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“Purandara Dasa invested Karnatak music with a homespun morality and ready wordly-wisdom; Kshetragna refined it to include the tenderest erotic symbolism; Tyagaraja communicated to it the lyricism of personal feeling, and predicated the human condition on such a lyricism; Dikshitar brought to it an epic sweep and the weight of incomparable scholarship; Syama Sastry gave to it the intimacy of a dialogue with God; Muthu Tandavar endowed it with the fervour of a pilgrim’s search; Swati Tirunal adorned it with the courtliness and amplitude of a cultured pursuit; Gopalakrishna Bharati brought to it the undertones of a social philosophy; and in our own day, Papanasam Sivan has enriched it with the poignancy of a generation which is seeking to rediscover its soul. Who can say, in the face of so much growth, that Karnatak music is a fixed and inalterable tradition and that it must be cherished as a museum piece?” – Aeolus: ‘The Cave of Aeolus’, 26 January 1964

This site is devoted to cataloguing the articles and critiques of Aeolus, the renowned music critic, which were published in Shankar’s weekly between the mid-60s and the early 70s.

These articles provide a deep insight into Indian music and its artistes. The concert reviews cover both Carnatic and Hindustani music and the articles encompass a wide variety of subjects including Music, Art, and Criticism. It is pertinent to note that Aeolus’s comments are relevant even today and the incisive writing, with rarely matched mastery over the language, is a reader’s delight.

The articles have been transcribed verbatim and scans from the original magazine have been included if available. As of 3 June 2019, there are around twenty articles on this webpage. New articles will be posted as often as possible.

Please feel free to send in your comments.

(We regret to announce that Aeolus passed away on 16 October, 2019, at the age of 94)