T. M. Krishna

Thodur Madabusi Krishna (born 22 January 1976) is an Indian Carnatic vocalist, writer, activist, author and Ramon Magsaysay awardee.

Krishna was born in Madras (now Chennai) on 22 January 1976, the son of T. M. Rangachari and his wife Prema Rangachari.

His mother and maternal uncle Dr. Sriram Subramaniam founded and ran a school named Vidya Vanam for tribal and underprivileged students in Anaikatti, Tamil Nadu.

Krishna is the grand nephew of Congress politician and freedom fighter T. T. Krishnamachari (former Indian finance minister and industrialist), who was also one of the founding members of the Madras Music Academy.

Krishna is an alumnus of The School (Krishnamurti Foundation of India), Chennai.

Krishna received his B.A. degree in economics from Vivekananda College, University of Madras.

He is married to Sangeetha Sivakumar, a reputed carnatic musician and they have two daughters.

Both of Krishna's parents had deep interest in the arts, especially Carnatic music.

His mother had received music lessons in her childhood in the typical south Indian style, and had even taken a degree in Carnatic Music.

Krishna's parents ensured that he received exposure to the classical arts from a young age.

They arranged for him to receive music lessons from a very young age.

Krishna began his musical training under Bhagavathula Seetharama Sharma.

He later underwent special Ragam Thanam Pallavi grooming under Chingleput Ranganathan and Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer.

Krishna's performing career began at the age of 12 with his debut concert at the Spirit of Youth series organised by the Music Academy, Chennai (India).

He has since performed widely at various festivals and venues across the world, including the Madras Music Academy, National Centre for the Performing Arts (India), John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, to name a few.

His music is often appraised as being soulful and full of 'raga bhava'.

Among his many renditions, some of the most popular among his listeners include 'Jambupathe' in Yamunakalyani and 'Manavinala' in Nalinakanthi.

His music during the last decade was reputed for his powerful, deep voice and his ability to sing rapid swaras in many rare ragas.

He now shows a focus on Neraval, an improvisational form which he believes has been distorted over the ages.

He is also famous for his 'innovations' in the method he presents his concerts, one of the primary issues that purists have being that he renders varnams (traditionally introductory pieces) in the middle of a concert.

He is also working towards a project in which Dikshithar compositions from the Sangeetha Sampradaya Pradarshini are rendered exactly according to their notation in the book.

Krishna speaks and writes about a wide range of issues, not confined to the cultural sphere.

His interests span the breadth of leftwing activism, be it the environment, the caste system, social reform, religious reform, combating communalism, innovation in classical music and so on.

He has started and is involved in many organizations whose work is spread across the spectrum of music and culture.

Recently, he has spoken out against the revocation of Article 370, and the destruction of statues of Lenin, Ambedkar, Gandhi and Periyar.

Krishna is part of the team of activists that organizes the Urur-Olcott Kuppam Festival in Chennai and the Svanubhava initiative in Chennai.

He has been part of inspiring collaborations, such as the Chennai Poromboke Paadal with environmentalist Nityanand Jayaraman.

He has collaborated for performances with the Jogappas (transgender musicians) and has brought on to the concert stage the poetry of Perumal Murugan.

He also speaks in various conferences and academic institutions, including Harvard University, Chennai Mathematical Institute, the Indian Institutes of Technology, and the Indian Institutes of Management.

In the year 2016 he was awarded with the Ramon Magsaysay Award for “his forceful commitment as artist and advocate to art’s power to heal India’s deep social divisions, breaking barriers of caste and class to unleash what music has to offer not just for some but for all”.

As a vocalist, he has made a large number of innovations in both the style and substance of his concerts, thereby inviting controversy from some quarters.

Among his awards are the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award (2016) in recognition of ‘his forceful commitment as artist and advocate to art’s power to heal India’s deep social divisions’, the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration (2017) for his services in promoting and preserving national integration in the country, and the Professor V. Aravindakshan Memorial Award (2017) for connecting Carnatic music with the common man.

In 2016, along with Gita Jayaraj, Dr A. Mangai, S. Nandagopal, and Baradwaj Rangan, Krishna taught a semester long course called Indian Art in Context at Chennai Mathematical Institute.

Chennai Poromboke Paadal

The song 'Venpura' of the movie Gypsy (2019 film) directed by Raju Murugan is Krishna's first playback song.

Santhosh Narayanan is the music director.

Krishna also frequently writes on topics ranging from music (including its practice, musicians, history and future) to society, culture, politics and religion.

His articles have been published across most leading Indian newspapers and magazines such as The Indian Express, The Hindu, The Hindustan Times, Outlook, India Today, and Open, as well as several online portals such as Scroll, The Wire, DailyO, and Firstpost.

Krishna has also delivered lectures at a variety of institutions, including leading universities across the world.

Noteworthy among these lectures are: