Mumbai, February 8: SHE is readying for her first solo recital here. But Mumbai’s music lovers are welcoming Chennai-based violinist M Narmadha, as she’s one of the few artistes equally proficient in Carnatic and Hindustani classical forms. Her recital—in Carnatic style, this time—will be preceded by a lecture-demonstration on Violin and its adaptation to Indian Music.

In fact, it has always been ‘Indian music’ for Narmadha, not Carnatic or Hindustani. From the age of four, she has been imbibing notes from both streams simultaneously—through her gurus, grandfather Parur Sundaram Iyer and father M S Gopalakrishnan. So finding a common chord was a natural corollary. “It’s a blessing to be exposed to both the classical systems concurrently. One then becomes broadminded enough to admire and appreciate each style, and absorb the best features of both, thus enriching one’s repertoire,” says the artiste, who has also trained under the late sitar maestro K G Ginde and vocalist Debu Chaudhuri of the Senia gharana.

The exposure to both forms never confused her, even as a youngster. “When people learn several languages does it confuse them?” she queries. So, armed with a doctorate from the University of Delhi—for her thesis on ragas in Indian classical music—Narmadha has staged several solos and jugalbandis in both Hindustani and Carnatic arenas. She soon hopes to perform with sitar maestro Ravi Shankar and has even incorporated some of the sitar’s fingering techniques to her violin recitals.

Narmadha feels the two forms differ in tonal intonation, swara handling and presentation techniques. Yet she has no qualms about blending ragas from the two streams, where possible. “This improves the melodic quality of certain ragas like Behag, Desh and Mohanam. But in some ragas like Todi, Devagandhari and Suruti, such amalgamation isn’t suitable. The defined structure and particular combination of notes don’t allow it,’’ explains the artiste, who has published a book on this subject: Indian Music and Sancharas in Ragas.

She’s now working on her own fusion music project and fiercely denies that a merging could dilute the purity of either stream. “Every piece of music, every interpretation, carries its own trade mark. Over the years, renowned vidwans in Carnatic music have introduced beautiful phrases that were, until then, considered alien to those ragas,” she points out, “If you always conform to tradition, there is no room for creativity and development.”

(Catch her on March 13 at the Shanmukhananda Sangeetha Sabha)