Cleveland Festival 2011

suma · Post by **suma** » 22 Apr 2011, 17:48

OMG cant believe that I am feeling so bad for not being in Cleveland now. Five years in a row I was there. Could not sleep last night. All of the nostalgic memories are coming back. My stay at Hyatt the first few years and then comfort inn, the vibrant crowds, the radiance, the ambience, the familiar faces with similar interests....
Not sure if the decision I made to take a break is right or wrong, but i learnt one thing today. Money cannot buy happiness. Should I spend $2500 and be there or should i take a break? I was in that dilema all along, and now i know. $2500 (flight, plus hotel, plus competitions, plus sustaining sampradaya etc etc) is well worth it. We feel so content when we return and cherish the memory for a life time. May be this break was necessary for me to realize how addicted i was to cleveland and how much i miss it

An ardent lover of cleveland aradhana

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 22 Apr 2011, 21:21

Perhaps we should include this in our diagnostic syndrome classifications (DSM V); a seasonal condition occurring especially among South Indians.
A quick antidote has been recently provided in
http://www.icarnatic.org/
It is much cheaper than the $2500 quoted

suma · Post by **suma** » 22 Apr 2011, 22:02

Yes, thank god for icarnatic. I am watching through their link inbetween meetings. However, i was talking about the feel you get when you are live in cleveland with other music lovers.

suma · Post by **suma** » 22 Apr 2011, 23:36

would be interesting to watch a couple of things in concert comp. Sundaram mama mentioned that this was the most pretigious competition as they will be presenting the young artist of america in the music academy.

Open hair is common in usa, but it is ok to sit on cleveland concert stage and sing with open hair? and if selected present at the academy?

what if violin is much better than vocal in the competition. can a violinist become a winner for this comp?

all the best folks..

Carnatic_novice · Post by **Carnatic_novice** » 23 Apr 2011, 15:19

Hello Suma,

I understand iCarnatic.org broadcasted most of the Concert competitions. From I what I hear my friends, most of the kids did reasonably well and the broadcast quality was more than acceptable. Did any one who watched the concert competitions live comment on it?

suma · Post by **suma** » 23 Apr 2011, 16:44

broadcast was good. wish icarnatic showed the last 2-3 participants also. It got disconnected at 4pm and i think the announcer was calling out the names of the last 2-3 participants.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 23 Apr 2011, 17:18

Carnatic_novice,
I watched most of it. The standard of singing and playing was high and the kids did their best as they do every year. You will find some impressions in the icarnatic thread about the festival.

suma · Post by **suma** » 23 Apr 2011, 17:40

just fyi - ekutcheri started their live telecast 30 minutes back if you like to watch. nice nadaswaram is going on.

http://www.ekutcheri.com/view.html?id=12

suma · Post by **suma** » 23 Apr 2011, 17:49

ekutcheri does not have dylan dog advertisemet disturbing you every 14 mts

suma · Post by **suma** » 23 Apr 2011, 20:04

Excellent rendition of Pancharatnam

veeyens3 · Post by **veeyens3** » 23 Apr 2011, 21:37

Unfortunately, may be due to some technical problems in my computer, I saw the pqancharathnam simgiing like an old fashioned silent movie. One thing I noticed, may be due to my aged eyes plus i.o.l implant, was the group was not keeping tala beats simultaneous. It was more like the wave cheering in big bsports events

Ranganayaki · Post by **Ranganayaki** » 24 Apr 2011, 01:14

veeyens3 wrote: was the group was not keeping tala beats simultaneous. It was more like the wave cheering in big bsports events

sruthi · Post by **sruthi** » 24 Apr 2011, 01:35

I found the youngsters' singing of very mediocre quality. Except for one or two singers, the rest couldn't even keep their sruthi alignment correct.
Don't the organizers do any auditioning before allowing them to sing on stage?

Sathej · Post by **Sathej** » 24 Apr 2011, 02:41

sruthi wrote:I found the youngsters' singing of very mediocre quality. Except for one or two singers, the rest couldn't even keep their sruthi alignment correct.
Don't the organizers do any auditioning before allowing them to sing on stage?

Can't agree more..most had their shruthi entirely off, talam was off even in such kalpitham components and enunciation of lyrics wasn't great either. I don't see the point why people sing on stage when they are not ready at all, and more importantly, why are they allowed to?

