SHUBHA CHANDRAMOULI
Shubha Chandramouli, a disciple of Sri. Poovalur Srinivasan, is an upcoming young artist in the field of Carnatic music, following in the grand lineage of the legendary Sri. Pazhani Subramania Pillai, Mylatoor Sami Iyer, and P.A. Venkataraman. Shubha has accompanied several renowned musicians around the US, Canada, and India. Shubha is a regular performer in Chennai during the December music season, and also has performed several times at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana.
Shubha has been trained in vocal Carnatic music, initially from her mother Sunanda Chandramouli, and is currently training under Smt. Geetha Ramanathan Bennett and Sri. Delhi P. Sunderrajan. She has given several vocal concerts around the US and India as well. An MBA graduate from Boston University, Shubha is currently working at Ernst & Young as a Consultant.
Shubha has been trained in vocal Carnatic music, initially from her mother Sunanda Chandramouli, and is currently training under Smt. Geetha Ramanathan Bennett and Sri. Delhi P. Sunderrajan. She has given several vocal concerts around the US and India as well. An MBA graduate from Boston University, Shubha is currently working at Ernst & Young as a Consultant.
RAJNA SWAMINATHAN
Rajna Swaminathan is an accomplished artist in the field of South Indian classical percussion – mrudangam. She is a disciple and protégé of mrudangam maestro Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman. Rajna is one of only a handful of female mrudangam artists in the world. She has performed with several renowned Indian classical musicians and dancers, touring widely in North America and India. Rajna has performed in several prestigious venues and festivals, including the Smithsonian (D.C.), Kennedy Center (D.C.), Asia Society (New York), Walker Art Center (MN), American Dance Festival (NC), Krannert Center (IL), Lied Center (KS), Music Academy (Chennai), Shanmukhananda Hall (Mumbai), Edinburgh Fringe Festival (U.K.), and The Esplanade (Singapore). Rajna also regularly gives workshops on the South Indian rhythmic perspective, most notably at the Banff International Jazz and Creative Music Workshop, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, and the KOSA International Percussion Camp. Rajna holds degrees in Anthropology and French from the University of Maryland, College Park. She is currently pursuing a PhD in music at Harvard University.
Rajna has also studied classical piano for some years. As a result of her hybrid upbringing in South Indian and Western musical systems, Rajna has developed a penchant for intercultural and crossover work. In 2012, she received a research grant from the University of Maryland (College Park) to conduct intensive fieldwork in the creative jazz scene in New York, composing and innovating new rhythmic frameworks for the mrudangam and exploring issues of hybrid identity, appropriation, and cross-cultural exchange in improvised music. Over the past three years, she has been collaborating and performing with distinguished artists in the New York jazz scene, including pianist Vijay Iyer and saxophonist Steve Coleman.
Rajna's most recent engagement as a composer and bandleader is RAJAS, a project that brings together an ensemble of contemporary musicians in the Indian classical and creative music idioms to experiment and explore new directions for composition and improvisation, reformulating the vocabulary that stems from this deep-rooted tradition.
Rajna is active as a composer-performer for dance and theatre works. Most notably, she has toured widely with the acclaimed Ragamala Dance (Minneapolis) as well as with Ragamala's celebrated co-artistic director and principal dancer Aparna Ramaswamy in her solo work. Rajna has also been commissioned, in collaboration with her sister Anjna Swaminathan, to compose music for playwright Anu Yadav.
Rajna is co-artistic director of Rhythm Fantasies, Inc. - a non-profit organization that strives to promote South Indian classical music and dance in a space that encourages education and enrichment through innovation and cross-cultural collaboration.
Rajna has also studied classical piano for some years. As a result of her hybrid upbringing in South Indian and Western musical systems, Rajna has developed a penchant for intercultural and crossover work. In 2012, she received a research grant from the University of Maryland (College Park) to conduct intensive fieldwork in the creative jazz scene in New York, composing and innovating new rhythmic frameworks for the mrudangam and exploring issues of hybrid identity, appropriation, and cross-cultural exchange in improvised music. Over the past three years, she has been collaborating and performing with distinguished artists in the New York jazz scene, including pianist Vijay Iyer and saxophonist Steve Coleman.
Rajna's most recent engagement as a composer and bandleader is RAJAS, a project that brings together an ensemble of contemporary musicians in the Indian classical and creative music idioms to experiment and explore new directions for composition and improvisation, reformulating the vocabulary that stems from this deep-rooted tradition.
Rajna is active as a composer-performer for dance and theatre works. Most notably, she has toured widely with the acclaimed Ragamala Dance (Minneapolis) as well as with Ragamala's celebrated co-artistic director and principal dancer Aparna Ramaswamy in her solo work. Rajna has also been commissioned, in collaboration with her sister Anjna Swaminathan, to compose music for playwright Anu Yadav.
Rajna is co-artistic director of Rhythm Fantasies, Inc. - a non-profit organization that strives to promote South Indian classical music and dance in a space that encourages education and enrichment through innovation and cross-cultural collaboration.
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