Kudamaloor Janardanan

Kudamaloor Janardanan[കുടമാളൂര്‍ ജനാര്‍ദ്ദനന്‍] (21 July 1969 – ) is an Indian flautist of the Carnatic music tradition.

Kudamaloor Janardanan was born into a musical family in Kudamaloor, Kottayam district, Kerala, India.

He had his basic vocal music lessons from his father, G. Krishna Iyer.

Soon he was fascinated by the art of instrumental music and turned to the Indian flute.

Kudamaloor Janardanan or Kudamaloorji as he is better known is a self-taught and learnt classical flautist.

His journey began on a high note with a maiden performance at the tender age of 7, followed by prizes, medals and accomplishments in different school, college, university, district and state level competitions under different categories of Flute, Vocal and Violin.

In his later years of student life, Janardanan was guided by his paternal uncle, K.Shivaramakrishna Iyer, a prominent flautist of his time.

Janardanan was awarded the scholarship for further studies in music by the Department of Culture, Government of India.

He went on to obtain a graduate degree in Violin from Madras University.

An ‘A’ Grade artiste of the All India Radio and an empaneled musician of the ICCR, Kudamaloorji continues to maintain his distinct style.

Kudamaloorji's musical journey as a musician, music composer and a performer has gone beyond the traditional classical Carnatic music.

Besides many solo albums, he has composed and orchestrated music for devotional albums, classical dances and background score for motion pictures.

Apart from having many published works (See Discography),Kudamaloor Janardanan is also active in concert circuits in India and abroad.

A great many performances in temples, cultural organisations across the country and internationally reputed venues in the UK, UAE, Belgium and the Netherlands, Kudamaloorji has also performed in the National Program of Music organised jointly by All India Radio and Doordarshan.

Some of his Indian tours that got reviews in media are:

Some of the concerts that Kudamaloor conducted aboard includes:

The key philosophy of Kudamaloor Janardhanan is Music is especially a rendition of ragas (or melody), instead of a vehicle of lyrics based songs (Kritis).

Janardanan considers ragas as "the spirit of Indian classical music. " According to a "The Hindu" Review "With flautist Kudamaloor Janardanan it seems to be something of a mission to give the ragas their right place in music concerts. That was clear as he played such superb ragas as Nattakurinji, Mohanam, Chenchurutti, Sarasangi, and Sankarabharanam. … ragas are supreme in instrumental music with the kritis playing a secondary role."

The review continues to say "True to the flautist's unconventional style, there was a near total absence of kritis, varnams and tillanas in the concert, enabling the listeners to enjoy the ragas in their pure form."

On the over influence of Kritis on Cartnatic Music, Janardhanan says in an interview, "In Carnatic music, kirthans and bhaktigeetams have been given a great deal of prominence. This has resulted in the general impression that classical music means devotional music. Only when it is freed from such notions will classical music be able to spread its wings and be enjoyed by more people."

He continues in the same interview, "If classical music were a tree, devotional music is only one of its branches. It must be realised that when the blue sky or moonlight is being expressed in a raag, that is also classical music. In 'Gita Govindam' where the theme is that of love between Radha and Krishna, it is the 'shringara bhava' that should be brought forth by the musician. But many artistes still keep projecting the bhakti bhava."

He also uses "unconventional" instrumentation in his concerts.

In the Kovalam Lt Festival, he used Drums, Percussions, Keyboard and Voices in a Raga-based concert.

He also uses Edakka( a south Indian, temple based drum) and Tabla ( mostly used in Hindustani Music) apart from conventional Mridagam and Ghatam.

His overall approach of curiosity and experimentation in Music can be seen from this quote, "I am not one to shy away from creativity, sidelining it by saying that music is as eternal and vast as an ocean. If indeed that is the case, I would rather venture into its unexplored depths, to discover the coffer of pearls and gems. What has been made so far are indeed sweet. What we hear now may be sweeter; however the sweetest is yet to come. Won't we benefit much if we start thinking on these lines?"

More on Kudamaloor's approach to music can be heard from these interviews available in YouTube

1. Madhava Murali (Released in 2005 by Manorama Music, Heritage Series) has 6 songs in 50 minutes rendered mainly in bamboo flute in Carnatic Music style.

Sub title of the music is "Compositions on Lord Krishna in Flute".

The main kriti is this disc is "Krupaya Palaya" Charukesi which lasts for 12 minutes.

Other Kritis are Alai Payuthe, Rara venugopala, Krishna Ni Bhegane and Enna Thavam Kapi.

Main flute is played by Kudamaloor Janardhanan.

The accompanying artists on Mridangam, Veena, Ghatam and second flutes are not known.

2. Poomoodam Devi (Released in 2005 by Manorama Music) contains 11 devotional songs.

This is a vocal work by K. S. Chitra, Radhika Thilak, Sujatha Mohan and Madhu Balakrishnan.

Kudamloor Janardhanan plays Rara Venu Kriti in this work.

3. Mohana Murali (Released in 2006 by Manorama Music part of Heritage Series) has 4 songs in 58 minutes rendered mainly in bamboo flute in Carnatic Style.

Subtitle of this album is “An Album based on sublime raga Mohanam". Main song is Mohana Layatharangam (Ecstasy And More) that lasts for 24 minutes. According to a review, "Mohana Laya Tarangam speaks to your soul with its remarkable blend of rhythm and melody.

One perceives not only Mohanam, but four other ragas, owing to the unique technique applied here, called 'sruti bhedam". Other songs in this album are Reflections- The Image of Swaras, Mohana Varnam – Owen Version ( based on Nini Kori Varnam), and The Oarsmans Ode A Musical Ferry ( a folk tune)

4. Swathi Murali (Released in 2006 by Manorama Music as a part of Heritage Series) has 6 songs in 63 minutes rendered mainly in bamboo flute in Carnatic Style.

The album is a flute rendition of some of the compositions of Swathi Thirunal.