Over the years, as things changed, musicians opened their mind and starting passing on their inheritance to their next generation. Disciples in this era used to be their children or close relatives who lived in the same household, or at least from the same village or town.

There are views floating around as to whether they were passing on all that they acquired, or held back niche elements out of their insecurity and ego. However, it is evident today after a few centuries, that the works and repertoire of those who had the most number of disciples has a good amount of documentation, preservation propagation and reach. Works of those masters who didn’t have disciples couldn’t weather the passage of time and have not survived.

In India, until the best part of the 20th century, master (Guru) Student (Sishya) relationship in the field of arts, music and culture was always the Gurukula system. Gurukula system is where the Sishya resides with the Guru and attends to his daily chores and needs and by virtue of living with the Guru, learns the art form and also the way of life. Guru has the utmost influence on the Sishya even more than his parents, siblings and close kith and kin. Accepting someone as a Sishya is a big deal. Success rates were better due to the constant vigil by the Guru in this methodology.

However, with the passage of time with the fast pacing of lifestyle and travel involved, spare time to learn art forms are getting scarce. Academic pressures Gurukula system of learning started to fade. There have been attempts to make art culture and music a mandatory course in academics as well.

However, it didn’t pan out as desired. Hybrid, which happened here, is to learn from a Guru, with one or two classes a week coupled with home practice sessions. Success rates were less in this method as other priorities took over from being serious musicians.

Though arts, culture and music were offered as a mainstream course in the Western world, for over 100 years, in India this did not evince interest till recently. Only in the last decade and a half offbeat mainstream courses in the field of visual communication, electronic media and also in engineering and performance of sound and music.

In the last decade or so, information superhighway, or the bandwidth of the Internet matured, e-learning is catching up very fast in both mainstream learning as well as extracurricular learning. Many of the western universities are offering even online undergrad as well as post-grad degrees, which is the next best to campus learning. Though it started with the advent 21st century and of the 4G Internet, in the last decade or so it has matured so well to complement as well as supplement face to face and on-campus learning.

Even in the art and culture space, teachers and learners have started believing and adopting e-learning. This is fast catching up even in the conservative Indian classical music space. With the implementation of 5G and latency free bandwidth and far higher penetration of information superhighway and pace of life and paucity of time E-learning will be the mantra for any aspiring artist wherein student will be able to acquire the best knowledge at the mutual convenience of the master and student and also beating the time and geographical barriers.

• The primary aspect for artists who intend to collaborate is that they have set goals and work towards achieving them united. This way each artist realizes what is required from them and helps them mutually focus on getting their work done.
• With the power of technology and the luxury of Internet, collaborations are made possible on a global level. The boon of an internet collaboration is that it widens an artist’s scope of being recognized worldwide, you have a wider audience and it opens doors to a greater learning. As music is a universal language, it isn’t necessary for any two artists to be physically present to collaborate; they can always connect via Skype, Facebook, email etc and can instantly exchange ideas.
• Not all artists can sing, write their own lyrics, compose, or arrange; that is when collaboration is an advantage. For example, an instrumentalist who is composing a song can collaborate with a singer and they work as a team. This is how an artist can complement one another – one artist’s weakness makes up for another’s strength.
• Global collaborations also help in spreading your music with your International artist collaborator’s fan base, working as a team can reduce the burden of work, having two or more people in a team will be a great platform for exchange of culture, too. It also serves as a tool to spread awareness of the craft.
• After successful global collaborations, being the age of music streaming – your musical creations can be featured on various music streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. This will in turn help artists to create a brand for themselves, which establishes quality.
• By giving a global approach to an artist’s style of music, he or she gets to attempt a style out of their comfort zone, these are opportunities for them to be innovative, which results in them producing / composing originals and hits.
• It is also that such innovative creations can open doors to new fan groups and help artists to connect with many more music appreciators.
• Whether collaborations are successful or not, there is always learning involved and building contacts. The newly acquired skills – be it songwriting, composing, singing, and the like – will help to shape an artist to become better at his or her craft and will take their career to the next level.
• When it comes to collaborations with well-known artists and celebrities you are required to put forward your best work and skill. After all, word of mouth always remains a powerful tool to develop recognition. This helps to build a reputation for an artist, which in turn speaks about an artist’s consistency and talent.

