Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival 2014

[Sreeni Rajarao]

http://www.aradhana.org/

I am surprised we have not talked about Cleveland festival yet!

So, here is the opener!

Festival starts April 16th, Ends Apr 27th.

I am planning to be there on April 19th - hoping to catch up with some old friends and make some new friends!

[cacm]

Hope we can meet; Pl attend LGJ SYMPOSIUM if you are going to be around. VKV

[Sreeni Rajarao]

VKV Sir,

I look forward to meeting you!

[vasanthakokilam]

cacm, All the best with the symposiums you are conducting.

The variety and depth of the various programs is breath-taking!

The Mahabharatham in 5 parts sounds like a grand production with the finale "Bhagavad Gita Gnanam" with lyrics, music and choreography by a star studded team including Sri. Ravikiran and R.K. Sriramkumar and Pt. Birju Maharaj!

I wish I can make it there but it does not look like I can.

Best wishes to the organizers, artists and particiapants for a great event.

[arasi]

VKV,
Can't say it any better than vasanthakokilam. So, I quote him: The variety and depth of programs is breath-taking!

Can't be there but am so looking forward to the streaming.

Like last year, Ravikiran and others will bring the best of musical experience to us. Let me not forget that other productions of dance will impress us to--and all the music!

Can't afford to miss Birju Maharaj. Nick's enthusiasm is quite infectious!

Welcoming yet another year of the great festival...

[rajeshnat]

vkv sir and others of the festival,
I just saw the schedule , certainly as before the spread is there for both music and dance . As usual you always keep remembering few giants like LGJ and Ramnad krishnan- many there are going to hear Ramnad krishnan for the first time. While I see lot of artists having a very short duration of even 1 to 1 1/2 hours , I see two slots where it is mentioned that the torch bearers of the cleveland festival give tribute to LGJ and Ramnadkrisnan. May I know who are the participants of the below two capsules , i hope the two below session is also filled with music

4:15pm – 7:15pm Sustaining Sampradaya — Tribute to Lalgudi Jayaraman
A concert by the torch-bearers of the Cleveland Festival

4:00pm – 6:45pm Sangeetha Rathnakara Ramnad Sri V. Raghavan Memorial Concert
Sustaining Sampradaya — Tribute to Ramnad Krishnan
A concert by the torch-bearers of the Cleveland Festival

I also see DR VK Balasubramaniam. Is he related to you sir?

Best wishes to all artists of the cleveland festival. The cold is indeed there(googled to see that cleveland is 10 degree celsius) but please give more warmth with your music and dance. Here is a ~o) to break the ice.

[arasi]

Rajesh,
The torchbearers are the kids who grow up in the US. They have been proving themselves to be diligent students and impressive presenters of CM every year, thanks to their hard work and to their gurus here and the ones from India.

As usual, we see a number of Rasikas.org members featured in the festival (Ravikiran, Suryaprakash, Shashikiran, MAE and others).

[Rsachi]

The Mahabharatham in 5 parts sounds like a grand production with the finale "Bhagavad Gita Gnanam" with lyrics, music and choreography by a star studded team including Sri. Ravikiran and R.K. Sriramkumar and Pt. Birju Maharaj!

This sounds like a fabulous production. I had commented after listening to the Mel harmony that Ravikiran was ready for big operas. Didn't know he was already at it, in partnership with RKSK and Birju Maharaj - the everyone goes to him from Kamaal to Madhuri!

Bravo and Best wishes. Hope we can be blessed to at least watch it on a DVD...

[Nick H]

Chennai suffers from being left out in the musical cold, just as we have to endure the climatic heat!

I shouldn't grumble. We keep our musicians for the rest of the year and get a bigger dose than we can take in December.

Best wishes to the festival, and to all the artists both in Cleveland and wherever else they have managed to include in the trip. Anyone stopping off in London this year. I wonder?

Delighted to see that you have Pt Birju Maharaj and Saswati Sen taking part!

