The Music Academy Madras has been associated with Musicology and Research in Music from the time of its inception. The discussions in the Annual Conference substantiate the depth of musical thought that the institution (also called the Vidvat Sabha) engages with. The other hallmarks are the Journal of the Music Academy (JMA) and a number of other publications that the Academy has brought out. These publications were fruits of the efforts of eminent scholars like Sangita Kalanidhi Sri. T.V. Subba Rao, Dr. V. Raghavan, Sangita Kala Acharya T.S. Parthasarathy, and reputed scholar–musicians such as Sangita Kalanidhi Mudicondan Sri. Venkatarama Iyer, Sangita Kala Acharya Sri. B. Krishnamurthy, Sangita Kala Acharya Dr. S.R. Janakiraman, to name a few.
Today, the Music Academy Research Centre (MARC), the research wing of the Academy, carries forward the core objectives of the Academy while building on its rich legacy of music research.
In 2012, MARC was affiliated to Tumkur University, Tumkur, as its recognised Research Centre. In this period a PhD program was offered and a total of eight students did their doctoral study from the Centre under the guidance of acclaimed scholars like Prof. Ritha Rajan and Dr. R.S. Jayalakshmi. They were awarded their doctorates in 2020.
MARC is currently involved in various activities like bringing out publications, conducting seminars / webinars, workshops and undertaking research projects.
The Research Centre has eminent musicians and scholars who play an active role in the planning and execution of MARC’s projects and activities.
Dr. Meenakshi (Sumathi) Krishnan
Ex-Officio member.
Secretary, The Music Academy, Madras.
Dr. Sumithra Vasudev
Sumithra Vasudev is a reputed musician and prime disciple of Sangita Kalanidhi R. Vedavalli. She is a faculty in Advanced School of Carnatic Music, The Music Academy Madras. Sumithra’s penchant for exploring rare raga-s and her flair for niraval and tanam distinguish her performances. She was one of the Ph.D scholars in MARC and her dissertation is based on a study of compositions and raga-s handled by the Dikshita family composers.
Ritha Rajan served as Professor and Head (Retd.), Department of Music, Queen Mary’s College. A member of the Advisory Board of the Music Academy Madras for over a decade, she is currently the Director of the Advanced School of Carnatic Music, Music Academy. Her dissertation on ‘Pāṭhāntara-s in the compositions of the Musical Trinity’ is a brilliant combination of an intimate knowledge of the subtleties of oral traditions in Carnatic music and lucidity of its expression in the textual form.
R.S. Jayalakshmi is currently the Associate Director of the Advanced School of Carnatic Music, Music Academy Madras, and faculty at University of Silicon Andhra, USA. Earlier, she has served as faculty in the Department of Music, University of Madras. A vainika of repute, her dissertation based on the gamaka-s of Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini is a model work on the interpretation of the various gamaka-s described in the text. She is the author of the book ராக லக்ஷணத்தில் ஆரோஹண அவரோஹணம் (MRJ Publishers, Bangalore, 1999).
Ex-Officio member.
Secretary, The Music Academy, Madras
Sanjay Subrahmanyan is one of those rare and complete performers whose concerts are the product of a lively and intelligent mind. His intensive and exhaustive elaboration of unconventional ragas, as well as his treatment of the time honoured classical ragas display a unique combination of tradition and modernity. Tamiz language finds the singer in his elements, as he offers classic Tamiz compositions in tandem with those that he assiduously mines of composers whose works have not seen the light of day. Through his music he integrates the wisdom and stabilizing influences of the past with his own artistic and intellectual creativity.
S. Sowmya, a vocalist, vainika and researcher, is known for her extensive manodharma, her bold forays into aspects of music that are considered difficult and her adherence to the strict classical tradition as imbibed from her gurus. She is a member of the faculty at the Music Academy’s Advanced School of Carnatic Music. With her path-breaking research work in enhancing the tonal stability of the mridangam, the pre-eminent percussion instrument in South Indian music and insightful presentations on various aspects of classical music, Sowmya in many ways personifies – ‘a quintessential scholarly Carnatic musician’.
