Paving the way

British Council selects first woman to be awarded as the Young Music Entrepreneur of the year.

Twenty-nine-year-old Aishwarya Natarajan is a lucky woman. A year ago, when she started her artiste management and concert programming outfit, Indianuance that strictly caters to Indian classical music, she probably didn’t expect such early recognition by the British Council.

Each year, the British Council runs a programme that aims to recognise and promote new talent. Past winners include Vijay Nair, CEO of Only Much Louder —an artist management. Winners are then sent to the UK to meet like-minded entrepreneurs and initiate new projects.

“The idea of Indianuance came about because there were no players in the field of classical music,” says Natarajan. “Artiste management and concert programming in Indian classical music is mostly a family-run affair. I felt there was a void, for most of these setups aren’t business-minded. Classical musicians are usually senior and come from a different milieu of thinking. They want to have control but don’t realise that there’s so much they’re missing out on. So it took a lot of convincing,” says Natarajan, whose company manages several musicians such as flute maestro Shashank Subramanyam, dhrupad vocalists Gundecha Brothers and Rajasthani folk singers The Manganiars.

“It’s excellent that institutes like the British Council exist in our country. The immediate benefit of this award is the huge networking potential will open for me. I’m looking to take my artistes to places where they’ve never played before, be it Edinburgh or the Glastonbury music festival,” says Natarajan who is planning a 25-city tour of the US and Europe with her artists in April and May later this year.

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