* I saw her name in the list of faculty members in a recent announcement from MA seeking applications from students.Also find SKA PSN is also included this time.

Smt. Sowmya is the recipient of this year's SANGEETHA KALA SARATHY title from Sri Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha, one of Chennai's oldest music organizations. The title will be conferred on Dec. 15th, at the inauguration of the sabha's annual December series at Vidya Bharati, Mylapore.

Smt. Sowmya has also recently been elevated by All India Radio to the coveted 'A-Top' artiste grade!

Here is a link to her season schedule:
http://sowmya.org/blog

Congratulations to Sowmya

Congratulations Smt Sowmya , a year back sangeetha choodamani , this year sangeetha kalasarathy.

Congratulations!

Congratulations Sowmya. My best wishes to you.

Congrats Sowmya!
with blessings,

Thanjavooran 25 11 2011

So nice to hear . One of the few remaining icons of orthodoxy .

* She is authoritative -poise with which she had presented the Lec-dem in MA last year(with madras eye).
* Scholarly in bringing out innovative RTPs-all in Gowlai.......&the like.
* Educative------------Nandanar Charithram- Marghazhi mahotsav.
* Mentoring.. Showing the way to upcoming artists... marghazhi mahotsav.uthsava sampradhaya kritis presenting with Sriranjani Santhanagopalan &two others -getting them thunderous applause throughout the session.

Saw the news item in ToI today! Congratulations on the title, madam!

Just saw the telecast of the Jaya TV concert. What a scholarly and erudite performance! Only saw this morning's truncated version. I thought the tambura looked more like a prop. I don't think the tambura was even being strummed. I wonder why?

Re: Dindigul S.P.Natarajan » 31 Jan 2012 20:43
"There is also apparently a rare recording somewhere of an SPN vocal concert. I am given to understand that some of his impeccable pathantaram of Tyagaraja kritis lives on through Smt. Sowmya, whose father is SPN's disciple."---
I earnestly appeal to Smt Sowmya through this Forum to popularise the features of his music padantharam etc.,in the midst of her Lec-Dems& the like.

satyabalu

Radioweb (one of the many new carnatic streaming sites) has a special programme on Smt S Sowmya today, on the occasion of the vidushi's birthday. The program features a rare kharaharapriya varnam among other things.

http://www.radioweb.in/player-list?titl ... 96eee3a803

Two bits of information picked up from Smt. Sowmya's official fb page:

Sept. 4th 2012
Congratulations, DOCTOR Sowmya!
(Smt. Sowmya today successfully defended her dissertation titled "A study of the effect of temperature variations on the pitch of a double-headed drum - mrdanga" at the University of Madras, capping six years of research, under the guidance of Dr. Premeela Gurumurthy)

Sept. 3rd 2012
Smt. Sowmya accompanied by Parur MS Ananthakrrishnan, Neyveli Narayanan & KV Gopalakrishnan will be on a concert tour of USA & Canada from Sept. 8th - Nov. 18th 2012. The tour is organized by Viji Mani & Mahalingam Mani of Sankritilaya, California. The schedule:

9/8/2012 White Plains, NY
9/9/2012 Boston, MA

9/16/2012 Phoenix

9/21/2012 San Diego
9/22/2012 LA
9/23/2012 San Jose

9/30/2012 Charlotte

10/5/2012 Indianapolis
10/6/2012 Chicago
10/7/2012 St Louis

10/13/2012 Calgary
10/14/2012 Buffalo

10/20/2012 Toronto
10/21/2012 New York

10/26/2012 Columbus
10/27/2012 Austin
10/28/2012 Houston

11/2/2012 Rochester
11/3/2012 Washington DC
11/4/2012 Atlanta

11/10/2012 Philadelphia
11/11/2012 Denver

11/16/2012 Dallas
11/17/2012 Sacramento
11/18/2012 Portland

Congrats to Dr. Sowmya. Very interesting thesis topic!

Given the breadth of her knowledge, I would have expected her topic to be more related to the pannisai in the Silappadikaram or something like that. But then again, her knowledge of physical chemistry & thermodynamics probably came in very handy in studying the effect of temperature variations on the mridangam's pitch.

I would be delighted if someone could post a pdf copy of her thesis (if it is public domain material). Most dissertations in the US/UK/Canada are archived and available to the public.

Looking forward to her upcoming concert tour.

Interesting thesis topic. Congratulations Dr. Sowmya. Her thesis title reminded me of Fourier Transform, given such a similar problem in a different context is what motivated Fourier on that monumental intellectual achievement nearly two centuries ago. As a self-proclaimed Fourier devotee, it will be fun for me to see if she went mathematical in the FT route. As Mahavishnu said, it will be interesting to browse through her thesis.

Hope to catch her concert when she comes our way here.

Ramesh / VK: Having been a witness to Smt. Sowmya's research work and its outcome (mostly as a helping hand, nothing more!), I must say that the innocuous-sounding title of the thesis masks what will eventually be acknowledged as a path-breaking PRACTICAL innovation to stabilize the pitch of the instrument, which varies widely across climatic variations and ambient conditions, posing a challenge to performers especially in this age of globe-trotting! Importantly, this has been done WITHOUT tampering with the basic construction or natural materials traditionally used in constructing the mridangam. Professional percussionists and mridangam craftsmen have been involved in the work. I believe the thesis can be made public only after the convocation, with the University's formal consent. As of now, the results have been publicized only at her final viva voce that happened on Sept. 4th, wherein the examiners recommended that Sowmya be conferred with the Ph.D.

Thanks Ramanathan. Sounds very interesting. We will look it over and learn from her work once it is made public after her convocation. Kudos to Dr. Sowmya.

I think she should patent her innovation first. She can check with Rohan Krishnamurthy who, I am sure, can refer her to a competent patent lawyer.

thanks, Ramanathan. Look forward to hearing more when it is appropriate to release the material.
Harimau: