Kala Ramnath

Kala Ramnath is a world-renowned Indian violinist who performs in both the Hindustani classical tradition, and in collaborations that incorporate many styles wi th Ray Manzarek of The Doors, Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer, George Brooks, and  leading orchestras, to name but a few. You’ll hear about her childhood, and how she became a disciple of the legendary vocalist Pandit Jasraj, leading her to revolutionize her approach to Hindustani violin technique. As a teacher she has put together an incredible resource with an extensive video library that she’s created of Indian music, Indianclassicalmusic.com and you’ll find that linked below.

When I recorded this interview with Kala, she had just the day before returned from the celebration of life for the legendary tabla master Zakir Hussain, who died this past December, and was one of the most important musicians in both Indian music and in bringing a global audience to Indian music. He had moved to San Francisco in the 1960s and was involved in too many projects to begin to list; in 2024 he was the first musician from India to receive 3 Grammys at one ceremony, including his collaboration with Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer. Zakir Hussain was an incredibly important mentor of Kala, and you’ll hear in her words about what his guidance and collaborations meant to her. 

 Like all my episodes, you can watch this on my YouTube channel or listen to the podcast on all the podcast platforms, and I’ve also linked the transcript:

Podcast   All the Podcast Platforms Video Transcript

Kala Ramnath Website Indianclassicalmusic.com  Raag Ahir Bhairav  Paperboats album Elements trio album

Other episodes I’ve linked directly to this one, which I think may interest you:

Karnatic violinist Suhadra Vijaykumar sitar and table player Mohamed Assani bansuri player Milind Date sarod player Avi Kishna

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