BHARAT SANGEETH UTSAV premiered first time in North America

[pattunatyam]

Mood Creation for Performing Arts

Metro Detroit’s love for multicultural music was proudly showcased in the city of Novi by the School of World Music and Dance’s Indian music festival, Bharath Sangeeth Utsav, USA. For two days on September 22nd and 23rd 2012, the community’s Asian-Indian classical music lovers were treated to several melodious sessions of authentic Carnatic music presented by visiting artists from India as well as students and gurus of the dance and music school run by music connoisseur, Lalitha Ramamoorthy along with Kalaimamani. Shri K.N. Shashikiran. An ancient music form of South India, Carnatic music traces its origins to Hinduism’s religious scripts, the Vedas. Based on a 22-scale note, compared to the 12-scale note of western classical music, Carnatic musicians create notes and arrange them in an ascending and descending crescendo to create ragas or moods that communicate a balanced blend of devotion, unity, harmony and tradition to our ears!
The festival was inaugurated by an excellent musical presentation, titled “Carnatic Symphony” presented by the very talented music students of School of World Music & Dance, where traditional South Indian Carnatic musical melodies were harmonized with beautiful western melodies and professionally supported by young talented accompanists on the violin and the mridangam. This was followed by a very colorful, professionally choreographed scintillating dance drama glorifying Lord Krishna, and it involved more than 50 people in the production where the passion and love for dance was clearly evident with the stunning performances. Besides involving the talented dance students from the school, this dance drama also showcased the talent of many wonderful, well achieved passionate woman dancers from the Detroit Metropolitan area.
“Kreative 2012”, a very innovative talent hunt competition introduced for the first time in U.S.A, was the morning’s highlight for the second day, Sep 23rd 2012. The unexplored talents of North America were brought to light in this competition. The innovations, creativity and the talents of kids and adults in music, dance and playing various musical instruments were showcased in its best and the competitions were ably judged by world renowned professional performing artists of music and dance.
The featured presentation was by a popular duo from India, the Carnatica brothers, Kalaimamani Shri. K.N. Shashikiran and Chitravina Shri.P. Ganesh. Their rendition of a beautiful extempore pallavi signifying the theme of the Bharat Sangeeth Utsav was musical oratory at its best. The silky rich voice of Chitravina Ganesh blended smoothly with the majestic deep toned voice of Kalaimamani K.N. Shashikiran to deftly render the Carnatic raagas, in a very scintillating performance in the majestic Desh ragam. The duo was ably and very effeciently supported on the violin by Kumari.Keerthana Shankar, and Vinod Seetharaman on the mridangam.
The art of story-telling or ballads is a popular musical format in India and was well exemplified by Harikatha - the story of Lord Rama composed in a musical style that incorporates the elements of Carnatic music and a folk-lore style of narration. Presented by Kumari. Suchitra Balasubramanian, a well-known Harikatha artist from India with her beautiful voice narrated the devotion of Lord Rama’s devotee, Shri Anjaneya through a style that was both unique and highly entertaining. Musical accompaniment was provided by a very versatile team, with Shri. Jayshankar Balan on the violin and Shri.Vinod Seetharaman on the mridangam.
The two day program concluded with the melodious voice of Dr. Pantula Rama, another outstanding Carnatic vidushi from India. The thematic concert glorifying the revered Hindu god Lord Venkateswara was the icing on the cake and a remarkable way of concluding the two day music festival. Dr.Pantula Rama was superbly accompanied by Shri.M.S.N Murthy on the violin and Shri.Tanjore Murugaboopathy on the mridangam, who greatly embellished the melodious voice of Dr. Pantula Rama, with their synchronized accompaniments.
It is often said that art and music transcend barriers and brings people and cultures closer. Through teaching music and dance, and by allowing our community to experience yet another form of world classical music, the School of World Music and Dance proved that multiculturalism is strong and alive in Metro Detroit! Bharath Sangeeth Utsav 2013, will be held again in the month of September. Stay tuned for more excitement and festive news from Michigan.

For additional information about the School of World Music & Dance, and about Bharath Sangeeth Utsav 2013, please contact the school’s Director, Lalitha Ramamoorthy at 248-767-4409 or Shri. k.N Shashikiran at 423 534 9724

Review and Report by rasika....Murali Nair, West Bloomfield, MI , Oct 1st 2012