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Rajeswari Padmanabhan (1939-2008) was a ninth generation descendent from the Karaikudi Veena tradition. She was the granddaughter of Subbarama Iyer, the elder of the Karaikudi Brothers. She also studied singing with Mysore Vasudevachar.

supporting veena by her daughter Shreevidhya Chandramouli, and mridangam by Tanjore Upendran

This recording demonstrates the classical foundations for Rabindrasangeet (songs composed by Rabindranath Tagore), combining his sung melody with classical sarod.

Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi (1916 – 2004) was a Carnatic singer from Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Exacting purists acknowledge M. S. Subbulakshmi as the leading exponent of classical and semi-classical songs in the Carnatic tradition of South India.

This recording comes from her 1966 U.S. tour (the same year as her United Nations performance.

with V.V. Subramaniam (violin), TK Murthi (mridangam), TH Vinayakram (ghatam) & Radha Viswanathan (daughter, vocal support)

Son of sarangi maestro Shakoor Khan, Mashkoor Ali Khan represents the Kirana gharana, and has been a resident teacher at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy of Calcutta for over 20 years. Accompanied by Anindo Chatterjee (tabla), Kedar Naphade (harmonium).

"ITC" is formerly known as Indian Tobacco Company. ITC has a diversified presence across industries such as consumer goods, hotels, software, packaging, paperboards, specialty papers and agribusiness.

Cousins Radha (born 1932) and Jayalakshmi (1932 - 2014), popularly known as Radha Jayalakshmi, were early vocalists in the duo singing trend in Carnatic music which started in the 1950s and includes performers like Bombay Sisters and Soolamangalam Sisters. They were students of G. N. Balasubramaniam.

with MS Anantaraman (violin), Palghat Krishnamani (mridangam), RS Krishnamurthi Rao (ghatam)

This exploitative LP from 1965 features unidentified artists under the name "The National Raga Company Of India", which I think did not actually exist beyond the credits of this record. The LP contains mostly recordings from dance performances. This Gujarati folk tune might be a Dandia stick dance.

Sulaiman Jumma (naqqara) & Sumar Jummani (shehnai) are performing "Prabhati" (of the morning) at Mundra, Kutch (Gujarat), in 1962. The rhythm is Deepchandi tal of 14 beats (3+4+3+4).

Qamruddin "Bismillah" Khan was born in 1916. His father was a court musician employed in the court of Maharaja Keshav Prasad Singh of Dumraon Estate in Bihar. His two grandfathers Ustad Salar Hussain Khan and Rasool Bux Khan were also musicians in the Dumraon palace.

This is Bismillah Khan's first long playing (33 rpm) recording. Prior to that, his music was on 78 rpm shellac discs. His earliest recording was accomp0anying his uncle "Vilaitu" in 1935, age 19.

Kattassery Joseph Yesudas was born on 10 January 1040 in Kochi , Kerala. He is a classical and film playback singer, able to sing in many Indian languages. In a career spanning 6 decades, he is estimated to have recorded around 50,000 songs.

Violinist V. V. Subramaniam was born into a family of musicians in 1944. He was a child prodigy and studied initially with his father V. S. Veeraraghava Bhagavathar, and later under Chembai Vaidynatha and Musiri Subramania Iyer. He frequently accompanied M.S. Subbulakshmi.

accompanied here by Palghat Raghu on mridangam

Dr. Natesan Ramani (15 October 1934 – 9 October 2015), commonly known as N. Ramani or N. Flute Ramani, was an Indian Carnatic flautist. Ramani was born into a family of flautists, learning first from his grandfather, Aazhiyur Narayanaswami Iyer. He later became a disciple of his maternal uncle and eminent flautist, T. R. Mahalingam.

with A. Kanyakumari (violin), T.H. Vinayakram (ghatam), Sri Mushnam Raja Rao (mridangam) and Sri Rangam Kannan (morsing)

Padmini Rao learnt sitar from Pramila Dagar, and vocal training from Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, and was also a student of Dr. Prabha Atre (Kirana gharana).

with Gourang Kodikal (tabla and Vyasmurti Katti (harmonium)

Uppalapu Srinivas (1969 – 2014) pioneered the mandolin in Carnatic classical music. Because he was a child prodigy, he was sometimes called the Mozart of classical Indian music. He modified the electric western instrument, using five single strings instead of the traditional four doubled strings to suit the Carnatic playing style (sustained notes and musical ornamentation).

with A. Kanyakumari (violin), Bhaktavatsalam (mridangam), T.H. Vinayakram (ghatam)

Madurai Thirumalai Nambi Seshagopalan was born, 5 September 1948. Although T. N. Seshagopalan uses 'Madurai' in front of his name, he was actually born in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu.

Kadri Gopalnath (born 11 December 1949 – died 11 October 2019) pioneered the saxophone in Carnatic music. One of his teachers was vocalist and mridangam player T. V. Gopalakrishnan. Kadri Gopalnath made some adaptations to the saxophone to permit playing Carnatic music.

with A. Kanyakumari (violin) , Thiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam (mridangam), V. Suresh (ghatam), Rajasekar (morsing)