Dr V Abiramasundaram, former Head of the Department Sanskrit, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College, Chennai is a renowned teacher and expert in various branches of Sanskrit language and linguistics including Vyakarana (grammar), Vedanta (philosophy), Sahitya (literature & poetics) and Saivagama (study of temple and ritualistic practices). He has an intimate knowledge of the study of manuscripts, technical texts and treatises in Sanskrit. He pioneered the setting up of academic courses at the post-graduate level for Saivagama studies specifically designed for students who have completed training at agama pathashala-s. Research and methodology in the Indian context, with emphasis on Sanskrit language & linguistics is an area where Dr Abhiramasundaram has contributed significantly both as an academician and teacher/guide.
As part of the vision to encourage and support young musicians and students of music to engage with the different dimensions of musical thinking and research, MARC has a team of young research and project assistants, working under project-based fellowships.
S Kirthana – Research Assistant 2026-27
Amrita Snigdha Desiraju – Project Assistant – Sankirtana Ratnavali – 2026-27
This project aims at editing, translation, transliteration and publication of musical texts written in various languages like Sanskrit, Telugu and Tamiz. Presently publications in Telugu in the period between 1850 CE – 1940 CE have been taken up. Two works ‘Prathamabhyasapustakamu’(1905) and ‘Samskrtandradravidakirtanamulu’ (1906) were brought out in 2020, with which Music Academy completed the mammoth task of translating all the works of Subbarama Dikshita (1839-1906) into English. The edition of the Telugu work ‘Pallavi Svara Kalpavalli’(1900) of Tiruvottriyur Tyagayya, with Roman transliteration and English translation was brought out in December 2023.
Samskṛtāndra drāviḍa kīrtanamulu is a work containing fifty-eight compositions with sahitya by Kṛṣṇasvāmi Ayyar and music by Subbarāma Dīkṣita. Originally published in 1906 the work contains songs in three languages, Samskrta, Telugu and Tamil. The English translation carries details of signs and symbols used in the notation in the preliminary portion, and transliteration of the notation of the songs.
Prathamābhyāsa Pustakamu, a primer for beginners in Carnatic music, was authored by Subbarāma Dīkṣita and published in 1905 in Telugu. The English translation of this book is broadly divided into two sections. The first gives details about symbols used in the notation,vocal and vina practice methods, followed by varisai-s, gita-s and nottusvara sahitya-s. The second section has simple kirtana-s to be learnt by beginners.
Pallavi Svara Kalpavalli was authored by Tiruvoṙṙiyūr Tyāgayya and published in 1900 in Telugu. The work is the only available comprehensive notational document of the compositions of Vīṇa Kuppayya. It has five chapters consisting of varṇa-s, kṛti-s, rāga descriptions and ciṭṭasvara-s for pallavi-s. The English edition is a translation and transliteration of this book.
MARC is presently working on English translation and transliteration of Sankirtana Ratnavali (1906) of Tiruvotriyur Tyagayya. This work was originally published in Telugu and contains over hundred kriti-s and a few varnams-s composed by Tiruvotriyur Tyagayya.
The Oral History Archive project (OHA) of MARC was begun in 2019 with an aim to record ideas and insights of musicians, scholars and other resource people who form a part of the Indian music community, particularly Carnatic music, through interviews and interactions.
The interviews focus on the artist’s musical experience; interactions with their seniors as well as colleagues in the field; thoughts on usage of terms like patanthara, parampara, etc., topics relating to core music; and would include biographical details and anecdotes that are special to the artist’s life and music.
This archival effort, we believe, will help us revisit and widen our perspectives on the changes and developments in Carnatic music within the period of 100-150 years. It will also help in understanding how orality and oral tradition have sustained a certain musicality/identity for Carnatic music that makes ‘oral’ more than just a method of transmission.
So far, interviews of ten artists/scholars have been recorded –
During the COVID period, in 2020 the Music Academy published short videos on the institution, bringing to light many interesting and insightful details about its contributions and activities in the field of music, music teaching, music research, preservation and propagation of South Indian classical music. MARC played an active role in putting together the videos on research and publication activities of the MA from the time of its inception till then.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMhgEnEwYinf7wkahBGMDs0t5E7flwl0r&si=J4dxlrgMAjIdswzS
In the year 2025-26 MARC as the research wing of the Music Academy engaged actively in curating the academic sessions in the annual conference in December 2025-26 where the whole conference was based on the theme of celebrating 250 years of Muttusvami Dikshitar and almost all the academic sessions therein were based on various topics related to Muttusvami Dikshitar, his life and music. We are presently working on bringing out the conference proceedings as a special journal volume to commemorate Muttusvami Dikshitar 250.
