61. Chowdiah and the Music of Mysore (with Manasi Prasad)

Musician and Museum Director Manasi Prasad joins host Pavan Srinath to talk about the life and work of Mysore T Chowdiah (1885 – 1967), violin maestro, innovator, composer and teacher of Carnatic music. Manasi also discusses the larger role of Mysore in music and performing arts over the last two centuries, and locates Chowdiah within it. She also shares Chowdiah’s compositions, which have not received their due before now.

Manasi spear-headed the creation of the Mysore T Chowdiah Project – www.chowdiah.com, with support from the Indian Music Experience and the Shankar Mahadevan Academy’s Archive to Alive programme. 

The Chowdiah Project is also hosting a worldwide music competition for violinists and vocalists called Smarane, which is open for submissions till November 15, 2020. Visit the website to learn more and participate.

Manasi Prasad is a noted classical vocalist from Bangalore and the Museum Director of the Indian Music Experience – India’s first hi-tech interactive music museum. Manasi has learnt Carnatic classical music from renowned gurus such as RK Padmanabha in Bangalore and Sriram Parasuram in Chennai. She started performing concerts at the age of 9 and since then has performed widely across India and in 6 continents around the world. Manasi is a recipient of several awards in music, including the prestigious Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar from the Sangeet Natak Akademi, Govt. of India. 

The Indian Music Experience Museum also currently crowdsourcing funding from the public. Visit their website to learn more about how you can help.

This episode features a few compositions of Chowdiah performed by Manasi Prasad, the Bangalore Brothers, Ranjani Vasuki, and other artists. The full playlist of all their songs is available on Youtube.

You can also find an old documentary of the life and music of Chowdiah on Doordarshan Archives.

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