Dance claims centre space in this issue. The Chief has pulled a couple of features out of the "freezer" for the purpose. There's an interview with Mallika Sarabhai (17-22) which you'll enjoy reading very much. She pulls no punches. And then there's a picture portfolio of V.P. Dhananjayan portraying the role of Nandan in Nandanar Charitam (23-29). This is part of the series called Dancer's Choice which aims to better acquaint dance enthusiasts with the highlights of selected dance numbers so that, when they next see the items performed, they would be able to appreciate them the more. 

Talking of series, the one on violinists brings you an article on Tirukodikaval Krishna Iyer, the foremost among the first batch of musicians who adapted the violin to suit the special features of Carnatic classical music (31-33). A Tribute to MDR (34-35) is a follow-up to the two-part article on Carnatic musicians of Kerala which we published recently. The tribute-in-verse has been written by Prince Aswati Tirunal Rama Varma of the Travancore royal family who is himself proficient in classical vocal music and veena. Because of space limitations and other considerations, our critiques of musicians and dancers had been laid aside for a while.

Sounds of Music makes its reappearance in this issue. The Sruti critique examines the music of Madurai T.N. Seshagopalan (41-42).In the News & Notes pages, you will find a report on the Sangeet Natak Akademi's awards function and festival held in Bhubaneswar with the focus on the musicians of the Hindustani mode who won laurels (9-10). You will also find a report filed by the Publisher on Tyagaraja Aradhana in Australia (7-8). We would like yet to bring you a report on similar celebrations in Africa. Yes, Africa. Why not ? Adjoining the News & Notes section, you'll find two topical articles, one on the problems of organising music and dance performances by Indian artists in Australia (12-13) and another on the origin and approach of the new music ensemble called SruthiLaya (14-16).