Chowdiah's live recordings to be out

Fans of the late violin maestro T Chowdiah now have a reason to smile, for some of the artiste’s rare live recordings are going to be out soon.

Home Records and Academy of Music will be celebrating the works of the legendary musician as they are all set to perform a few rare numbers of the artiste as well as launch an album which the violinist himself recorded during his overseas tour days. The album, titled ‘7 Strings’ will be launched on March 28 at Chowdiah Memorial Hall here, at 6:30 pm. 

“Everyone knows that the word violin is synonymous with Chowdiah. He was one of the first or probably the only violinist who played on a seven string violin as opposed to four string violin. This was majorly because microphones were not popular those days and the extra three strings enhanced the volume immensely and hence the title ‘7 Strings.’

This itself tells you how authentic and perfect Chowdiah was during his time,” said violinist R Kumaresh, one of the performers. 

“It is an absolute humbling experience. When his family approached me with a set of spool tapes, giving complete freedom to go about it, it is automatically became an honour. Many parts had a great deal of disturbance since it was recorded back then. We digitalised the numbers, choosing the nine tracks we have and consolidated those to create a CD,” he added. 

There will also be a ‘jugalbandi’ by Ustad Shahid Parvez, the sitar exponent and Kumaresh. “We have never played together, so the music that will come out is going to be completely fresh. We are expecting a full house and are overwhelmed by the response we have already received,” said Kumaresh.

 “The man’s dynamics, approach, techniques and productions have lived through times and still manage to get goosebumps amongst the best of musicians,” he added. Ravindra Yavagal will be playing the tabla and Anantha R Krishnan will be at mridangam.

Over 500 copies are ready to be launched and the tracks will be available for download online in the coming week.