Taking Thirukkural verses to the world

‘The Thirukkural 1330: Musical Ethos’, by siblings Lydian Nadhaswaram and Amirthavarshini Nadhaswaram, featuring more than a thousand singers from across the world, was released in September. The seeds of the project were sown a decade ago, when Amirthavarshini was 12 and Lydian, nine, but the actual work began only on September 6, 2023.

All the 1,330 kurals (Tamil couplets) have been presented as a single work that runs for 22 hours, covering over 200 styles and genres, including Western classical, Carnatic, Hindustani, Jazz, Blues, Symphonic, Acapella, Indian fusion, Pop, Rap and Electronic. The age of the singers ranged from three to 94. Each verse is presented with its meaning and a succinct Tamil synopsis written by Shakthivaasan.

The goal of the project is that the Thirukkural and its indepth meaning can be enjoyed and understood through music.

Multi-instrumentalist Lydian achieved global popularity at the age of 13 when he won the American competition The World’s Best, and later performed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. For this project, Lydian played, recorded, sound-mixed, and mastered all the verses, set to music by Amirthavarshini, who is also a flautist and singer.

The team is also putting together 1330 lyrical videos, with English renditions and subtitles, so that audiences the world over can connect with Thiruvalluvar.