Overall, collaborations are fun. The many ways to approach global collaborators are by reaching out to online music communities, sharing your music videos and audio clips to established artists via social media or by approaching buskers who would present music in the most raw form, which will bring out a different flavor to one’s music. You can also create music videos that document your work process and share anecdotes about creating the songs. This helps you to engage better with the audience and will bring you closer to becoming the future music superstars.

Science and mathematics were subjects, I was certain, I did not want to have in my kitty in college, and my parents were kind enough not to force them on me. My father himself was keen to send me to London to pursue a degree in music business for my undergraduate education, but I decided to stall it then for later.

While in the final year of my undergraduate education in Electronic Media in Chennai, it was time to think of a Masters degree to follow with. Music business was always in my mind, and I knew now was the time to think about it. So music it is, I told myself. It also felt like there was no other field I could have aced better.

We started shortlisting colleges that offered Music Business that I was interested in, right from NYU Steinhardt to Berklee College of Music.

Preparing the requirements, SOPs, portfolio of work, giving exams like the IELTS etc. was a task on its own, which took a lot of time but was fun in its own way.

I had heard a lot about Berklee from friends who had attended the program and the institution as it is. Just listening to experiences narrated by my friends would bring a smile to my face. It just made me like the thought of Berklee even more and the aspiration to get in was high. I decided to apply for the MA in Global Entertainment and Music Business program at Berklee Valencia.

Then came the day scheduled for a Skype interview with a professor from Berklee. I can still remember that day vividly. An hour-long video chat with Mr. Alexandre Perrin, professor at Berklee (Alex as we call him) at 12am IST was the final step to be admitted into the program.

The interview ranged from questions about the Indian music market, to the projects I would like to work on if I get admitted to an impromptu singing session. Receiving the letter of acceptance was the happiest feeling ever I’d experienced. What made it sweeter was that I was a step closer to actually visiting the institution I had grown to admire. And I will get to learn from the best of the best on and off campus!

Setting foot on Campus in Valencia, Spain was an amazing feeling. We had a guided tour of the intimate building and it was amazing to see that every classroom – whether used to learn music or not, had a piano in there. The environment as such was different, something which I did not find in India. The global connect with people, both students and faculty was so enriching, as we learn so much not just musically but also about various cultures and traditions. Spain as such is so culturally diverse and having that in Berklee is worth experiencing.

I was one among the youngest in the class, but that didn’t seem to be an issue at all, as all are equal and we constantly learn from one another through various interactions, assignments, projects and much more. Few months into the program also opened performance opportunities, and it was heartening to see that people out there appreciated Indian music a lot.

Two years at Berklee has taught me so much in life, leave alone music. It has helped me become a more confident and responsible person, a better communicator and also a good listener. I came out feeling different and happy to have gained so much knowledge and network in the industry and also a family to have for life.

Being a staunch believer of the proverb “as you sow, so you reap”, Nirmala Mohan, our sloka tutor, considers instilling the right thoughts into the young minds of today in the form of slokas and moral values and shapes them to be the best version of themselves tomorrow.

To corroborate this, she has an experience in teaching slokas, maha granthas and sampradaya values for more than 18 years. She was associated with the Chinmaya Mission in Muscat, Oman, as a Balavihar sevika for more than 10 years teaching slokas, bhajans and also organising several workshops on topics such as ‘Happy Parenting’ which really put her up on the map.

For more than 10 years, she has been teaching several maha granthas such as Narayaneeyam, Soundaryalahari, Sundarakandam, Sahasranamam and Bhagavatham to over 200 students of all age groups.

She currently resides in Chennai and continues her passion of teaching slokas along with delivering upanyasams in temples for more than two years now.

Her aim is to teach more people the value of slokas and the happiness it brings for years to come.

Thetakudi Harihara Vinayakram,also known as Vikku Vinayakram is a Grammy Award–winning Indian percussionist. Vinayakram plays Carnatic music with the ghatam, an earthen pot. Vinayakram is credit for the progress and development as well as popularizing of the ghatam.

Vikku Vinayakram was born to Kalaimaamani T. R. Harihara Sharma, a talented musician and superlative teacher, “Vikku” took up playing at a very young age.

