City of Middleton decrees "Melharmony Day" in USA

[Vanitha Suresh]

Arohana School of Music, Madison, USA will be opening a whole new chapter in the history of World Music. On Saturday, 16 November 2013, it will conduct the OVK-Bach Festival - a first-of-
its-kind event that brings two all-time-great composers from two different parts of the world – Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi (1700-65) and Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) on the same
platform. Held at the Middleton Performing Arts Centre, this event will not only be of immense entertainment value but also offer a study in parallel between the developments of Melody in the
East and Harmony in the West.

The most significant fact of this effort is that it has attracted the attention of the City of Middleton, whose Mayor has decreed that every third Saturday in November be celebrated here as “Melharmony Day.” This is a tribute from the city not only to the classical composers of both melody and harmony but also to contemporary musician-composer, Chitravina N Ravikiran, creator of the concept of Melharmony. Two of Ravikiran’s Melharmonic arrangements of Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi’s compositions are slated to be performed by Western Orchestras and Ensembles in this festival.

The festival, which is going to be live webcast on http://www.icarnatic.org also includes many other events:

• A panel discussion on OVK and Bach and their impact on melody and harmony in the 18th century featuring Bach expert Trevor Stephenson & Ravikiran
• Thematic performance of Bach’s works by Yahara String Quartet and Middleton High School Orchestra
• Thematic vocal concert on Venkata Kavi by Ravikiran
• Individual, group or orchestral renditions of the works of OVK & Bach
• Dance presentations of select OVK compositions
• Competitions for students

I am immensely humbled by the magnitude of this event as we are talking about two of the greatest composers the world has seen. Even though separate tributes have been paid to them across many parts of the world over the years, this is the first time that the world will be seeing an event where works of both Venkata Kavi and Bach will be presented to both Indian and non-Indian audiences. Hopefully, this will inspire other organizations in USA and other countries to conduct such multi-culturally rich thematic festivals.

Arohana School of Music also plans to initiate similar events such as Tyagaraja-Mozart Festival and Dikshitar-Beethoven Festival in the near future.

Email: Vanitha Suresh - [email protected]

Call: (+1) 608 215 6967

[cacm]

CONGRAGULATIONS & BEST WISHES! WE are proud you have brought to attention of the world the GENIUS as well as the attempts to showcase Ravikiran's attempts as a TRAILBLAZER. VKV

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

Congratulations and best wishes for the events. Ravi Kiran deserves to be recognized as the best synthesizer of old and new in our Carnatic Music but also for his outreach efforts to popularise it to Western audiences. What is heartening with Ravi Kiran is that he does not see these events as "platforms" to push his own agenda or innovations,but lends his creativity to others' compositions and in the process help us all understand the vitality of those composers who would otherwise have been consigned to the dust heap of concert platforms!!

[arasi]

Ravikiran makes us all proud.

Cleveland brought Tyagaraja and CM to the US, now Venkata Kavi, and more to follow in the future.

The melharmonic at the Cleveland festival was a grand feat, with all the children in it, along with the symphony orchestra. It was music without frontiers, the classical in both disciplines flowing along side, and merging at times.

All the very best to the melharmonic at Middleton

[SridharxRamaswamy]

** Free Webcast ***

iCarnatic will be webcasting OVK-BACH Festival 2013 on Saturday, November 16 from 9AM to 9PM US Central Time (icarnatic.org)

[cacm]

I just finished watching the exciting program celebrating "Melharmony day" and would like to congragulate SMT. Vanitha Suresh & her colleagues for a program which I CONSIDER to be a HIGHLIGHT next only to M.S'S UN CONCERT. I have been involved in listening, organising etc from 1950 (since 1959 in N.A.) & I CANNOT COME UP ANOTHER EVENT SO MEANINGFUL, POINEERING, ELEVATING,& EXCITING AS THE ONE ALL OF YOU STAGED TODAY.THANKS and best wishes for EXTENDING YOUR CONCEPT to TRULY A WORLD EVENT IT DESERVES TO BE.....Thanks to icarnatic for freely broadcasting it so persons like me 2000 miles away could feel like we were there....I wish to place this EPOCH MAKING EVENT in some HISTORICAL CONTEXT.
I have been fortunate to witness, interact personally in many instances of great artists like: Yehudi Menuhin, Ravi Shankar, LGJ, Alan Hovahness, John Cage, Dave Brubeck, his famous drummer Morelli (who played in AIR Madras in 1958 with P.S.P.), John Coltrane, and many other Famous Western Classical & Jazz artists as well as Indian artists who have tried to exhibit a cross-cultural cross over between different systems. I feel that even Ravi Shankar in his Concerto for Sitar&Orchestra while using western instruments was forced to mostly make Sitar the main instrument.
But the first INVENTION BRIDGING THIS GAP BELONGS TO RAVI KIRAN who could clearly connect the music of Bach & OVK PERFECTLY. Actually I knew more about Bach's compositions than O.V.K. (except Thayae aYasodha etc) tho' I have been an avid listener since 1950! HIS new approach (MELHARMONY) combined with his musical prowess makes him one of the greats of 20th century but Melharmony makes him a major figure in 21st century world music. Rudyard Kipling said East is East & West is West and never the twain shall meet but RAVI K has proved that to be wrong. They can meet & in music a better understanding of Melharmony can lead to it. I feel BOTH IN MADRAS & IN THE West he should be persuaded to elaborate his ideas further. CONGRAGULATIONS. VKV