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

VKV: Myself Nirmala and a few friends from the NY area are planning the "invasion"--we expect to be for the first part of the program from Apr 17th to 21st--cannot stay for the full program much as we would like to!!
re; LGJ symposium, I had left a message for you-- I would love to participate--please let me have a rough idea of the duration.format etc. I would like to confine myself to LGJ's human aspects during his career. I am not competent to talk about his virtuosity or music vidwath --which I am sure would be covered exhaustively by others.
The program is chock-full of events and I am excited and looking forward to meeting forumites--we will snatch---as we did in previous years--sometime in between events for some "musical akkappor(loosely translated healthy productive exchange of anecdotes!!!.

[cacm]

Dear MKR, I have sent you a separate email as I do not wish to discuss certain areas here. VKV

[cacm]

vkv sir and others of the festival,
I just saw the schedule , certainly as before the spread is there for both music and dance . As usual you always keep remembering few giants like LGJ and Ramnad krishnan- many there are going to hear Ramnad krishnan for the first time. While I see lot of artists having a very short duration of even 1 to 1 1/2 hours , I see two slots where it is mentioned that the torch bearers of the cleveland festival give tribute to LGJ and Ramnadkrisnan. May I know who are the participants of the below two capsules , i hope the two below session is also filled with music

4:15pm – 7:15pm Sustaining Sampradaya — Tribute to Lalgudi Jayaraman
A concert by the torch-bearers of the Cleveland Festival

4:00pm – 6:45pm Sangeetha Rathnakara Ramnad Sri V. Raghavan Memorial Concert
Sustaining Sampradaya — Tribute to Ramnad Krishnan
A concert by the torch-bearers of the Cleveland Festival

I also see DR VK Balasubramaniam. Is he related to you sir?

Best wishes to all artists of the cleveland festival. The cold is indeed there(googled to see that cleveland is 10 degree celsius) but please give more warmth with your music and dance. Here is a ~o) to break the ice.

Dear Rajeshnat,
I will address each one of the areas of interest to you shortly. DR.V.K.Balasubrahmanyan is indeed my older brother. I will write about him as part of my response. VKV

[cacm]

[quote="rajeshnat"]vkv sir and others of the festival,
I just saw the schedule , certainly as before the spread is there for both music and dance . As usual you always keep remembering few giants like LGJ and Ramnad krishnan- many there are going to hear Ramnad krishnan for the first time. While I see lot of artists having a very short duration of even 1 to 1 1/2 hours , I see two slots where it is mentioned that the torch bearers of the cleveland festival give tribute to LGJ and Ramnadkrisnan. May I know who are the participants of the below two capsules , i hope the two below session is also filled with music

4:15pm – 7:15pm Sustaining Sampradaya — Tribute to Lalgudi Jayaraman
A concert by the torch-bearers of the Cleveland Festival

4:00pm – 6:45pm Sangeetha Rathnakara Ramnad Sri V. Raghavan Memorial Concert
Sustaining Sampradaya — Tribute to Ramnad Krishnan
A concert by the torch-bearers of the Cleveland Festival

