Announcing the IndianRaga Fellows 2013

[indianraga]

”Time for me to start creating, not simply reacting… IndianRaga Fellowship will be the kickstarter!”
- IndianRaga Fellow Roopa Mahadevan

9 Spectacular Musicians Awarded the IndianRaga Fellowship 2013 in North America
Fellows will attend workshops, perform in NYC, and collaborate on music videos

Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT-based creative media venture, IndianRaga (http://www.indianraga.com), concluded its first round of search for the most promising, dynamic artists in Indian classical music today and announced the IndianRaga Fellows for 2013.

IndianRaga co-founder and CEO, Sriram Emani, describes the Fellowship as a cross between a music contest and an academic scholarship. ‘The Fellows receive an unparalleled opportunity to learn from and network with colleagues and counterparts from other genres - mentors, media critics and audiences, along with pursuing unique collaborative projects with peers.’ The IndianRaga Fellows will be part of a week-long workshop-cum-concert series during the Drive East festival being held at the La Mama Theater in Downtown Manhattan between August 19 and 25, 2013.

The IndianRaga Fellows are Akshay Anantapadmanabhan, Anuja Panditrao, Harsha Nagarajan, Hrishikesh Dharam, Kruthi Bhat, Rishikesh Armstrong, Rohan Krishnamurthy, Roopa Mahadevan and Shreehari Raghavan. Fellows are young, enthused artists who have demonstrated an advanced level of training and have performed professionally or semi-professionally and actively seek to build a career in the field. The Fellowship was held in four genres - Hindustani and Carnatic classical, vocals and instrumental and the Fellows went through two online rounds before being chosen.

Samarth Nagarkar, disciple of maestro Pt. Ulhas Kushalkar, and one of the judges for the Fellowship, says “It was a pleasure to be on the jury panel to judge the Indian Raga Fellowship candidates. Two things make a special impression: The outreach - they have managed to reach out to such a wide range of candidates from across the country - and the sheer standard of musicianship that this fellowship program has managed to bring out from their candidates. It leaves me with great hope and reassurance that this art is alive and growing strong in this country, thanks to the relentless efforts of various gurus across the country as well as support from organizations like IndianRaga.” “Indian Raga's unique online initiative to foster and strengthen Indian Classical Music, especially among the young Indian diaspora abroad, is a truly laudable effort. In today's fast-paced world, where other more aggressive forms of entertainment have completely taken over the imagination of the youth, it is heartening to see the wonderful response that Indian Raga has received from young performers and students of Indian Classical Music, on this maiden venture itself. Here's wishing the Indian Raga team good fortune for the coming years. May their initiative grow into a mass global movement, and may their ilk grow in numbers.” said renowned vocalist Navaneet Krishnan, one of the judges for the Carnatic classical segment for the Fellowship rounds.

According to Aditya Shah, student-musician from Dartmouth College and coordinator of the IndianRaga Fellowship, “The week-long workshop series is not what a regular concert or performance prize offers. We’re looking for the rising artists in Indian classical music who are savvy with emerging media and technology and are keenly interested in leveraging these effectively for new content creation, education and collaboration.” IndianRaga Fellows gain membership to an exclusive network who would be the first choice for performance opportunities, digital apps, album recordings and other initiatives now and in future by IndianRaga and partner organizations. “It’ll be building relationships that would support your musical career for a lifetime,” says Aditya. IndianRaga Fellow, Rohan Krishnamurthy added, “[I’m] Excited to create and collaborate during the IndianRaga Fellowship week!“ Sriram explains, “IndianRaga Fellows are encouraged to think of all aspects of the musical experience, and the Fellowship week is designed to be an opportunity for hands-on learning. Hence in addition to master classes, Fellows will be working in teams with each other, and with a professional production team to create music videos that we hope will be an enriching and meaningful experience.”

The Fellowship week consists of workshops and master classes by eminent figures in music and allied spaces including various opportunities to discuss and debate contemporary trends in Indian classical music, to enrich perspectives and voice opinions. Carnatic flute maestro, GS Rajan, will talk about expression of emotions of musical lyrics during performances while clarinetist-composer Shankar Tucker will focus on cross-genre collaboration and experimenting with styles. Renowned Bharatanatyam dancer, Rama Vaidyanathan will emphasize the incorporation of the perspective of dance into a musical performance and world-renowned Tabla maestro, Pandit Anindo Chatterjee, would impress upon the Fellows a deeper understanding of improvisation with rhythm.

“The IndianRaga Fellowship identifies maestros of the future and equips them with mentorship and skills to catalyze innovation and professional excellence. These Fellows are going to set the standard for Indian performances for decades to come”, said Sree Sreenivasan, co-founder of the South Asian Journalists Association who will be holding a social media workshop for the Fellows.

IndianRaga Fellow, Harsha Nagarajan, feels, “Many talented Indian Classical musicians haven't been able to make it into a full time career either because the financial back up in this career is unpredictable or due to the lack of right marketing skills on the musician's part. Considering the birth of IndianRaga portal at the technological and entrepreneurial hub, the MIT and under the scholarly guidance of leading musicians, it certainly wouldn't be less to expect from it as a breeding place of high-quality full time musicians.” The IndianRaga Fellowship Showcase on Saturday, 24th August at the Drive East festival will feature 9 power-packed performances by the Fellows, to a distinguished audience of musicians, music scholars, and audiences.

Applications for the 2014 Fellowships will start around November 2013, and for more details you can email [email protected].

[VK RAMAN]

Such an important annoucement by some one in psuedonym.

[indianraga]

Hi VK Raman, I'm one of the cofounders of IndianRaga, Anasuya Mandal. Feel free to write to us at [email protected] and do check out the website (www.indianraga.com) and the Facebook page (www.facebook.com/indianragaproject) for more information!

[VK RAMAN]

Dhanyavaad Anasuya.

[rshankar]

Congratulations to the fellows!