Vikku Vinayakram was a child prodigy, with his concert career beginning at the age of 13. The year of birth of the Ghatam Maestro is 1942 & his arangetram was on March 5, 1955, when he was just 13 at the Sri Rama Navami festival – Thoothukudi.While proceeding for the arangetram the tuned ghatam instrument was broken by a child named Ganesh, which by itself had been a good omen for his bright career. where he accompanied V.V.Sadagopan. He established his right to be on the stage by playing with such dexterity that he was soon accompanying many famous vocalists in Carnatic music at the time, including Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna, G. N. Balasubramaniam, Madurai Mani Iyer, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, M. S. Subbulakshmi and Maharajapuram Santhanam, among others. His brother, T. H. Subhash Chandran, also excelled in the field. The Ghatam followed the master by rising to fame as a percussion instrument that required nimble fingers and strong stomach muscles to control the mouth of the pot.

Vikku’s tryst with the international music platform came in the early 70’s when he joined Shakti to play along with John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain. The showman that he is, his long hair and nimble fingers had Shakti catapult to fame.

He has also performed at Basant Utsav, the annual fund raiser for the Banyan.

Vikku Vinayakram is Principal of Sri Jaya Ganesh Tala Vadya Vidyalaya in Chennai, India – the academy established by his late father and teacher in 1958. It continues to produce new stars of Carnatic percussion.

The Western bands of which T.H.Vinayakaram was a part found it easy to refer to him as Vikku — a name suggested by MS’s daughter Radha Viswanathan during the 1966 tour of the US when MS sang the memorable & historic concert at the United Nations.

Vikku Vinayakram was conferred the Hafiz Ali Khan Award for “unmatched contribution in the field of music” in 2000. T. H. Vinakayaram is also the first South Indian musician to be awarded the Grammy for Best World Music Album for his participation in Mickey Hart’s Planet Drum in which he played ghatam and morsing. He donated all the proceeds from the award to a charity organization in south India. He was also nominated for the 1996 Grammy Awards for Best World Music Album for his participation in ‘Raga Aberi’ along with L. Shankar on the ten string double violin and Zakir Hussain on the tabla (the piece is set in the tala cycle of 4¾ beats). The Indian Government decorated him with the Padma Shri award.

Inheriting the legacy of rhythm from illustrious Gurus–Sarvasri Sri. T.R. Harihara Sharma, T.H. ‘Vikku’ Vinayakram and Sri. T.H. Subash Chandran, Sri. R. Raman has imbibed the skills to become a successful Morsing artiste. Raman is especially known for his different sounds, breath control, pitch alignment, clarity in sollus and vocal accompaniment.

Raman had shared concert platforms with various legends, stars, and ensembles, such as Sarvasri Balamuralikrishna, M.S. Subbulakshmi, Madurai Somu, Dharmapuram Swaminathan, Yesudas, T.N. Seshagopalan, T.V. Sankaranarayanan, Mandolin Srinivas, A.K.C. Natarajan, N. Ramani, L. Subramaniam, Sudha Ragunathan, Aruna Sairam, Sapthakshara, Vadya Tarangini, Heartbeat, Vibrations, many Jugalbandhis and various Fusion ensembles.

Raman has toured extensively all over the globe performing Morsing and has received commendable accolades. Raman has also been a part of groups such as Global Vocal Meeting, Kevan Chemirani’s Le rhythm de le parol and many such groups delivering performances in several places such as Morocco, Tunisia, France and all over Europe.

Raman has also performed with film music directors such as Ilayaraja, A.R. Rahman, Ramani Bharadwaj, Dakshinamurthy, Chakravarthy, Shyam and Devarajan. 

Raman has also had the privilege of performing with percussion legends such as T.K. Murthy, Vellore Ramabadran, Umayalpuram Sivaraman, A.K. Palanivel, Tanjore Govindarajan, G. Harishankar, Mayuram Somu Pillai, V. Nagarajan, Palghat V.A. Sundaram, K.M. Vaidhyanathan, and Pudukottai Mahadeva Iyer.

Raman is a ‘Kalaimamani’ awardee of the Tamilnadu state government. He was honoured with the title of ‘Shankha Nadha Thilakam’, ‘Asthan Vidwan of Kanchi Mutt’. He has also won the Maharajapuram Viswantha Iyer Award, a prestigious award from Madras Music Academy.

