Wesleyan kids dazzle at the Cleveland aradhana

[appu]

Vocals: Christina Boyd, Raphalle Brochet, Azara Goldston, Anand Gopalan, Harry Tokarz, Emily Troll, Anand Venkataraman
Guitar: Garett Field
Flute: Joseph Geater
Mridangam: Aaron Paige
Tambura: Pennan Chinnaswamy

What can I say. These kids were simply wonderful. The camaraderie on stage was absolutely astounding. The respect for the art and their guru Shri Balasubramaniyan was clearly evident in the opening short and sweet speech delivered by Anand. Please pardon me as I do not know all the faces with the associated names.

The ensemble performed the following pieces.

1. Abhogi Varnam (3 speeds)
2. Anuragamulei Saraswati Ragam, Adi Talam
3. Dalachinavaru Dhanyasi Ragam, Adi Talam
4. Telisirama Purnaravichandrika Ragam, Adi Talam
5. Innam Oru Talam, Simhendramadyamam Ragam with raga elaboration and swarams
6. Teruvil Varano Kamas ragam, Adi talam tisra Nadai
7. Sri Kamalambike Sri ragam Khand Eka talam
8. Tillana Kadhanakutuhalam ragam

Clearly the leader of the ensemble was defined at the very onset. She was Raphaelle Brochet.
Disclaimer: had difficulty matching names with faces as I am seeing the ensemble for the very first time. It was clearly evident that this student has been pursuing Carnatic Music for many years at Wesleyan. She had a thorough grasp of the diction, language, and bhavam involved with our music.

Abhogi Varnam was sung in 3 speeds including Thisram. The group had a fine command of Talam as was evidenced by the tisram they belted out in the varnam. The guitarist served thepurpose of the accompaniment. At the onset he could not be heard, but once he cranked up the volume one could hear his gamakas and bends very beautifully

Telisirama kriti was very nice. The mridangist, a budding artist had excellent finguring technique and I must say unlike some musicians was not all over the place. The ensemble definitely have understood the meaning of Sarva Lagu. During the tani avartanam, the leader of the pack whips out another ace hidden up her sleeve. She renders the Konnakol associated with the tani effortlessly to a tunderous applause and a standing ovation from the packed audience of well over 500.

All in all, I conclude by saying the young and the old are really delivering, the rich and the famous are a real let down. Please look for my analysis of Parasala Ponnamal (another excellent performance) and Sudha Raghunathan (a passable performance) very soon.

Today is my last day hear at the aradhana. I will try to soak up as many events as possible and post a detailed response. Looking forward to Pallai Ramachandran and M Chandrasekhar this morning.

[cienu]

Appu,

So nice to hear the performance of the Wesleyan Kids at Cleveland.

[dhanyasi]

Classic Viswa Sir's song list.. Kudos Balu Sir and Wesleyan junta

[kedharam]

Great concert and great response from the rasikas. They truly work for the sake of art and it reflects in their presentation. May be prime time slot next year!

[gn.sn42]

It was clearly evident that this student [Raphaëlle Brochet] has been pursuing Carnatic Music for many years at Wesleyan.

We have discussed Raphaëlle Brochet previously in this forum. She studied CM in Paris and Chennai (in addition to jazz and the Iranian radif) prior to joining Wesleyan. Her web site appears to be down at the moment, but there is some information at her MySpace page:

http://www.myspace.com/raphaellebrochet

A very talented singer.

[raagam]

I have the program here and would just like to add the correct name spellings of musicians and guru:

Vocal: Christina Boyd, Raphaëlle Brochet, Azara Golston, Anand Gopalan, Harry Tokarz, Emily Troll, Anand Venkatachalam
Guitar: Garrett Field
Flute: Joseph Getter
Mridangam: Aaron Paige
Tambura: Pennan Chinnaswamy

Students of B. Balasubrahmaniyan and David Nelson