Sathej

suma · Post by **suma** » 24 Apr 2011, 03:12

I must say, Sundaram mama has a golden hand. This concept of having 4 leading dancers dance to a nice 7 raga 7 tala song is fabulous. I started watching the program when the khamas song was almost getting over {had to go as a judge

to a local bala vihar competition}.

Initially, i was not sure how dance will do with so many students on stage, but i think they organized it very well. the senior dancers have added a lot of audience appeal to the program.

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 24 Apr 2011, 07:47

[quote="SathejCan't agree more..most had their shruthi entirely off, talam was off even in such kalpitham components and enunciation of lyrics wasn't great either. I don't see the point why people sing on stage when they are not ready at all, and more importantly, why are they allowed to?

Sathej[/quote]

Children participating should not be blamed for talam and sruthi; but the teachers/gurus teaching the kids may not at all be emphasizing during the classes when enmasse kids are taught in each class without sruthi potti.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 24 Apr 2011, 08:47

There are threads on the Cleveland Festival scattered here and there on the forum. Let's share our impressions on the concerts and events in one thread rather than post them randomly. Mods, please help. Yesterday, I wrote about Ravikiran's great presentation of Ramayana's bAla kANDA in the icarnatic thread because that was the only one which mentioned Cleveland in the title! There are going to be four more parts to the Ramayanam in the coming days. Ravikiran wrought the magic of music with the bAla kANDA . The youngsters put up a great show!
Today, I was swept away by the performance of the children (singing a full concert as it were), singing songs which are suitable for dance--they were the stars--senior dancers dancing to their tunes!
Thanks to skpe, long-distance veteran vidwans and vidushis (mainly!) could train them. A few younger singers came here for a month to train the children further, traveling to different cities. To hear that the children rehearsed together in Cleveland for just two days is hard to believe!. It sounded as if they were rehearsing together for months. The dancers--Kamala, 'the' Kamala, her sister Rhada and other dancers gracefully let the spotlight focus on the 'torch bearers' . The young ones made us feel happy and proud--how many hours of dedication they had put into all this!
The sampradAya will be sustained. Watching the children yesterday in that incredible performance of Ravikiran's opera and what happened this afternoon made me feel very happy...
There is more to come and I'm sure all that will only make us feel more encouraged in believing that the music and dance treasures of the country where their parents and forefathers grew up will not be forgotten by the new generation...

Sathej · Post by **Sathej** » 24 Apr 2011, 16:48

I didn't blame the children, but that still does not explain the rationale of getting on stage, or being put on stage, (and being allowed to do so!) when they are clearly so under-prepared !

Sathej

shankarabharanam · Post by **shankarabharanam** » 24 Apr 2011, 17:17

I think more than the kids, their parents I am sure want them to perform. As everyone pointed out their shruti was entirely off. Sundaram sir who stressed so much on giving opportunities to kids, can I think ensure at least these kids are being taught properly. At least one round of audition can be done. These kids were way too young to perform on stage. I am sure with proper training these kids can sing really well... I think parents play a crucial role in this. Instead of hurrying their kids and asking them to perform, they should wait for few years. Also, if the kid is under a proper guru, they wouldn't be on stage. A good guru knows when to promote his student. Otherwise kudos to cleveland for broadcasting it live. Music lovers across the world can enjoy the concerts

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 24 Apr 2011, 20:00

I like to see the teachers of these kids and their parents comment on this as to what corrective action they are taking in addition to the organizing committee set a vetting group so they can listen to the group audio before letting the kids participate.

sruthi · Post by **sruthi** » 24 Apr 2011, 21:59

One can't help wondering if the criterion used to allow the youngsters to sing on stage was their monetary contribution to the festival.
I know this topic was debated here a few times before - not trying to raise it again, but wondering if there is some credence to the criticism, purely based on what I watched online.

And for Mr Sundaram to announce that they are all prodigies and could even sing at Chennai season soon was pure hype. He said that the youngsters had been trained by great vidwans and vidushis such as Suguna Varadachari - this didn't come across in their performance at all.

meenaakshi · Post by **meenaakshi** » 24 Apr 2011, 22:47

some shots. here is the link:

https://picasaweb.google.com/Minavg/Cle ... directlink

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 24 Apr 2011, 23:09

Vibrant, brilliant pictures. Thank you

meenaakshi · Post by **meenaakshi** » 24 Apr 2011, 23:52

sruthi · Post by **sruthi** » 25 Apr 2011, 03:07

The program 'Salutations to Gurus' presented by Smt Anuradha Sridhar and students was top class.