Dear Rajeshnat,
THANKS for your interest. This gives me an opportunity to write about Sustaining Sampradhaya & the two tributes.
More than any one else the person whose brain wave for this initiative was Cleveland V.V.Sundaram (like many such initiatives: roughly 6 months of his time is SPENT on implementing it). In addition to trying to represent the Past & Current day art forms, artists, and our culture in its various aspects the CLEVELAND ARADHANA is very particular of ACTIVE PARTICIPATION of youth and beginners because we strongly feel that the FUTURE is mostly in their efforts & hands. We have good reason to feel that this effort is already paying off if you notice the worldwide participation of this group is felt in even in MADRAS. I can say that this is a MIRACLE- I CALL IT A CLEVELAND MIRACLE- ESP. as the first person I talked to in Tamil was the great S.Balachander after a full 3 years in USA!
IN SHORT the idea is to select close to 30 persons WORLDWIDE with EXPERTS like Dr.N.Ramani choosing them after interviewing them etc. LEADING VIDWANS IN INDIA THEN TEACH THEM FOR SIX MONTHS FROM VVS'S HOUSE TWICE A WEEK ON SKYPE ---Late R.K.Srikantan,Mrs.Suguna Varadhachary, Charumathi Ramachandran etc-YOU NAME IT THEY ARE GRACIOUS TO TEACH THESE STUDENTS- APART FROM DISCIPLES OF MMI,MSG like Suryaprakash(tho' he is TVS'S Student),DR.M.Narmadha etc and COUNTLESS NUMBERS OF OTHERS. Roughly 30 students SIMULATANEOUSLY LEARN the ingredients of a TYPICAL 3 HOUR CONCERT BY THE ARTIST BEING HONUOURED. THIS IS INTERACTIVE with lots of INTERACTION & teachers come to 45 DAYS ahead of festival to MAKE SURE they are performing to he HIGH LEVEL their teachers expect. The nominal application fees collected- far more than 30 apply each year- are distributed to the teachers. The classes & interactions are AVAILABLE FREE to anyone on the internet with notation etc.
THIS INITIATIVE IS CONSIDERED SO IMPORTANT THE SUSTAINING SAMPRADHAYA CONCERT IS GIVEN TOP BILLING AS THE PRIME TIME CONCERT EVERY YEAR. So far concerts honouring MSS, SEM, GNB, MMI among others have been held & the general consensus is that the group has held their own for 3 hours representing the artist in question in their representative concerts. The participants are called Torch Bearers of the Cleveland Festival.
Hope this gives an idea of this group. VKV

[arasi]

VKV,
I have edited my post after reading yours.
So, Dr. Balasubrahmanyan is your brother?

[cacm]

TO Rajeshnat & Arasi & others interested:
I also see DR VK Balasubramaniam. Is he related to you sir?.......YES. I am writing this note in response as he is both my INSPIRATION as well as teacher in any area of Music,Physics, as well as others. He is my elder brother.
He is a rather famous Astrophysicist one of the first two students recruited personally by DR.HOMI J.BHABHA when he started the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research- the other one being Dr.S.Naranan famous X-Ray Astronomer etc my brother in law! One can guess how I got married! TURNS OUT MY WIFE knows Carnatic Music esp. Compositions better than me-.... My brother was specifically sought after by NASA & to give advice on how to use the American satellites for Space Astronomy& Physics; To give a capsule of his career in USA (1962-'86 at NASA GODDARD- HE& HIS WIFE WERE PATRONS AND ARRANGED & HOSTED EVERYTHING INVOLVED WITH OUR CULTURE & MUSIC IN THAT AREA AS POINEERS- when he retired he was presented with 3-D Christmas tree like plaque with miniature satellites that were launched during his stay in NASA. Close to 46 I think & he had an experiment in each!.......
His H.S.Principal was GNB'S Father (Hindu High School, Triplicane) & he was very close to M.S.&T.S & LIKES MMI'S MUSIC A LOT & at one stage TVS was like their son......
Reg the award I did vote for it as I was on the committee but more interesting was V.V.Sundaram gave for his positive vote: vvs said VKB was the only person in his life so far who was asked to give 350 dollars for a BMK CONCERT & sent 750 dollars & said that was the collection! I do not know whether he accepted the award or will be present to receive it as I am very sensitive to Nepotism as a subject.....vkv

[cacm]

RAMNAD KRISHNAN & LGJ SYMPOSIA: A FEW DETAILS
Without giving away the store I am writing the following to give an idea of the symposia.
I believe & Cleveland Aradhana also typically WANTS the ARTIST to represent themselves as they are the BEST to do it.
Consequently ROUGHLY half the 45 minutes will be EXCERPTS from performances by the artists themselves (including explanations) & in the case of LGJ additionally by one of his main disciples (as I want to explain not only the LGJ BHANI but how the LALGUDI SAHAPTHAM has already started in a triumphant fashion); As I have followed & known both R.K. & LGJ SINCE 1950 I hope to share what I learnt from discussions with them. VVS will supplement his knowledge of his experiences of the latter part of their careers as well the DEEP involvement with Cleveland Festival.
WE are very grateful to Sri.R.K.Ramanathan- son of Ramnad Krishnan- for making a SPECIAL TRIP AT his expense- for gracing us with his presence to share his expertise & knowledge......
I INVITE EVERYONE TO ATTEND THESE SYMPOSIA & PAY TRIBUTE TO THESE TWO GENIUSES WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED SO MUCH........VKV

