnatic violin, kanjira and vocal rhythm. He has accompanied musicians and dancers of various genres across the world and has also given leading percussion performances through his own band Akshara. He has trained many Mridangam and Violin students over the years who themselves perform widely in the tri-state area. He has been a guest teacher at Manhattan School of Music, NYU Music Department as well as the prestigious Juilliard School of Music.
Bala Skandan is the lead musician and composer of Akshara, a NY based ensemble rooted in Carnatic music. His composition Mohana Blues won the best world music track in the 13th independent music awards ceremony. Bala Skandan trained under the legendary Karaikudi Mani on mridangam.