Few instrumental musicians, can it be said, inculcates gayaki style while rendering songs. According to me, flute players especially need a command over the instrument. At this instant, I need to speak about the flautist Sikkil Mala Chandrasekhar who is one of the acclaimed Carnatic musicians. She follows her predecessors and gurus, the famed Sikkil sisters Kunjumani and Neela.

Born on August 23,1963, she started her journey with flute from the age of six. She was nurtured under the guidance of Sikkil sisters and by the age of 14, she was a skilled flautist. In1980, she was a debutante at the Krishna Gana Sabha. She also won the first prize at the AIR music competition in wind instruments and received the award by Bharath Rathna M S Subbulakshmi. Consequent to this, she entered the family of MS, through marriage, being MS’ granddaughter-in-law, in the year 1986.

There after, she had several opportunities to receive guidance from MS and MS’ daughter and the vocal accompanist Radha Vishwanathan.

Even Mala feels blessed to be a part of the family and the support they provide for her career. She is a savant performer rendering with great purity of lines and her liveliness in her expression making audience oblivious throughout the concert. She also performs as an accompanied artist to the Sikkil sisters and the combination often called as ‘Sikkil Trio’.

She is a recipient of many awards and honours, including ‘Venugaana Siromani’, Flute Mali award. Government of Tamil Nadu has conferred on her the title ‘Kalaimamani’. She is also the first Indian to attend the national flute convention at USA. She has also been invited to perform at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan as a mark of world music day this year.

Being inspired by MS, her dream is to become an acclaimed artist as MS. Her other role models include Sikkil sisters, Radha Vishwanathan, Lalgudi Jayaraman, Aliyur Natesha Iyer and Aliyur Narayanaswamy Iyer.