[uday_shankar]

Here's a report in deccan chronicle:
http://www.dc-epaper.com/PUBLICATIONS/D ... tml?Mode=1

[SridharxRamaswamy]

OVK-Bach festival in the USA

City of Middleton decrees Melharmony Day

The OVK-Bach festival organized by Arohana School of Music In Middleton, WI was a first-of-its-kind event that brought two all-time-great composers from two different parts of the world – Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi (1700-65) and Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) on the same platform. It therefore provided a significant number of Indians as well as non-Indian listeners a highly enriching experience for nearly 12 hours.

It started off with the traditional Saptaratna renditions led by Shri. Chitravina N Ravikiran, Kum. Akkarai Subhalakshmi, Nandini Sridhar, Vanitha Suresh, Namratha Rajagopal, and other local singers in the Midwest region,accompanied by Smt. Vijaya Desikan on the violin, Shri. Sriram Natarajan on the Mrdangam, Shri. Balaji Chandran on the Ghatam, and Arthi Nadhan on the Veena. From Nattai to Madhyamavati, the inspired brilliance and eloquence of Venkata Kavi was beautifully brought out by the ensemble. Shri Ravikiran provided a crisp and informative introduction at the beginning of every Saptaratna.

This was followed by individual/group/featured vocal performances by students of teachers from Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin. This was kickstarted by a brisk rendition of Raghukulottama Rama (Nagaswaravali - Mishra Jampa) by Kum. Akkarai Subhalakshmi. The rest of the session included rare and popular OVK compositions such as Arulalan tiramellam (Shankarabharanam), Vallari Samane (Malavi), Swagatam Krshna (Mohanam), Senapate (Gowla) and Vande valmiki kokilam (Athana). The morning session concluded with the recitation competition of OVK's Sanskit shlokas. The post noon session featured individual/group dance Bharathanatyam performances by dancers from the Midwest region of USA.

The next session was dedicated to J.S.Bach, whose compositions were interpreted on Cello/Piano/Saxophone/Violin by students of Eric Miller, Kristine Bengtson, Pete Ross, Lucinda Marvin and Audrey Frykenberg. It was interesting to listen to the Sicillenne & Allegro from Flute Sonata #2 rearranged for the Saxophone. Other pieces played were Toccata in D minor, Invention #14, Musette and Minuet, Minuet #2. The featured performer in the Western session was Eric Miller who played a very soulful Suite 1 on the Cello.

The evening program started on a unique note with the Middleton High School Orchestra's rendition of "Brandenburg Concerto #3" and "A World View" - which was Ravikiran's Melharmonic re-creation of Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi's "Udajagopa sundara" in Umabharanam. Ravikiran's similar arrangement of Venkata Kavi's "Swagatam Krishna" (Mohanam) was competently interpreted by the Yahara String Quartette, who also played "Air on the G String" of Bach.

This was followed by a historic Proclamation by the City of Middleton that the 3rd Saturday of every November henceforth be celebrated as "Melharmony Day", a unique distinction conferred on Chitravina N Ravikiran. The carefully worded proclamation also made special references to pioneering melodic composers like Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi, Tyagaraja & Dikshitar as well as architects of harmony such as Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. It acknowledged the contribution of Ravikiran in bringing melody and harmony together via Melharmony, an innovative way to bring people of diverse cultures together.

This was followed by an enthralling discussion about OVK and Bach and their respective contributions to melody and harmony by Trevor Stephenson (Madison Bach Musicians) and Ravikiran. The rendition of the Well tempered Clavier on the harpsichord by Trevor was an aural treat.

The last part of the festival was a vocal performance by Chitravina N Ravikiran who chooses to showcase his skills on the voice only on very rare occasions. The concert consisted of Gurupadaravinda (Abhogi), Padmavati Ramanam (Poorvi Kalyani) and a lilting Eppadittan en ullam (Nilambari). While Neela lohita ramani (Balahamsa) showcased Venkata Kavi's incredible mastery over talas like the 17-unit Khanda Dhruvam, the central piece Lola gopa bala in Bhairavi testified to the composer's original approach in this grand raga.

The OVK-Bach festival was viewed live in many parts of the world, thanks to iCarnatic.com.

[SridharxRamaswamy]

Link to - OVK-Bach Festival, USA 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn3XV74nAHo