I would like to talk on musical talents in India.
The first thoughts that come to my mind are of Lydian Nadhaswaram and Mandolin Srinivas. Both of them displayed amazing musical talent at such a young age. While Mandolin Srinivas was mesmerizing, Lydian is unbelievable.
Then my thoughts come to Ariyakudi Ramanuja Ayyengar. In olden days there was no standards for singing and music. They did have a beginning, pallavi and charanam; but it was up to the musician and the musician would sing as per his mood (and bhakti). He may make the beginning extraordinarily long filled with swars or vowels or he may introduce some singing pattern of his own. Ariyakudi Ramanuja Ayyengar brought standardised way of singing (This is what I understand). And because he was a great singer and highly respected, he was followed. It is indeed a great contribution. Even today if you see carnatic music can be practised and learnt from written materials. One can become decent carnatic musician by using internet technology. This is because of the contribution of Ariyakudi Ramanuja Ayyengar.
Then my thoughts come to Ilayaraja. MSViswanathan was already a great south Indian music director. But Ilayaraja had a western style. He could easily and effectively blend Tamil folk and Tamil music with western ideas and became popular.
(I am not being critical of anyone. I am not denigrating any musician from any region. The thoughts are my own and I believe my source of my commenting paradigm is accuracy rather then appreciation of music. Currently I want to focus on above paragraphs only.)
