Houston’s 33rd Thiagaraja Aradhana on 4/17, 4/18 2010

[kalaramesh]

2-day Utsavam : Houston’s 33rd Thiagaraja Aaradhana held on April 17th and 18th 2010
Sorry for the late review…thought I will post it anyway – better late than never!

Being an ardent fan of GNB, my family and I drove from Dallas, TX to Houston, TX to be part of the Thiagaraja Aaradhana Utsavam and GNB Centenary year celebrations held in the Meenakshi Temple premise on April 17th and 18th 2010. Smt. Charumathi Ramachandran was the artistic director of the event. She had coordinated a very attractive program schedule for these 2 days.

The program on April 17th started off with the Unchivrithi and Pancharathana krithis with Smt and Sri Ramachandran leading the event, Shubasri Ramachandran, Bharath Sundar and the local carnatic music teachers and students were the other participants.

This was followed by an excellent lec-dem “My illustrious Guru GNB and his compositions” by Sri Trichur Ramachandran (Ram Sir as we affectionately call him!) competently accompanied by his daughter Subhasri Ramachandran. Ram Sir’s account of GNB, his explanation of GNB’s beautiful compositions and some personal anecdotes brought tears to many of us present there. Every soul witnessing this lec-dem would have sensed, the great respect, admiration and affection that Ram Sir had for his Guru. Subhashree Ramachandran’s, rich, sweet and melodious voice with exquisite sruthi alignment blended with her father’s rich, “GNB” voice enriched the magnificence and beauty of those GNB krithis rendered in the true GNB style! I wished they had given this duo an extra hour so that Ram Sir would have covered some more unique aspects on GNB’s RTPs etc… one and a half hours was too short a period to hear all about GNB as a Guru, and as a person, from this devoted and dedicated disciple. Kalladaikurichi Sivakumar on the mridhangam and Jayashankar Balan on the violin accompanied to the par.

This was followed by open singing by various groups and individuals in the Houston Carnatic music circle.
That evening, a wonderful concert was presented by Smt Gayathri Venkataraghavan accompanied by Kalladaikurichi Sivakumar on the mridhangam and Jayashankar Balan on the violin.

The next day, April 18th 2010 started out with continuation of open participation on renditions of Saint Thiagaraja’s compositions. This was followed by Videos on GNB “Great Masters – Life of GNB – by Enkay Visions”.

At about 10:30am, there was an excellent “Vaadya Vrindu” – Orchestra by Houston Area artists. This segment was very well presented. The 3 Veenas, 1 flute, 3 violins, 1 Sarangi (or sarod?) , 1 tabla and 1 mridhangam was well in sync. The sound system was so good that the Thiagaraja Krithis presented by orchestra sounded very pleasing.

Next was one of the best parts of the Utsavam - the lec-dem “Chatur Stree Rathnas – The 4 pillars in Carnatic Music” by Smt. Charumathi Ramachandran. It was her tribute to Brinda/Mukta, MSS, DKP, and MLV. Wow! What an absorbing, interesting and creative lec-dem that was! 2 hours went by so quickly! Smt. Ramachandran proficiently compared and contrasted these legends – their family background, their musical lineage, what each of them popularized etc etc.. She so creatively involved the local Carnatic music Gurus in her lec-dem by asking one of them to sing one Krithi in DKP Style and one to sing in Brinda-Mukta Style. (Smt. Charumathi herself skillfully demonstrated the MSS style and of course the MLV style). The highlight of the lec-dem however was the way in which she expertly demonstrated the different styles of these 4 music stalwarts in succession (in a matter of a few minutes) so that the audience could see the striking differences and the beauty of each style... truly amazing! Smt. Ramachandran’s little stories of her relationship with these legends were very fascinating.

Next, there was adult group presentation coordinated by Rajarajeshwari Bhat, one of the wonderful carnatic music teachers of Houston. This was followed by a short concert presented by Rajarajeshwari Bhat’s students who had bagged several awards in the Cleveland Aradhana competitions. It was an excellent concert. The kids did an amazing job – kudos to the Guru and the students!

Following this was an interesting segment – “Sangitha Sasmvadham” – Dialogue on Music between Smt. Charumathi Ramachandran and Bharath Sundar (Jaya TV’s recent Carnatic Idol). After this, was a dance segment - “ Dancer’s perspective of Saint Thiagaraja Krithis”. This was a lec-dem lead by Smt Rathna Kumar.

The grand finale concert was by Padma Bhushan Sri. Thrichur V. Ramachandran. What a concert that was! With “his master’s voice”, Ram Sir transformed us to the GNB days.. for many of us in the audience, like me, who have never heard GNB live (and Ram Sir live), this was 2 great hours re-living THOSE days. Excellent concert… wished he could have gone on forever.. Kalladaikurichi Sivakumar on the mridhangam and Jayashankar Balan on the violin played well keeping up with this great musician. Will write the song list in another post..

Kudos to the Classical Arts Society of Houston for coming up with this great idea of coordinating their Thigaraja Aaradhanas through an artistic director. I believe this has been their 4th year that they have implemented this idea. Smart way of getting a variety of programs scheduled creatively by different artists each year! We can see they get the best of each artistic director’s ingenious program schedule! This year especially it was skillfully directed by Smt Ramachandran who had introduced the dance segment into their Thiagaraja Aaradhana! Overall, the 2-day Utsavam was conducted and coordinated by her in a very grand, innovative and exceptional way.

We felt a great sense of fulfillment when we drove back home to Dallas on 18th night. We were so contented that we made this 240-mile trip to Houston!

To go with the review, here are some pictures posted on KutcheriBuzz:
http://www.kutcheribuzz.com/news/201004 ... a-houston/

[rajeshnat]

Next was one of the best parts of the Utsavam - the lec-dem “Chatur Stree Rathnas – The 4 pillars in Carnatic Music” by Smt. Charumathi Ramachandran. It was her tribute to Brinda/Mukta, MSS, DKP, and MLV. Wow! What an absorbing, interesting and creative lec-dem that was!

Tx kalaramesh for reporting . Though I have heard few lecdems of Shri Trichur rAmachandran on GNB, I have only heard carnatic female trinities of MSS -DKP and MLV , to bring in BrindA mukthA and make it chatur stree rathnas would have given an interesting fourth dimension . Must have been a treat will watch out for the same here at madras in the future.

[rshankar]

Any chance of a recording of the lec-dems and concerts?? (I would love to hear Smt. Charumati's lec-dem in particular)

[kalaramesh]

I have recorded the lec-dems and the concerts. contact me at [email protected] i will see how to pass it on to you..

[rajeshnat]

The hindu review that came in chennai edition
http://www.hindu.com/fr/2010/05/21/stor ... 350400.htm