Raman is an ‘A’ grade artiste from AIR Chennai. Raman has also been training native Indian and foreign students.

Krishnan started learning (ghatam) at Sri Jaya Ganesh Tala Vadya Vidyalaya, Chennai, at the age of 7 under the guidance of illustrious Gurus–Sarvasri Sri. T.R. Harihara Sharma, Sri. T.H. ‘Vikku’ Vinayakram and Sri. T.H. Subash Chandran.

After completion of the course, he worked as a faculty member at Sri Jaya Ganesh Tala Vadya Vidyalaya, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, for five years, which was run by Sri. T.H. ‘Vikku’ Vinayakaram. He holds a degree in MBA–finance in addition to being an M.Com graduate.

Krishnan has performed with various legends, stars, ensembles, Jugalbandhis and Fusion ensembles. In addition, he had the privilege of performing with various percussion legends on Talavadhyam, Layavinyasam and Ghatamala. He has also performed with film music directors such as Ilayaraja, M.S. Viswanathan, K.V. Mahadevan and Shyam.

Krishnan has toured extensively all over India performing Ghatam and has commendable accolades. He is also a yoga and pranayama master by passion.

Shri. Shivanand Ballesh is the youngest son and a disciple of Hindustani vocalist and Shehnai Maestro Pandit. Dr. S. Ballesh. He pursued his Sangit Visharad from Akhila Bharatha Gandharava Mahavidyalaya and finished his Vidwath Anthim from Karnataka State Govt. Music Examination and Bachelor of Music from Karnataka University. Shivanand had his initial Hindustani Classical music training from his grandfather Pt. Sanna Bharamanna. At the age of 5, he started his musical learning from Late Pt. Dr. D. P. Hiremath guruji for nearly 10 years in Kirana gharana style. Shivanand is one of the early disciples of Pt. Kodhand Salunke of Karsundi (Patiala Gharana). Later, He learnt Patiala Gharana Khayal gayaki from his father Pt. Dr. S. Ballesh. He learnt voice culture and gayaki ang from Guruji Ustad Rashid Khan Sahab and still continues to learn from him. Currently, Shivanand mentors nearly 100 students in Chennai teaching Hindustani Music Foundation. Shivanand learnt the nuances of Tabla from Tabla Nawaz Ustad Nazim Hussain, son of Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan. He is a multi-skilled artiste who plays Shehnai, Harmonium, Tabla, Dukkad. He has accompanied his father Pt. S. Ballesh at many concerts giving vocal support and accompanied Harmonium for vocal concerts and Dukkad for Shehnai concerts.

Surmani Krishna Ballesh, a son and disciple of Shehnai Chakravarthy Pandit S. Ballesh, is a Hindustani Classical Shehnai player and Patiala gharana vocalist of India who also received training in Kirana, Gwalior and Rampur Sahaswana gharana.  He is one of the disciples of world-renowned Shehnai Maestro Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan. He was under the tutelage of Ustad ji for 7 years and has learnt to play Shehnai in the Benarasi Bismillah Khan gharana under Guru-Sishya parampara. He is a ghazal singer and an “A” Grade Shehnai artiste in Akashwani.  Krishna has played Shehnai for many Indian composers including Maestro Ilayaraja and Oscar awardee A. R. Rahman in several Indian movies. He has rendered a Shehnai duet in the Hollywood movie “The Hundred Foot Journey – 2014” for the track titled “India Calling” along with his father and guru, Shehnai Chakravarthy.  He learnt Patiala gharana from Pt. Kodanda Singh Salunke Maharaj and Pt. Prakash Singh Salunke, Gwalior – Kirana gharana from Padma Shree awardee Pt. M. Venkatesh Kumar. He is currently learning Rampur – Sahaswana gharana from Padma Shree Ustad Rashid Khan and also accompanying him in all his concerts. Krishna plays for upcoming film composers of India and lends his voice to many background scores, devotional and private albums. He has performed at various live shows along with noted composers and singers such as M. S. Viswanathan, Illayaraja, A. R. Rahman, M. M. Keeravani, Shyam Joseph, Anu Malik, Hamsalekha, K. J. Yesudas, S. Janaki, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Jugalbandhi with P Susheela.