Carnatic Marathon Weekend in Minnesota - Apr 27,28,29 2012

[RaoSumitra]

This may not be a very technical discussion about the Carnatic concert, but I wanted to share my words with you all.

This Weekend could be rightly called as "A Carnatic Marathon Weekend" in Minnesota. We had a series of Concerts by Renowned Artists in Carnatic Music which was brought together by Carnatica India, Layyasaaram Institute of Indian Arts along with the kind Co-operation of SV Temple, Minneapolis

Friday - 27th April, 2012 - The first concert in the Festival was the Sri Madurai Mani Iyer Memorial Concert which was presented by Layyasaaram Institute of Indian Arts
Shri R Suryaprakash (Vocal)
Accompanied by:
Nagai Shri Sriram (Violin)
Tanjore Shri Murugaboopathi (Mridangam)
Shri Balaji Chandran (Ghatam)
Shri Nanda Masti (Kanjira)
The audience was awestruck by the beautiful Bhairavi rendered by Shri R Suryaprakash with superb accompaniment by Nagai Shri Sriram ,Tanjore Shri Murugaboopathi, Shri Balaji Chandran and Shri Nanda Masti.

Saturday - 28th April, 2012 - The day commenced with a series of competitions for the Carnatic Star Of Minnesota including Geetham, Instrumental, Varnam, Kriti which involved Manodharmam (Raga Alapana & Kalpana Swarams), Multimedia and Devotional for various age groups. There were a large number of enthusiastic contestants.
The theme of the evening concert was - Endaro Mahanubhavulu - Remembering the Greatness of Sri Tyagaraja Presented by the School of World Music and Dance
Carnatica Brothers (Shri Shashikiran and Shri Ganesh) – Vocal
Accompanied by:
Nagai Shri Muralidharan (Violin)
Srimushnam Shri Raja Rao (Mridangam)
Shri Sriram Natarajan (Kanjira)
It was a much awaited concert where the artists clearly captivated the audience with the rare combination of the booming tone in Shri Shashikiran's voice and the facile voice of Shri Ganesh which complimented perfectly to give the items depth and felicity. The powerful accompaniment of by Srimushnam Shri Raja Rao supported by Shri Sriram Natarajan was a delight to the ears .

Sunday - 29th April, 2012 - The third day began with the group song competition, followed by a Grand Finale concert by Smt. Nirmala Rajasekar on the veena
Accompanied by:
Srimushnam Shri Raja Rao (Mridangam)
Shri Sriram Natarajan (Kanjira)
Shri Balaji Chandran (Ghatam)
The concert opened with a varnam in Ragam Kadhanakuthuhalam which brought up the sweetness of Spring. The excellent rendition of the 19th century masterpieces on her Saraswathi Veena (with her charismatic smile on stage) would've held the audience for hours.
Prize Distribution was held after the concert and the winners received prizes and blessings from veteran artists Nagai Shri Muralidharan and Srimushnam Shri Raja Rao. Naadha Rasa went on victoriously bagging prizes in almost all the categories about 24 in all, including the Carnatic Star of Minnesota 2012 in Sub-Junior and Senior categories.

Amidst the tight schedule for some students, Naadha Rasa managed to deliver another performance on Saturday in Harriet Island, St. Paul, MN. Naadha Rasa ensemble performed the Panchatantra fable "The Monkey and the crocodile", at the Eco Arts Festival. The semi -musical theater piece had incorporated pieces of Carnatic music based on various Ragas which corresponded to the scenes in the story all composed by our very own, Smt. Nirmala Rajasekar with the superlative accompaniment by Shri Sriram Natarajan on Kanjira.
This piece premiers with the St.Paul Civic Symphony and Naadha Rasa for the first time with an original western score on June 1 2012 all composed again by Smt. Nirmala Rajasekar.

The weekend of April 27-29 2012 has left behind beautiful memories of soulful ragams, blistering kalpana swaras and the evergreen compositions of our great Carnatic composers seen through the creative eyes of our Vidhwans and Vidhushis. We eagerly await the next set of such events in Minnesota.[/color]

Carnatically,
SR

[rshankar]

WOW! Thanks for that report. Seems to have been a wonderful weekend