Dikshitar's genius enthralls over 40,000 people in Madison City Square

[vsuresh]

July 27, 2016 was a historic evening for Carnatic Music, when Shri Chitravina N. Ravikiran and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra performed three Melharmonically re-created compositions of Dikshitar - Parvati Patim (Hamsadhwani), Shree Kantimateem (Hemavati), and Shree Saraswati Hitae (Manji) to a record crowd of over 40,000 in the city of Madison, WI. The genius of the Composer was evident in the way he wove in the improvisation into the composition and involved the entire orchestra at the end of every kalpanaswaram passage, joining in during the refrain. The composer very effectively assigned parts to every instrument, adding to the overall grandeur of the pieces played by the full orchestra. From the roaring applause, and based on critical acclaim from Maestro Andrew Sewell (Conductor, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra), it was obvious that the performance was a resounding success. One of the key sponsors fondly reminisced the days of Pt. Ravishankar, and likened the music of the Chitravina to the Sitar, but also described the sound as "intoxicating" and even more amazing than the sitar. The rights for the music are still being worked out, but in the meantime, here is a clip with audience reactions :-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49w0n1WkTQQ

This is possibly the highest ever crowd a Carnatic concert has ever drawn outside India. Shri. Ravikiran has also performed solos in India for events like the World Tamil Conference in Madurai that drew 1,00,000 people.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Indeed a noble venture.
Eager to watch the entire performance.

[Rsachi]

Vsuresh,
eager to catch more comprehensive=longer excerpts from the Melharmony works of the maestro. Since many of these works are performed on the other side of the globe, you seem to be our only resource. Please post clips, videos, links...
Thanks

[vsuresh]

Hi RSachi:
The rights for the video are being worked out with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, but I know that Wisconsin Public Television (PBS) is relaying the concert on the square today at 6 PM. You can look up their website to see if they are doing a live stream.

Thanks,

Vanitha

[arasi]

Cultural expression of a high order this is (I don't mean high brow music ).
These forty thousand people are not concert goers! A handful of them are. deja vu?

This is CM and classical music of the west being presented as one in a very responsible way, with their artistic expressions intact. I wasn't there, but we are familiar with Ravikiran's oeuvres. As Ravi Sankar and Ali Akbar introduced indian music to the west in the sixties, Ravikiran, his brother Sashikiran, Neyveli Santhanagopalan and others have been doing this lately, and will continue to do so. The Cleveland festival has been instrumental in encouraging this experiment and it's all being well-received by universities and the public.

What soothing piece of news this is, of quality music bringing folks together when divisive factors bring us news of violence every day!

[vsuresh]

Arasi:

You are perfectly right. This is classical music being presented in a highly responsible way, adhering to raga rules. What makes it unique in world music is that Melharmony also takes into cognizance the rules and aesthetics of Western Classical or Jazz, which is what has enabled it to make significant inroads in the world, be it BBC Philhamonic or Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra or with Grammy level legends in jazz/rock and other systems. Melharmony (http://www.melharmonymusic.com) is a whole new system of music with well defined theory as opposed to general fusion (which Ravikiran sir himself has been doing since 1980s) or large group concerts (where most voices sing in unison). This is what has also inspired Western Composers like Prof Robert Morris and Polivios to attempt melharmonic compositions using these rules.

It was great that Cleveland pioneered orchestral shows with Ravikiran sir's North American Melharmonic Orchestra in 2012/2013 which has now opened doors for several other orchestral or group concert shows (both Indian and fusion). Very good news for Carnatic lovers, as you say.

[HarishankarK]

re-created compositions of Dikshitar - Parvati Patim (Hamsadhwani),

I thought Parvati Patim is a composition of Ambi Dikshitar and not a composition of Muthuswamy Dikshitar
Congratulations to Sri Ravikiran for this event.

[vsuresh]

Although the Sampradaya Pradarshini does not list this composition, there are other Dikshitar texts that list this as his composition.

[bhakthim dehi]

Authenticity of those texts to be considered before deciding the authorship.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

vsuresh,
We are all proud to know that Carnatic music is getting recognised in a big way. Ravikiran has been immensely successful both as a soloist and a lead artist & conductor of unique ensembles.