The children sang (and played the instruments) extemeley well. Especially the young girl who sang the Bageshree was very good. And the girl who played the violin (sitting next to Anuradha) was excellent.

Anuradha presented the theme in a clear manner. Coming from the legendary Lalgudi parampara, she is highly qualified to put on such a great show.
They first sang a kriti in Uttari ragam. Can someone tell us more about this ragam and the kriti? It sounded a bit like malayamarutam, but it seems to be a janyam of Vachaspati?

They also sang Guruleka (excellent), Vaddane Vaaru (Shanmukhapriya), Kanaka saila (Punnagavarali), Sri subramanyaya namaste, Bharathiyar song Suttum vizhi (in Charukesi & Desh!), Sindhubhairavi tillana by Lalgudi - Vaishnava janato wrapped up the evening.

Overall an excellent program. Kudos to Smt Anuradha and her students.
===================================================================================================
The tala vadya program before this was mediocre. Sruthi alignment was sorely missing in this!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 25 Apr 2011, 05:25

I had company, so I was in and out. How right you are! Running as I was, I couldn't take my mind away from what I was hearing.I heard a
bit of the shanmukhapriya. That kAmbOdi, punnAga varali and the rest were presented so well by the children. I did not know Anuradha until I saw her and heard her with her students today. Congratulations to her in doing such good work and in adding luster to her lineage...

pks · Post by **pks** » 25 Apr 2011, 05:28

Was anyone able to watch the premium broadcast of Jayalakshmi Santhanam and now the ongoing dance program of today?
We had a storm here earlier and are getting a blank screen although logged in and connected to the server.
We could see the Anuradha Sridhar program last.

pks · Post by **pks** » 25 Apr 2011, 05:37

Never mind . . .Looks like it is back now.

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 25 Apr 2011, 05:39

thanks, Meenakshi. very nice pictures.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 25 Apr 2011, 06:13

Meenaakshi!
Just when I was thinking about the absence of Ramanathan's pictures, your bounty arrived! Thanks. I'm busy looking at ayOdyA kANDam. Will look at your pictures at leisure. Great photos it seems, at a glance

ganeshkant · Post by **ganeshkant** » 25 Apr 2011, 11:24

Thanks Meenakshiji for those excellent photos that helped me take a glimpse of some of my favorite musicians whom I have not seen for months and was really missing them. Pl.take and send more photos.

Rasika911 · Post by **Rasika911** » 25 Apr 2011, 18:19

I'd like to warn fellow members to STAY AWAY from ekutcheri. Their broadcast has been terrible! (to say the least). Constant breaks in the telecast, poor sound, confusing layout, poor camera angles.

From what i've seen from the free broadcasts from icarnatic it's definitely the way to go. I've learnt my lesson

Wondering how many more concerts i'm going to miss out on that i've paid for (premium package)

thanjavooran · Post by **thanjavooran** » 25 Apr 2011, 18:37

Anuradha's Salutations to Gurus was excellent. Nearly 35 students participating, made the show quite interesting. The last piece Vaishnav Janato was extremely good with two delineating the raga while the song was on, really was very pleasing. One boy and a girl both besides singing played violin too. Sriram Brhamanadam's thani supported by his students was excellent. Kudos to Anuradha and her students. Definitely Arunaradha is turning CA to Thiruvaiyaru. Wishing her good luck and blessings to kids.
Thanjavooran 25 04 2011

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 25 Apr 2011, 19:07

Meenaakshi - Lovely pictures, especially of the young ones you've captured in some candid shots!

carnaticgeek · Post by **carnaticgeek** » 25 Apr 2011, 19:49

Anyone other than me notice that prizes were awarded to several kids who actually went off-shruti in the Junior girls category?
I was under the impression that they don't award prizes if no one meets the standards? Would be nice to see Cleveland post the video of winners like Chicago does, that will at least say what the standards are.

meenaakshi · Post by **meenaakshi** » 26 Apr 2011, 02:50

thanks all.
ganeshkant, i could go only for a day this year. may be a rain check:) for next year:)

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 26 Apr 2011, 04:42

Meenaakshi,
Such a shame you spent just a day at Cleveland.
One thing which made me happy was to see Ramanathan in one of your photographs. Hope he is kind enough to share some of his pictures with us.

