Dhikshitar Day, 2007 @ Sacramento, CA

Concerts and other events related to CM.
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sguhados
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Joined: 10 Jul 2007, 03:48

Post by sguhados »

Dhikshitar Day 2007 : Conducted by Thyagaraja Nilayam(TN), Sacramento, CA

The folks of Sacramento witnessed yet another wonderful day of music and culture, dedicated to Shri. Muthuswamy Dhikshitar. This was held on the 27th of Oct, at the Hinde Auditorium in Sacramento State University. The stage was set artistically, with a wonderful picture of ambal and a vigraham of Muthuswamy Dhikshitar in panchalokam.

The event began with the rendition of Vaathapi, a Navagraham on Sukran and a Navavarnam. These were sung by children and adults trained by Smt. Gayathri Venkataraghavan.

This was followed by a blissful concert by Smt. Kiranavali Vidyasankar. She was wonderfully supported by Sacramento’s pride Keshav Raghavan on the violin and Shri Ramesh Srinivasan on the mridangam. This was a two hour concert that had a rich collection of the gems of Dhikshitar. There were songs performed over a wide gamut of ragas like Naatai, Ghanta, Lalitha, Varaali to name a few.

This was followed by a lunch hosted by the organizers of Thyagaraja Nilayam. Pizzas were distributed to all present at the concert. This was a magnanimous gesture on their part.

The afternoon session comprised of individual renditions of students from Sacramento. We saw various scores of colors in the music rendered and the fancy clothing of all the little children. Another noteworthy factor was the presence of some of the local teachers, including Kiranavali, till the end of the event, encouraging and supporting all the performers. A group rendering of Dhikshitar krithis that were taught by Smt. Gayathri Venkataraghavan was presented. These classes were organized by Thyagaraja Nilayam in Sacramento. Certificates were distributed to all the participants on behalf of TN as a memento. The day-long event ended with the rendition of the song ‘Meenakshi Memudam’.

There was good support from a lot of families in and around greater Sacramento and through Thyagaraja Nilayam, we hope to see such successful events in the future.

- Shankar Guhados

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