Shivkumar brings in an oasis of hope

Ahmedabad, June 12 (UNI) A US-based computer Professor Shivkumar has designed a totally free Carnatic music Krithi online audio archive that helps a beginner and an advanced learner to develop their skills in the Indian classical music art.

The Carnatic music site, ''South Indian Classical Carnatic Music Krithi Archive with On-line audio classes'', offers free on-line coaching of songs composed by Tygaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and modern composers like Papanasam Sivan and is a rarity for music lovers. The kritis are also notated and notations are available in html and word. The songs also have been given a word-to-word meaning.

When contacted, Shivkumar said ''When I became a professor myself and I specialised in Internet technologies, I saw the potential of MP3-over-the-web as a medium for distributing classes.

''I simply started putting notations on-line to co-ordinate a local Navaratri event. Since there is no space constraint on the web, the notations also had detailed word-by-word meanings etc.

Later, I put MP3 classes on-line to help co-ordinate pancharatna singing for the annual event, organised by Pallavi (a local music organisation founded by Prof Raghavachari at RPI).'' When asked about his music background, he said ''My parents, especially my mother (Geetha Kalyanaraman), was keen that I learn music. My parents enrolled me in a nearby music college. I was lucky to have excellent teachers who were also top performers. I had their generous attention and mentoring - typically after my school time, or in vacation breaks.'' MORE VNB AC LS KP1736