INDUS Fest 2015 Dallas Review

[fellowrasika]

IND-US Fest 2015, a concept by Kalaimamani Vidwan Shri. K.N.Shashikiran of Carnatica Brothers fame and organized by his disciple Smt. Prithi Narasimhan, was successfully conducted in Dallas for a second time on March 7th, 2015. This program was launched by Carnatica Archival Center for Music, Texas. An all day carnatic music mela comprising of competitions and stage performances in the morning by local schools, followed by mini concerts by Dallas talents including Smt. Prithi Narasimhan, Kum. Rhea Rajesh, Master. Pranav Kikkeri, Kum. Kruthi Bhat and Smt. Thanmayee Krishnamurthy. Sri. Chitravina Ravikiran felicitated the winners himself by awarding the prizes. The festival also included the following feature programs - A chitravina concert by Vidwan Shri. P. Ganesh of the Carnatica Brothers fame, followed by a special carnatic vocal recital by Sangeet Samrat Chitravina Shri N. Ravikiran and an upanyasam on "Brotherhood in Ramayana" by Shri. Dushyanth Sridhar.

Morning Segment:

The program started with an invocation by students of Smt. Prithi Narasimhan, who presented a Tiny-Tot carnatic choir. This was followed by a veena performance by Kum. Arathi Parthasarathy. Following this, students of Smt. Seetha Chandrashekar, Smt. Nandini Kambi and Smt. Deepa Srinivasan presented group performances and Kum. Gita Thirumalai performed a solo flute concert.

Concert Segment

Smt. Prithi Narasimhan (Disciple of Vidwan Shri K.N.Shashikiran) started the concert segment. She presented Kamakshi Kamakoti in Simmendra madhyamam with alapana, neraval and swarams which was very well received. This was followed by Jaya Jaya padhmanabha, a composition in Manirangu. She bravely attempted swarams for this song and it was well appreciated.

This was followed by another disciple of the same Guru, Rhea Rajesh. She sang Varali as her main - seshachala,with the ragam swarams and neraval. Her performance was very well appreciated too. She also sang the javali enthati kuluke in Kalyani.

Pranav Kikkeri, a disciple of Vidwan Sangeet Samrat Chitravina Shri N. Ravikiran presented his concert next. He started with Chintitavar Nenjil irrupadu in Natai, adi talam, composition of Oothukkadu Venkatakavi followed by the popular Bhogindra Shayinam in Kuntalavarali and Khanda chapu, composition of Swati Tirunal. A detailed Poorvikalyani alapana followed by the krithi Ninnuninaga of shyama shastri with neraval and swaramswas his main piece. He concluded with the javali Parulanna Mata in Kapi and Adi talam of Dharmapuri Subbaraya Iyer

This was followed by a steller performance by Vidwan Chitravina Shri P. Ganesh on the Chitravina. It was a great pleasure for me to hear him play on the chitravina after years. He was accompanied by Trivandrum Sampath on the violin and Tanjavur K Murugaboopathi on the mridangam. He started with Sriman Narayana in Bhowli and adi talam, composition of Annamacharya. The main piece was a very detailed alapana for Hemavati , followed by SriKanthimathim in adi talam, composition of Mudduswami Dikshitar. His concert was very well received by the rasikas.


Next up was an upanyasam by Dushyanth Sridhar. I am resposting Gayatri Seshadri's review of this particular program, for lack of better words. Described by The Hindu as " .....the modern ‘upanyaskar’ who connects to the young though his discourses by bringing a contemporary perspective to epics and derives logic." I caught the second half of his multilingual discourse in Sanskrit, English Telugu and Marathi on the divine brotherhood of the 4 brothers in the Ramayana. It was interspersed with some what tangential humorous anecdotes with contemporary analogies, but thoroughly enjoyable. He displayed his vidwat in languages, music, Sanskrit literature and scripture
He had no accompanists.

This was followed by a vocal concert by Chitravina Shri N. Ravikiran, accompanied by Trivandrum Sampath on the violin and Tanjavur K Murugaboopathi on the mridangam. He started with a composition of Oothukkadu Venkatakavi in Asaveri. Aparamabhakti of Thyagaraja in Pantuvarali and Rupaka talam was his main piece and he presented this composition with a steller raga alapana, neraval and a an array of kalapana swaras that poured like a torrential rain. This was followed by Rama Jogi in Khamas of Bhadrachalam Ramadas. He conclided the concert a Sadasivabrahmendra kriti in Sindubhairavi.

Next up was the prize distribution followed by a steller performance by Kum. Kruthi Bhatt who does not need introduction to the CM world. Trivandrum Sampath accompanied her on the violin and the multi-talented Shashikiran himself accompanied her the mridangam due to last minute conflicts. Although he announced that he was not in touch with the mridangam, he showed that he is truly a gifted person and his beats were impeccable. She started with Aparadhamula Norva in Rasali and Adi talam of Thyagaraja. After a detailed Natakuranji alapana, she rendered Mamava sada varade in Rupaka talam, composition of Swati Tirunal. This was followed by Poorvi kalyani and she rendered Paraloka Sadhana of Thyagaraja. She wrapped up the concert with an abhang.

Thankmayee Krishnamurthi aptly concluded the concert segments and the festival. She started off with Swaminatha Paripalaya in Natai of Dikshitar. Her main piece was Bhairavi presenting the kriti Upacharamu for which her kalpanaswaras were noteworthy. A Narayana Tirtha composition in Valaji, Sakala Loka Dhara was next. As the final participant, she got to sing a mangalam and chose the popular one composed by Bhadrachalam Ramadas.


Overall, a very musically fulfilling event. From the first year, this event had totally transformed in multiple dimensions - quality, coordination, organization, etc. Kudos to the Carnatica Texas team and Shri K.N. Shashikiran for bringing this festival to Dallas.

Rama.

[rajeshnat]

Rama
Thank you for the review , reading lot of reviews in the past looks like dallas is a home ground for the family of vidwan Chitraveena narasimhan , his disciples and sishya parampara. I particularly appreciate where each of the participant is given a chance to present with a submain/main and present songs so that individual vidwat is showcased avoiding gumbalOda govindA. Just curious how long was the entire program exclusive of lunch and snacks if any and also exclusive of competition. Also how long did each of the kids like rajesh rhea,pranav kikkeri etal present? . Also how many local schools were there? Kudos

[mailtoprithi]

Thank you, Rama for posting this.

Rajeshnat ji - thank you for your kind words. The program was from 9:30 AM to 9:30 PM. The competitions were held from 9:45 Am to 1:00 PM and simultaneously we had stage performances by local schools in the main auditorium. There was a 30 minute lunch break in between and thats about it. There were 6 local schools that participated in the morning sessions for a 30 minute slot each, starting with a carnatic choir by my students, followed be performances by Smt. Seetha Chandrashekar, Smt. Nandini Kambi, Smt. Krishnakumar's student Kum. Arathi's Veena recital, Smt. Deepa Srinivasan's students and a flute recital by Kum. Gita.

The mini concerts was an average 45 minute slot each followed by the grand recitals by the big artists. Kruthi and Thanmayee concluded the concert segment in the evening. It was a great exposure for all of us and a very musically fulfilling day.

Thanks,
Prithi N