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 26 Apr 2011, 05:50

Any other forumites in Cleveland this week? I see VKV in a few pictures.

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 26 Apr 2011, 05:55

Arasi, thanks for your write-up. I haven't kept up with the webcasts due to travel and time constraints. But I hope to catch some performances on the last couple of days when I am there.

Perhaps we could have a running Cleveland thread in the kutcheri reviews section and people can add to what Arasi has started? And change the title to show 2011?

smala · Post by **smala** » 26 Apr 2011, 05:57

My vote for Ramanathan as the main designated photographer for CM events - his skills are top notch.

shankarabharanam · Post by **shankarabharanam** » 26 Apr 2011, 07:55

Is there a delay in the next prog.. I am still not able to watch it..

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 26 Apr 2011, 08:05

Mahavishnu,
Hope you can bring us some pictures and reviews, if you happen to be there this weekend. It was good to see VKV speaking this morning after the Aranya Kandam segment of the Ramayana.
I have watched all the three segments so far--not fully, since I'm home, moving around--it's not like sitting in an auditorium and watching without any distractions. Still, I've to admit that I've spent hours every day, watching. I am truly impressed by all the work which has gone into this mega festival.
Another interesting thing we get to watch is the volunteers at work in the auditorium. You don't get to see all the work done by volunteers, of course.
I was very happy to watch the children sing and perform in a few of the Torch-bearers series. How much of preparation has gone into it all! They simply shine with their fervor and how it shows in their performance! I do not intend to say anything about the competitions, merely because it stirs up a lot of emotions. Mods, please have a separate thread for it, because at some point, there is the danger of the thread being locked

Coming back to the Ramayana series, the children who did the research and Dr. Sudha Seshaiyyan warm us up for the performances. I look forward to SS's commentary and her character sketches with every new segment. She has clarity both in her speech and in her perspective of the characters. Some of the poetic beauty she brings to us from the rich drama of Ramayanam penned by different poets
is such an appealing beginning to the episodes.
Ravikiran's Bala kandam was so good (I've written about it elsewhere) that I look forward to the last segment, the Yuddha Kandam--once again to witness his musical genius at work.
Suguna Purushotham's Ayodhya Kandam was equa in its musical stature and was different in texture. The dancing and the orchestra in all the three segments so far were of a high quality. The stars on stage as well as those on the mini stage (orchestral) were impressive. One person who stands out in all this because of the sheer amount of work she puts in is Ranjani Ramakrishnan. Her violin sings so sweetly and her smile matches it! Speaking of violins and smiles, Dr. Narmada, on the same day played for a youngster (last year's pallavi contest winner Vaishnavi) in the morning and a veteran (Jayalakshmi Santhanam) in the evening. Many senior vidvans and dancers are doing it. Senior artistes are playing for juniors--it shows their large hearts. Even if they aren't willing--which I don't think

--such performers who would only play for the stars agree to accompany younger ones here because this is Cleveland where such a tradition has been set--as though the music world is an egalitarian community!
I heard Anahita (Ravi Kiran's very young student) for the first time in the Bala KAndam. Rajesh had said that I should listen to her. I'm waiting eagerly to hear her again on saturday. Two different choreographers for Ravi kiran's music--Savitri Jagannatha Rao for Bala Kandam and Rhada for Yuddha Kandam.
The two Gayathris (Venkataraghavan and K) and Nisha Rajagopal were very good too. Thiagarajan's flute , the percussion and the costumes--all added to the fare.
Rukmani Ramani's Aranya Kandam kept me watching for a while but I personally felt that in spite of very good musicians and dancers, the momentum and continuity I found in the other two segments were a bit lacking here. Just a personal response, that's all. There were one or two very good songs which stood out and I enjoyed listening to them.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 26 Apr 2011, 08:14

Funny, I just wrote a rather long post in the Cleveland Photos thread, after waiting for a while.
Mods, please help!
.......
Thanks mods for putting all the posts under one heading

harimau · Post by **harimau** » 26 Apr 2011, 11:31

suma wrote:
would be interesting to watch a couple of things in concert comp. Sundaram mama mentioned that this was the most pretigious competition as they will be presenting the young artist of america in the music academy.

Open hair is common in usa, but it is ok to sit on cleveland concert stage and sing with open hair? and if selected present at the academy?

..

