Kala Ramnath is a world-renowned Indian violinist who performs in both the Hindustani classical tradition, and in collaborations that incorporate many styles with Ray Manzarek of The Doors, Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer, Hilary Hahn, Kronos Quartet with Reena Esmail and veena player Jayanthi Kumaresh, and leading orchestras such as my own National Arts Centre, to name but a few. You’ll hear about her childhood, and how she became a disciple of the legendary vocalist Pandit Jasraj, leading her to revolutionize her approach to Hindustani violin technique. As a teacher she has put together an incredible resource with an extensive video library that she’s created of Indian music, Indianclassicalmusic.com
When I recorded this interview with Kala, she had just the day before returned from the celebration of life for the legendary tabla master Zakir Hussain, who died this past December, and was one of the most important musicians in both Indian music and in bringing a global audience to Indian music. He had moved to San Francisco in the 1960s and was involved in too many projects to begin to list; in 2024 he was the first musician from India to receive 3 Grammys at one ceremony, including his collaboration with Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer. Zakir Hussain was an incredibly important mentor of Kala, and you’ll hear in her words about what his guidance and collaborations meant to her.
Kala talked to me about some of her many cross-genre collaborations, including her fantastic albums with tabla master Bikram Ghosh and her inventive trio with George Brooks and Gwyneth Wentink and you’ll hear some of that music as well (albums linked below).
Like all my episodes, you can watch this on my YouTube channel or listen to the podcast on all the podcast platforms, and I’ve also linked the transcript : YouTube and Transcript
Kala Ramnath Website Indianclassicalmusic.com
Raag Ahir Bhairav Paperboats album Elements trio album
Other episodes I’ve linked directly to this one, which I think may interest you: Karnatic violinist Suhadra Vijaykumar
Sitar and tabla player Mohamed Assani
It’s a joy to bring these inspiring episodes to you every week, and I do all the many jobs of research, production and publicity. Please buy me a coffee? Or check out my merch store Sign up for my newsletter and get exclusive sneak peeks!
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(02:41)Zakir Hussain, Triveni with Jayanthi Kumaresh
(10:53) Kala’s childhood
(15:17) Indianclassicalmusic.com resource
(17:56) Kala Ramnath Collective world music
(19:13) albums with Bikram Ghosh
(20:28) A Better Place from Paperboats with Bikram Ghosh
(26:30) Pandit Jasraj, changing her approach to the violin
(34:46) Raag Ahir Bhairav (video linked in show notes)
(46:16) Kala’s Singing Violin style
(48:12) other episodes you’ll enjoy and different ways to support this series
(49:05)Concerto for Hindustani Violin and Orchestra written with Reena Esmail
(54:32) Ragas according to the time of day
(57:43) Ray Manzarek of The Doors, ragas with other musical traditions
(01:02:31) why Kala uses viola strings and tunes low
(01:04:21) trio with George Brooks and Gwyneth Wentink
(01:05:42) Better Than Coffee from Elements, George Brooks, Gwyneth Wentink (link in show notes)
(01:10:15) Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer, importance of consistent practice
(01:13:54) Kalashree foundation
(01:15:28) pandemic shutdowns, performing with Zakir Hussain
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