User:Tabalji

This is just a little opportunity to say who we are. We are Chandra and David Courtney, a husband / wife team who are exponents of North Indian music. We are performers, teachers, as well as scholars on the subject of Indian vocal and tabla.

Let me first tell you about my wife. Chandra was born Chandrakantha Nada in Macchalipatnam on Feb 2, 1954.  She began her singing career as a child.  She was a regular singer on Balala Karyakramam in All India Radio, Vijaywada, and was attached to Suvartha Vani, Rasana Samaikhya, and Bhavana Kala Samiti.  In 1971 she enrolled in the Govt. College of Music and Dance (Vijaywada), and trained under the late J.V. Subba Rao until 1975 when her family moved to Hyderabad.  She then became an artist with All India Radio (Hyderabad) and Swara Tharangini.  When television was established, she then became a regular artist in Doordarshan (Hyderabad).  In 1977 she toured South Africa, Malaysia, Singapore, and Mauritius along with the Om International troupe.  She married me in 1978, and I brought her to the United States in 1980.  She has been a teacher and performer of Indian vocal in the Houston area since this time. 

My name is David Courtney, and I have been playing the tabla since 1972.  I first studied pakhawaj under the famous Zakir Hussain at the Ali Akbar College of Music.  I then moved to India and learned tabla under the late Ustad Shaik Dawood Khan of Hyderabad.  I have performed on stage, and have a certain reputation for my academic contributions.  During the 80s, I did a lot of work on the application of computers to Indian music.  This may be found in my doctoral dissertation "A Low Cost System for the Computerization of North Indian Classical Music".  

We are both pretty active.   We are active in the fusion group Vani, and have numerous books, CDs, and articles.  In the mid 80s we composed the theme music for "Asiana" (Houston Indian community's TV program).  In 1990, we were both board members of the Texas Institute for Indian Studies.  Since the early 90s we have been active artists in “Young Audiences”.  In 1994 we were awarded the "Artists of the Year" by Asian Women Magazine.  It was in 1995 that we gave a number of programs in Germany under the sponsorship of the Deutsch Indische Geselschaft.  Subsequently we have given numerous performances in Germany and the UK under the sponsorship of a variety of organizations.  In 1996 we were given the "Award of Excellence" for our artistic contributions in the field of music by the American Telugu Association.  In 2005 we composed music for "Dancing in Twilight", a film staring Erick Avari, Louise Fletcher, Mimi Rogers, Kal Penn, Sheetal Shet. We are also regular programmers for KPFT’s (Pacifica - Houston) world music program “Music Beyond Borders” which airs twice a week in the Houston area.