Nice Intro To Carnatic Classical

After a very long break, my renewed interest in carnatic is rewarded by the plentiful resources I found on the web.

I especially like Dr. Shivkumar Kalyanaraman’s site where he’s put up an extensive archive of lessons all the way from the basics to advanced lessons. The lessons are very detailed, explaining the minutae in great depth. It is practically impossible to graduate beyond some levels without sufficient practice and mastery of these details. You will also find an archive of the ‘swaras’ along with explanation of the lyrics – again a great contribution.

Those who take classical music to be alien to their tastes should listen to the 4 part gentle introduction audio primer. It presents the basics of carnatic, contrasts it with western music and can be a good starting point to understanding this great tradition. Just download the audio files onto ur mp3 player. It is totally worth trying them out.