Born in Bangalore, D.M.Narmadha developed a great fascination at the tender age of three constantly listening to the sound of Violin being practiced and performed by her grandfather and father. It would be 4 AM in the morning when MSG Guruji was practicing the Varnams and she almost learned more than 10 Varnams when she was barely six by the constant exposure to Indian Music at Sangeeta Vilas, 110 Appar Swamy Koil Street, Mylapore which is even today a popular destination for Musicians worldwide.
She was easily the competition winner in Interschool and collegiate competitions and progressed ahead to bloom to become a violinist par excellence. The highly talented child that she was she participated and won prizes in oratorical competition and also acted in school drama during the annual school day festival at St.Thomas Convent, St.Raphaels, and Vidya Mandir at Mylapore, Chennai.
Musical Career
Dr.M.Narmadha started her early performances with her father in violin Duet concerts and has been performing for more than 5 decades now. Being passionate about Academic Musical studies, she pursued to win her bachelors and Masters from Queen Mary’s College at Madras University in the year 1985 and progressed further to complete her Doctoral studies from the University of Delhi.
Her Research on Indian Music was one of the rarest findings comparing the unique accent on the Saptaswaras which gave every note a unique character to make the note distinguished by its ability to be included by its specific characteristics as part of Carnatic and Hindustani.
Dr.M.Narmadha admires Tyagaraja’s musical output “Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa Da Ni, Vara saptaswara”
Her extensive musical research spanning several years included musical guides from both Carnatic and Hindustani music. She delved deeply in explicitly expressing the shade tone, nuance, and the contour of the melodic passages by including trails of Alaap Passages rendered by renowned musicians and also the Sancaris in Sangeeta Sapradaya Pradarshini.
Indian Music and Sankara in Raagas is an extensive study dating from Natya Shastra oh Bharat 2century B.C to Sangeeta Sampradaya Pradarshini of Subbaram Dikshadar, 19th Century A.D. Her research embraced in total equipoise both the academic and performing aspects of Indian Classical Music and Indian Musicology.
She Won her Doctoctorate, M.A.Ph.D in the year 1996 from the University of Delhi as a senior research UGC Felloe scholar.
Pursuing her Musical Passion, she got her employment in All India Radio, Information and Broadcasting ever since 25 years now.
Musical Concerts and Lecture Demonstrations
Endowed with effortless bowing and elegant precision, melodies directly appealing to the heart, treading the path of trend and tradition, completing a close to 5 decade service to Indian Music, Dr.M.Narmadha, has charmed audiences all over the world with her vivacious expressions on her Violin marked by total involvement, complete commitment and dedication and occupies a very important place in the world of Indian classical music.
Having started her career concerts through the Akandam(non-stop musical offering) at Tyagaraja Vidwat Samajam, Mylapore, Chennai she progressed into performing duet concerts with her father in India and abroad. She has toured all over the world including USA, UK, Holland, South Africa, Australia, Singapore, Spain, Malaysia, Hongkong etc.
Musicology being a forte of Dr.M.Narmadha’s academic pursuits she performed various lecture demonstrations all over India and Abroad besides she has been a prolific writer of articles in musicology, and she has authored several books on Indian Music. She was awarded the Best Violinist award by the Music Academy, Madras, eight times consecutively.
Dr. M. Narmadha, also performed several Lecture Demonstrations and workshops in various places and that too free of cost for students, a few of them are cited below:
- Raagamadhuri, Mumbai ,Shivali cultural Society Mumbai.
- ShanmukhanandaSaba Mumbai, Chembur Fine arts
- The National university, Singapore.
- The Annamalai university, Chidambaram
- The Karnatak college of music
- Dr.M.Narmadha as a Cultural Ambassador of India
- Dr.M.Narmadha’s festival of India tour Russia 2018 highlighted and showcased the beautiful relationship between the Russian Folk Song Kalinga to Dr.Narmadha’s own composition Arohara.
- Besides Dr.M.Narmadha composed a 7 beat song on a comparative basis to the flamingo dance steps of Russia.
- In Spain, Madrid she answered questions of many Jazz violinists while linking the Gayaki aang Hindustani music , Gamakas South Indian Music to the innovations and the glides in Jazz performances.
- The Indian element of creativity was explained by Dr.M.Narmadha in her performances.
Awards
Dr.M.Narmadha has won several awards for career excellence in performance and Lecture Demonstrations, In recognition of her contribution to Indian Classical Violin Music.
Few of her awards include
- The Violin Excellence Kanchi Jagadguru Sri Jayendra Saraswati National Eminence Award by Sri Shanmukhananda Fine Arts & Sangeetha Sabha
- The Prestigious “Kalashree” Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi award 2018 for excellence in Violin
- Kalaimamani ‘by the Govt. of Tamil Nadu for excellence in Violin
- Shanmukhananda Sangeeta Shiromani by the Shanmukhananda Sangeeta Sabha, Mumbai
- Yami Award for the Best Accomplished Violinist by Music Today Group, Mumbai and Shantidoot Award, from Mahamountirth Ashram Ujjain
- Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Excellence Award, Chennai and Tantri Vadya Visharada ,San Fran Cisco.