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

For the nenefit of Forumites I might add I have known VKB and his wife Saroja since the time I got to know VKV--I have never seen a more modest man than VKB--a quiet-behind-the scenes organizer--both MS Amma and TS Mama had the highest regard for VKB and his family-they were one of the FEW visitors to Kalki Gardens who could come without an appointment!!!

As regards the award both VVS and VKB need to be congratulated-- I have personally seen what patience and tremendous support the VVS family have devoted to the Samapradaya concept. I have personally heard stories of Kings' patronage in the olden days before Independence(Mysore and Travancore) but they all pale in comparison to what the VVS family has done to popularise Carnatic Music in NA and how the youngsters have "blossomed" into fine musicians as a result--anybody who has visited VVS's house in Chennai during these sessions and preparations for the festival cannot fail to be astounded by the marriage-like atmosphere prevalent. To cap it all VVS has no favorites when it comes to selecting artistes--no nepotism either--I can personally vouch for it--being a distant relative and a friend for over 40 years he has NOT GIVEN ME a chance yet to sing at the festival!!! NOTWITHSTANDING this I still plan to try this time when I visit Cleveland!!!

FOOLS RUSH IN WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD!!!!

[Nick H]

he has NOT GIVEN ME a chance yet to sing at the festival!!!

This is a major oversight! An injustice even!

I hope it will be put right within the next year or two.

B-)

[RaviSri]

This is the centenary year of Smt.T.Muktha. Cleveland Sundaram being an avid admirer of Mukthamma and her music, are there any plans to celebrate the centenary of Mukthamma at Cleveland this year? It was because of Sundaram's persistence that Mukthamma travelled all the way to Cleveland in 2002, at the age of 88 and gave an exquisite concert on the 30th of March.

[vasanthakokilam]

RaviSri, I checked the schedule and I do not see anything there. Isn't it a bit too late to bring this up for this year? These kinds of things obviously take a lot of time and energy to do it right. May be it can be proposed to Cleveland Aradhana for 2015.

[RaviSri]

Well VK, I thought since Cleveland Sundaram was a great rasika of Mukthamma, he would have arranged some celebration for this year. Perhaps a talk on her by Vedavalli or Sowmya who had learnt from her along with a demonstration of kritis, padams etc. Doesn't matter. It would be redundant in 2015. It is not impossible to arrange for some small remembrance function along with some music even this year. Such things have been arranged at the last minute even in Madras.

[arasi]

How very true!
A few years ago, Vegavahini was invited to the festival, and the DhanammaL school was focused on during the festival.

Yes, Sowmya or Vedavalli, as you say. Ravikiran, who is yet another student of the Dhanammal school will be present at the festival too.

[RaviSri]

Yes, Ravikiran and Kiranavali can also pay tributes to Mukthamma. After all, both of them had accompanied Mukthamma at Cleveland in 2002, Kiranavali gave vocal support and Ravikiran on the Chitra Veena. I think in 2012, the centenary year of T.Brinda, Alamelu Mani gave a concert of kritis and padams she had learnt from Brindamma.

[bsnram]

Students of Guru Smt. Kiranavali Vidyasankar will be presenting Mela Ragamalika of the celebrated Maha Vaidhyanatha Sivan at Cleveland Aradhana on Apr 25th (Fri) at 8AM. Months of hard work has has gone into the preparation for this performance. If you happen to be in the Cleveland area, please attend this and encourage the youngsters. The event should also be available live in icarnatic.org.

Regards .. Ram