As a vocalist in the Karnatik tradition, Thodur Madabusi Krishna’s musicality eludes standard analyses. Uncommon in his rendition of music and original in his interpretation of it, Krishna is at once strong and subtle, manifestly traditional and stunningly innovative. As a public intellectual, Krishna speaks and writes about issues affecting the human condition and about matters cultural. He received the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2016 in recognition of ‘his forceful commitment as artist and advocate to art’s power to heal India’s deep social divisions’.