Why is such a big fuss made about this festival? Tyagaraja Aradhana is nothing new to the Carnatic music community. In fact, it has become so commonplace that all it evokes is an uninterested but polite “Oh” from the public. And Cleveland is just an industrial town in the US. It neither has the hoary tradition or ancient charm of Tiruvaiyyaru nor the huge Indian population of other cities in the world as New Jersey, Los Angeles, Melbourne or Muscat. As for the variety of the artistes themselves, well, Cleveland perhaps just offers a small percentage of what the Madras Music season does. Besides, most of the artistes who perform in Cleveland also tour the US. So what makes Cleveland so special?
Well, as someone was heard joking, “Tyagaraja has become an NRI these days. He just visits Tiruvaiyyaru for the annual aradhana and is touring the world the rest of the year!” One certainly got that feeling at Cleveland. The ambience was simply right and brought out inspired performances from each and every artiste. The audience comprised several accomplished vidwans/vidushis from Chennai and US, connoisseurs and music lovers. People had just come in droves from such far-flung places as Alaska, Florida, California, why, even western Canada. Their interest and enthusiasm contributed to the atmosphere in no mean measure.
How did this start? About 25 years ago, a few musical-minded people, under the guidance of mridanga vidwan Ramnad Raghavan, got together to offer musical tribute to the saint bard. What began as a local event has today grown to gigantic proportions. Who is behind all this? One cannot but mention the role of three families – the Venkataramans, the Balasubramaniams and the Sundarams. And the scores of smiling and willing volunteers. They are the ones who make it happen and they are the ones who have made this festival one of the most prestigious events in Carnatic music today.
Among this year’s highlights were the concerts of the 87-year old veteran T Mukta and that of the 83-year old R K Srikantan. Lesser-known artistes like Tiruvengadu Jayaraman, Dr. Omanakutti Nair, Suguna Varadachari, Padma Sandilyan and B Balasubramaniam were featured along with popular stars like Sudha Raghunathan, P Unnikrishnan and Sanjay Subramanyan. This lent some freshness to the festival and made it unique. The introduction of lecture-demonstration sessions in the mornings by eminent artistes like Chitravina Ravikiran, Trichy Sankaran, Sanjay Subramanyan and Geetha Bennett was very well received. There were also other interesting programmes in the line-up like the 25-flutes group presentation on the inaugural day by Dr. N Ramani and his disciples and grand-disciples, the Bharatanatyam performance by Dr. Vyjayanthimala Bali, the vocal concert by Chitravina Ravikiran featuring a Shataragamalika (100 ragas) Pallavi and another vocal concert by mridangam vidwan, Srimushnam Raja Rao.
This year’s awards went to T Mukta (Sangeeta Ratnakara), Dr. Vyjayanthimala Bali (Nritya Ratnakara), Dr. N Ramani (Seva Ratna), M V Raman (Kala Seva Mani) and Sujatha Vijayaraghavan (Nritya Seva Mani). Lalit Mansingh, the Ambassador of India to the United States, who gave away the awards, also delivered a witty and memorable speech.
The music competitions and the individual singing sessions for showcasing the local North American talent evoked tremendous response and convinced one and all that Carnatic music has come to stay in the US.
Kiranavali Vidyasankar
nAda yOga – that pinnacle of musical bliss in which nothing else matters; a state in which the mind and body live, eat, breathe and drink only music! It is something we have heard of and read in tributes to legendary musicians, but seldom get to experience first-hand.
Recent Comments