At age 13, Nirmala began her musical journey as a performer of the veena and as a vocalist. She believes in the connective power of music and has made music her full time vocation in pursuit of her belief. With over 28 years of performing experience, she has been seen and heard in many world-renowned venues in London, Berne, Zurich, Bombay, New Delhi, Chennai, New York, Cleveland, Berkeley and Minneapolis. She is a disciple of veteran veena guru Prof. Kalpakam Swaminathan and vocal gurus Prof.T.R. Subramanyam and Sri. B. Sitarama Sarma. As a young teen she was chosen by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations to present concerts in Festivals of India around the world.
Nirmala has been a featured performer by several organizations at many world renowned venues such as the Alice Tully Hall, New York, Minnesota Orchestra, St.Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Center for Performing Arts, New Jersey, Walker Art Center, Schubert Club, Cedar Cultural Center, Minnesota Public Radio, Indian Music Society of Minnesota, Madison Center for Performing Arts Madison, Symphony Space, New York for American Composer’s Alliance, Trance Dance Company Berkeley, Michigan State University, Lansing, Cleveland University, Winona State University and City of Minneapolis.
Nirmala is a Bush artistic fellow and has become the first Indian classical musician to be chosen for this honor in the year 2006. She has received grants including Cultural Collaboration Grants from the Minnesota State Arts board and a ‘subito’ award from the American Composer’s Forum. She has also been awarded grants from the Jerome Foundation, Meet the Composer Inc., the Playwrights Center and is a winner of several best concert Awards at Festivals of music including one from KFAI Radio in Minneapolis and Best Instrumentalist of the series from the Bangalore Gayana Samaj. Her work has been recognized by several organizations all over the world.
In January 2007, the India-based arts journal Apoorva Ragam bestowed upon Nirmala the title ‘Veena Sudar Oli’ (‘Beacon light of Veena music’). In December 2005 Nirmala was honored with the title ‘Nadha Kala Vipanchee’ (‘preserver of the pure tone of music’) by one of India’s greatest living legends – Dr.Balamuralikrishna.
In 1990 Indian Radio and Television gave the prestigious ‘A Grade ranking artist’ honor to Nirmala.
Her creativity and musicianship is showcased in many recordings by several organizations- including the BBC, England ‘Library of world artists album’, Audio Lit. Inc- California, USA ‘Poems of Mirabai’, Shruthilaya Records Chennai, India ‘Melodic Expressions’, Speak Easy Records- Minnesota, USA ‘Words will heal the wound’.
Her CD ‘Strings in Unison’ (a novel duet on the veena and the violin) has been released in India in the International Winter Music Festival in December 2004. The music of the documentary film ‘The story of Vishnu -the temple elephant’ has been co-authored by Nirmala. Herwork ‘Song of the Veena’ was released in Minneapolis in July 2007 by INNOVA records. This is the first Indian classical album in the Innova label.
Nirmala has been involved in several collaborative projects with artists from various disciplines and genres.
Her work with poet Robert Bly on the ‘melody scape’ of his poetry translations has been welcomed by many performance venues. Their live show in New York City has been captured on audio in an album ‘Live at Omega’ by the Omega Institute. Nirmala has also performed with poet Coleman Barks, Gary Snyder and Bill Holm.
‘Bhakti’ (devotion) is a work that presents the philosophies of two women poets -Andal from 8th century India and Hildegaard Von Bingen from 11nth century Germany. Nirmala has created ‘Bhakti’ with dancer Aparna Ramaswamy and singer Ruth Mackenzie.
While Nirmala has performed concerts with guitarist Dean Magraw and Chinese pipa player Gao Hong, she has performed a whole body of work with Western classical orchestras. In June 2006 she presented ‘Shakuntala’ based on an ancient Indian text of the same name with the Sirius String Quartet New York and soprano Nancy Ogle at the Thalia Theater, New York. Her collaboration with St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s artistic partner Steve Prutsman to create ‘A Caravan of Silk and Jade’ in December 2006 and March 2007 was yet another of her collaborations. Her ‘veena suite’ with composer Jan Gilbert and the St. Paul Civic Symphony in May 2007 is the first veena suite written for veena and a Symphony Orchestra.
Nirmala is the co-founder of ‘Carnatic Energy’ (with Jazz virtuoso Anthony Cox) ‘ an eclectic group of artists presenting a unique experience in tradition and improvisation in Carnatic music and Jazz.
Discography:
Melodic Expressions (Shruthilaya Records)
Words will heal the wound (Speak Easy Records)
Strings in Unison (Brindavan Audio, 2004)
Song of the Veena (Innova, 2007)
Quiet Forest, Flowing Stream, with Gao (Innova, 2010)
Into the Raga (Innova, 2010)
Namaste (2012)
SudhaSaagara (Charsur, 2016)
Maithree, the Music of Friendship (Innova, 2018)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
