De la mi décembre à la mi-janvier, la ville de Madras, aujourd'hui Chennai, devient l'épicentre de la musique classique indienne et de la danse. Tous les artistes qui comptent y sont présents et les concerts et réciltals s'enchaînent en particulier dans la partie sud de la ville de dix heures du matin à à 9 heures du soir.
Françoise et moi avons eu la chance d'entendre UnniKrihsnan qui est un "grand" de la musique carnatique, celle de l'Inde dravidienne, non pas celle que nous connaissons surtout chez nous qui est, elle, hindoustani. Le concert a duré plus de deux heures, devant hélas une assistance assez clairsemée... et d'une moyenne d'âge fort avancée! La jeune génération préfère s'abreuver de sous-produits musicaux, bollywoodiens et marketing-érotisés, que l'industrie produit à la chaîne.
Unnikrishnan... de purs intants de bonheur musical!
photos P.F. 21/12/11
One of the most sought after Carnatic classical vocalists of today,P Unnikrishnan was born on 9 th July 1966 to K Radhakrishnan and Dr Harini Radhakrishnan. The family home, Kesari Kuteeram, was a well known landmark of Madras city, with great grandfather Dr KN Kesari being an eminent Ayurvedic physician and the promoter of the popular Telugu women's magazine Gruhalakshmi . The home was known to be a beehive of artistes and singers with eminent personalities in the field often coming home to perform and also be rewarded by Dr Kesari. It is no surprise therefore that Unni should have taken to the arts at an early age. Cricket was however his first passion and it was his ambition to make it to the national level. But his mother had noticed his talents in music and enrolled him for classical music lessons under Sri VL Seshadri. Studying at the Asan Memorial School, Unni balanced his interests in music and cricket and progressed on both fronts. He graduated from the Vivekananda College, Madras University in 1987 with a B Com degree. Music tutelage was now under Dr S Ramanathan, the well known musician's musician. Unni also graduated in cricket to become a part of the Tamil Nadu Senior Division League as a top order batsman and wicket keeper. Concert opportunities began coming in from 1990 onwards with the first concert happening at Palghat. His facile voice and musical talents were noted and with that he joined the league of young Turks such as Vijay Siva and Sanjay Subrahmanyan to bring back the fans to Carnatic Music.