CHENNAI: As Margazhi hums through Chennai with its familiar sabha cadence, Aalaap’s Beachville Margazhi series offers a refreshing pause. Set in an intimate café space, the concerts dissolve the distance between performer and listener, allowing Carnatic music to unfold with warmth, conversation, and quiet immediacy.

“This series was designed to bring listeners and performers closer to each other and to engage on a more intimate level in a cosy ambience. It's a way to present Carnatic music uniquely and unconventionally. Each performance is distinct. Audiences can expect unique listening experiences, a calm atmosphere, and a new type of sensory experience overall,” says Divya Jayashankar, founder of Beachville Coffee Roasters.

By placing classical music in an everyday setting, Carnatic Shot reimagines Margazhi not as a ritual bound to halls and schedules, but as an accessible, evolving dialogue, where ragas linger like aftertastes, and the audience becomes part of the music’s unfolding story.

The curator of the series, Akhila Krishnamurthy from Aalaap, aims to shed light on the humane side of the artistes. “I have always been fascinated by interacting with art and artistes on a personal level. At Aalaap, we celebrate the idea of being small. That pursuit led us to take art and artistes to smaller spaces,” she says.

The ongoing series, which will run until December 28, brings together classical artistes from different disciplines, blending unique worlds. “Margazhi is a festival of the city. It attempts to push the space and ambience, and we try to play with the form without compromising on its classical nature,” Akhila adds.

Fusing raga, roots and jazz

Vishnu R listens to tradition breathe, then teaches it new syllables. With the Navtar cradled like a conversation, he bends strings into stories where Carnatic memory meets contemporary impulse, silence becomes rhythm, and every note journeys between what was inherited and what is fearlessly imagined, on stage and beyond time itself.

Coming from a family of classical artistes, Vishnu’s father, the renowned vocalist TV Ramprasadh, was his first guru. “Growing up, I was always immersed in the environment of classical arts. My curiosity was boosted by the liberal setting of the Krishnamurti Foundation,” Vishnu says, adding that his first love was the guitar, fuelled by a fascination with rock music.

Over time, however, he realised the guitar’s limitations while trying to integrate Eastern and Western music. Vishnu’s musical journey and interpretations focus on both raga and harmony. “I experimented by removing the frets from the guitar. However, I had to carry multiple instruments for a single concert to showcase different genres of music, and I still couldn’t find a way to integrate both,” he shares, adding that he eventually invented an instrument suited to creating both Western and Eastern music. “I wanted an instrument that could offer me the best of both worlds. Hence, I designed the nine-string instrument called Navtar,” he says.

Inventing an instrument is not everyone’s cup of tea. It requires complete dedication, consistency, and discipline. “Designing an instrument is always driven by curiosity and productive rebellion to push artistic boundaries. The challenge was relearning a new instrument, as all aspects, including technique, are different. The Navtar has its own voice,” Vishnu notes.

The inventor of the Navtar collaborated with tabla player Muthu Kumar for Raga, Roots and Jazz. Talking about his Margazhi performance as part of the Carnatic Shot series, he says, “I brought my original compositions for Navtar and world music, melodies, and out-of-the-box improvisations to the rasikas. Moreover, I like intimate concert spaces, as they allow great energy exchange between the artiste and the audience. Navtar has been a key milestone in my journey, and it has paved the way for me to develop my own voice and enabled me to experiment with different genres of music.”

For Vishnu, the journey is about creating a voice of global and universal significance for collective growth. “I realised that to become a complete artiste, authenticity is the key,” he states.

Kamboji by the bay

Born in Mumbai, Vignesh Ishwar has been immersed in music since the age of four. Palakkad Anantharama Bhagavathar was his first guru. In 2008, he joined TM Krishna and relocated to Madras in 2011 to fully immerse himself in the world of ragas.

“Since 2010, I have been performing during Margazhi. Unlike the usual setting, performing at a café is quite different. I would like to do something unique and gel with the vibe. The mindset of both the audience and performers is also different. Previously, I have performed in a similar setting at a pub in Barcelona,” he shares.

Vignesh will be presenting Kamboji along with thavil artiste S. Sunil Kumar. “It is a 45-minute thematic, single-raga set. We primarily want to highlight how the thavil is used as a melodic component in nadhaswaram music,” he adds.

Carnatic music is often considered vocal-centric. However, audiences are now beginning to recognise instrumentalists as well. “In my opinion, we musicians believe that all of us on stage produce one cohesive Carnatic sound,” the musician states.

For Vignesh, Margazhi is a season when all budding artistes participate to learn the nuances of the art form. “We all come to a space where different generations of musicians work together, and mutual learning is possible,” he notes.

Kamboji will be presented at Beachville Coffee Roasters, Alwarpet, on December 27.