Navaratri@Wesleyan

dhanyasi · Post by **dhanyasi** » 11 Oct 2008, 21:11

The Navaratri music festival at Wesleyan University is probably the oldest indian music festival traditions in US pioneered by T.Viswa. here is clip from this years student's segment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwdDm3UO5WM

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 11 Oct 2008, 22:24

What homogeneous singing! What impressed me was the pronounciation, considering that not one vocalist I see on stage is from south india or does speak any of the languages from India.
Dhanyasi,
Thanks for giving us a sample of Wesleyan CM of today...

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 11 Oct 2008, 22:45

Well done - seems to have th approval of some noted musicians too! Interesting to watch the violin being put to a slightly different use!

fuddyduddy · Post by **fuddyduddy** » 12 Oct 2008, 00:01

Absolutely wonderful!

Sreeni Rajarao · Post by **Sreeni Rajarao** » 12 Oct 2008, 00:47

Congratulations to the performers! Great job!
I did not understand Vijay's comment about the violin (#3 above). I do not see a violin - it's a guitar.

newtocm · Post by **newtocm** » 12 Oct 2008, 07:13

That was really great - it's nice to see Westerners taking so much effort - we should show this to all our kids.

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 12 Oct 2008, 07:50

absolutely wonderful-singing the navavarnam.

vs_manjunath · Post by **vs_manjunath** » 12 Oct 2008, 08:27

Excellent! We are reminded of the Late John B Higgins concerts after hearing this clipping.One must admire their dedication, seriousness and hard work they put in for the task they undertake. Please convey my CONGRATULATIONS to all the artists in this clipping.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 12 Oct 2008, 12:37

Oho! Quite a blunder there about the violin! Thanks Sreeni...

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 12 Oct 2008, 12:48

Excellent.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 12 Oct 2008, 14:11

Did you notice the lead singer sang the alApana , then moved and sat back without touching the mike. Though subtle ,Is it not wonderful of how they are attaching importance to mike distance. Comparing that with our thiruvayAru arAdhAna where there is just a bunch of mikes more focussed with just few musicians despite a ocean of musicians spread everywhere.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 12 Oct 2008, 17:40

dhanyasi - thanks for the clip... it was really wonderful to see these American students rendering a Dikshitar Navarana with its full beauty and grace.

Quite often we hear about the globalisation of Carnatic music in the context of musicians from Chennai touring the world but this video clip is the true sign that Carnatic music is getting globalised.

rasaali · Post by **rasaali** » 12 Oct 2008, 19:12

Thanks for posting dhanyasi.

A lof credit goes to Sri B.Balasubramanian and Sri David Nelson, two artistes committed to practice and propagation of the finest core values of our music.

The guitarist is called Garret (if I remember). I have had the opportunity to speak with him. A young man passionate about carnatic music, he learnt from noted musician Kalpana Venkat of the Detroit area before entering the Wesleyan world music program. Sang very nice snatches of Begada after a Balu concert where the singer had rendered a a chaste Sankari Neeve.

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 22 Oct 2008, 13:33

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=lwdDm3UO5WM

Please do see above video! Great and amazing.. A fluent sri ragam and kalamalambike sung by students of Wesleyan University during Navarathri festival

-hari

vs_manjunath · Post by **vs_manjunath** » 22 Oct 2008, 13:43

s_hari : This was already discussed in one of the threads, If I'm not wrong.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 22 Oct 2008, 16:05

Wesleyan University has a pretty strong Carnatic tradition, doesn't it?

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 23 Oct 2008, 14:06

That's an earnest and sincere rendering. Kudos to the students and their Gurus!!! Beautiful clip...

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 01 Nov 2008, 14:03

arasi wrote:What impressed me was the pronounciation, considering that not one vocalist I see on stage is from south india or does speak any of the languages from India.

You can see a desi vocalist sitting next to (right of) the main singer (the one who moves back after the alapanam). His face is covered by the mridangist, so it's easy to miss.
Also another desi vocalist next to the mridangist.

Having said that, it's certainly a great accomplishment. The work of the greats like Ramnad Krishnan, T Viswanathan, KVN and of course Higgins bhagavathar, seems to have borne fruit in the new generation of singers.

dhanyasi · Post by **dhanyasi** » 02 Nov 2008, 06:53

The Indian person on that piece is Anand a student of Balu, you can see him dance accompanied by a good Devagandari by Wesleyan students here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXtp4LZZLf0

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 02 Nov 2008, 07:23

Bravo! kudos to Prof Balu....

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 02 Nov 2008, 07:50

Here is the myspace profile page of the vocalist RaphaÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â«lle Brochet .

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... =186740035

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 02 Nov 2008, 21:38

VK,
What a voice! How emotive it is whether the music be indian or jazz! Some of her dEvagAndhAri phrases were beautiful in ennERamum.
Kudos to Wesleyan teachers too, who continue the tradition of keeping CM alive and well...

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 02 Nov 2008, 22:15

Yes indeed! And what a clear enunciation of 'zha' in the word 'thazhaikkum'!
CM knows no culture or linguistic barriers when you set your heart to learn it!

I bewail the premature death of John Higgins who should have lived to see how Wesleyan stuedents are keeping alive the CM traditions!

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 02 Nov 2008, 23:15

What a voice! How emotive it is whether the music be indian or jazz! Some of her dEvagAndhAri phrases were beautiful in ennERamum.

Yes, that is the impression I got. On the Jazz side it is more on the crooning side, the prototypical intimate female jazz voice, whereas with CM she sings with the full throated style, both emotive appropriate for each genre.

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 03 Nov 2008, 07:27

cmlover wrote:Yes indeed! And what a clear enunciation of 'zha' in the word 'thazhaikkum'!
CM knows no culture or linguistic barriers when you set your heart to learn it!

The singer appears to be French, so her singing in English is equally impressive. I note that she's also learned the Iranian Radif. I'd expand your observation about CM to all music.

Here's another web site:
http://www.raphaellebrochet.com

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 03 Nov 2008, 08:08

In the travel stories at her site, read the bit about 'Opening doors with the voice"¦ ' in Chennai. A bit comical. Reminded me of reading about a somewhat similar experience Sanjay had at the U.S. consulate.

SahanaVasud · Post by **SahanaVasud** » 04 Oct 2009, 23:19

Wesleyan students in 2009 Navarathri:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKMJx8g27Ig

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 05 Oct 2009, 02:17

Bravo! Applauding the guru and his students. I thought last year's performance was great, this is even better. What a presentation in unison, each one doing better than last year!
Raphaelle, vous etes formidable! The AlaApana was flawless. Your rAgam was soulful--g m p da... and all.
Thanks to everyone of you for keeping the Wesleyan CM tradition going and growing!

kamalamba · Post by **kamalamba** » 05 Oct 2009, 03:45

Thanks Sahanavasud. That was brilliant, alapana was excellent and had the majority of attractive phrases.

srinivasrgvn · Post by **srinivasrgvn** » 05 Oct 2009, 07:33

appu · Post by **appu** » 05 Oct 2009, 07:45

Srinivasrgvn, That probably want happen, because sabha secretaries invariably expect a monetary donation to feature talent from the US. It is despicable how openly they request for donations. Someone magnanimous as Cleveland Sundaram may be able to give them a shot during the season. He gave them a opportunity at the aradhana this year and they definitely delivered to a packed audience4.

srinivasrgvn · Post by **srinivasrgvn** » 05 Oct 2009, 07:51

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 05 Oct 2009, 08:00

Nice alapanai - the use of G3 was tailored to the composition. Excellent diction too!