June 1997

Dr. N. Ramani and Trichy Sankaran
Lotus Signatures
Music of the World

By Josef Woodard

When it comes to the still-sparse marketplace in the west for classical Indian music, it's easier to find examples of the North Indian Hindustani tradition than the Carnatic music of the South. One luminous representative of the latter tradition is the new recording of Dr. N. Ramani and Trichy Sankaram, Lotus Signatures (Music of the World 141; 58:49). Here, the melodic charge is headed by Ramani, a remarkably supple bamboo flutist, while Sankaram's percussive fluidity on the mrdangam provides an expressive percussion counterpart, melodic in its own way. Also in the mix is violinist V. Nagarajan and other percussion elements, as well as the morsing, or jaw harp. All told, a fine, and finely recorded gathering of Carnatic spirits.