Akkarai Sisters

“Akkarai Sisters have created quite a storm in the South Indian classical music community, they perform duets of the highest quaility, they do it as a violin duo AND they do it equally great as a vocal duo which is something unheard of before.”

2015 – Our first meeting in Chennai

Our cooperation with Akkarai Sisters started when Beches Brew visited India in December 2015 and we asked Akkarai Sornalatha to take part in our Chennai concert together with V. Suresh, N. Amrit and J.B. Srutisagar. Here is a video from our rehearsal of “Happy Hindu”

2016 – Swedish concerts and recordings

After hearing the sisters own concert we liked them so much that we invited the elder sister Subhalakshmi to join us as well and we are so happy that she liked our music and came along for the return concerts in Sweden the following year for the Beches Indian Brew concert series in Sweden and Denmark together with two of the best percussionists in India today, Jayachandra Rao on mridangam and Shreesundar Kumar on mridangam and khanjira. At that time we recorded the fine album Beches Indian Brew (CE38) together.

Apart from the concerts with Beches Brew Akkarai Sisters gave some classical Karnatic concerts and workshops during the Swedish tour in 2016. The concert on October 26 was released on November 20, 2020 as at Royal College of Music, Stockholm (CEX32) along with a vocal duet, at Narada Gana Sabha (CEX30) recorded during the Magazhi season 2019, the last one before the Corona struck the world the following spring.

2018 – Back in Sweden with Berger Knutsson Spering Schultz

We were so happy to have Akkarai Sisters with Jayachandra Rao and Shreesundarkumar back in October 2018 for some more concerts. This time the setting was to be a little more intimate as they made music together with the Berger Knutsson Spering Schultz quartet. This was our 2018 schedule: October 17 Folkteatern, Göteborg – October 18 Umeå Jazz Studio, Umeå – October 20 Stockholm Jazz Festival at Fasching, Stockholm and then two classical Karnatic concerts: October 21 Curious Classics, Re:Orient Uppsala Konsert & Kongress and finally October 22 Alice/Global, Copenhagen, Denmark

K. U. Jayachandra Rao, mridangam, is one of the stalwarts in the world of Indian rhythm today and regularly performs with all the leading musicians on the Karnatic classical scene but he is equally at home in world music. Jayachandra hails from a family of musicians and is an incredible virtuoso who adds considerably to our music.

B. Shree Sundarkumar, ”Kanjira Man”, khanjira, mridangam is one of the leading Khanjira artists today who started playing at age 3 and has learned first from his father Dr. K.B.S. Mani, and later from Guru Kaaraikudi Mani Iyer. Besides being a great accompanist in the classical field, Sundarkumar is also doing a lot of contemporary music as Kanjira Man with a great attitude and sense of humour that fits very well in Beches Indian Brew.

2020 – Three albums so far

The cooperation with Beches Brew resulted in a great album, Beches Indian Brew and their workshop at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music became one album as you can see below. In 2019 we made a live album from a concert at Narada Gana Sabha during the December season where the sisters were accompanied by B. Vittal Ranga, violin; Patri Satishkumar, mridangam and Dr.S. Karthick, ghatam. You find links to all three albums below.

Other albums with Akkarai Sisters

At Royal College Of Music, Stockholm

[CEX32]

At Narada Gana Sabha

[CEX030]

Beches Indian Brew

[CE38]