All such possibilities have already been foreseen by our ancient poets.

There is a Tamil poem "Virittha senchadaiyum" that will fit the situation. Maybe the performer can think of coloring his/her hair flaming red to match the words of the poem.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 26 Apr 2011, 19:27

Perhaps it is OK to have open hair or dye them at Cleveland. But not at the conservative Chennai where a contestant was teased in the 'Carnatic Idol' for wearing pants

I am happy to see the youngsters sitting squat-legged comfortably on the dais, who may even do padmaasana without diifficulty to the wonderment of the western kids. Maybe the next great innovation in CM is to perform standing up and swaying perhaps to render the abhangs

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 26 Apr 2011, 19:33

Another incident involving youngsters: a mrudangam player could not be there on time. At that moment, a youngster who plays the mrudangam (very well for his age) was in the audience and was asked to fill in! The first question he asked was: is it okay to go on stage in my jeans and tee, or shall I go and change? It was already late, so he was asked to get on stage pronto and play.
There were others who prostrated before the gurus and elder musicians on stage. It showed their sense of awe for them but was not expected.There were also one or two who did not even turn to a senior artiste who accompanied them to say namaskaram to them! One did not even bother to do the traditional namaskaram to the audience. Nervousness? Thinking too much about oneself? Lack of good manners? On the other hand, seeing so many children and teens in the past few days on stage, I could not stop admiring them and their sensible, sensitive parents and teachers who have nurtured in them a love for CM to this amazing extent. As for the few pushy parents--I could care less. It's their children that I admire more. They are dealing with living in a world which does not include CM or the culture that their parents came from. They are to be applauded for dealing with such parents of theirs as well! Thank goodness, there aren't many such parents. As I watched the kids for hours on end, I could see the zeal, hard work and fellowship which they filled the hall with. It even traveled hundreds of miles and touched me.
Kudos to them all. Oh, I've seen 'open hair' and close-cropped hair among women musicians in CM too. It's the music they offer us which matters. Not their outward appearance--so long as they look decent and don't emulate pop stars in India and from here

Sathej · Post by **Sathej** » 26 Apr 2011, 21:48

Happened to watch Dr Ramani's performance today. Really great that he continues to give such performances at this age. Remarkable stamina. Accompanists were extremely good - Shri Nagai Muralidharan and Shri Mannargudi Easwaran, reproducing almost every single Kanakku played. Having said that, I can't help but remark the Kanjira was very mediocre and clearly struggled to keep abreast with all the stuff being played.

Sathej

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 26 Apr 2011, 22:47

Sathej,
I'm so glad that you watched this moving performance of Dr. Ramani. Hope many others did too. Though the ' streaming' failed at times, the stream of his music filled the air with such serene and sweet sound. What mahA vidvAn Srikantan said after Ramani's concert was something memorable. Hope someone can post it.
About the khanjira player. Cleveland Balu is someone you should hear about. Hope you agree with what I say: Cleveland Balu is one of the pillars of this festival from day one--when it started in the basements of some american homes. He is one of the unseen forces which keeps this festival going. This is not about his super powers as a performer. You can find dozens of super performers. It's not only Balu's standing as a rasikA and a worker bee that makes me look up to him but the way he and the Cleveland team has and is shaping the younger generation in music and in music appreciation. It's the way they provide the rasikAs with such a flood of music. I have seen Balu play for the young ones and veterans. How deeply he appreciates their music is something to watch. He is a silent worker and has endeared himself to the musicians (you saw how Ramani and MAE egged him on to play).
It is qualities such as these in people which come together with such passion which blossoms into such phenomenon as this festival . Coming to think of it, Balu is someone who shuns the spotlight! Do I know him? Not personally, but I do have an idea about this person. It has nothing to do with his superiority or lack of it in playing an instrument. It's the affection others have for him which makes them want to see him perform--and he is a good player too! His music counts (to many) because it's about music from the heart. I do hope some day I will get to thank him personally for all his qualities--even as a khanjira player

I do like quality in the music I hear, but give me some music from the heart too, please!

Back to the concert: started with Sri rAga varNam. PraNamAmyaham, Ananda bhairavi (where his student Gopi Sundaram played along and was very good)--O jagadamba. A grand kalyANi (EtAvunarA) and a superb kApi RTP with a brief AlApanA which was delicious and a tAnam which was serene and majestic.Got no streaming for most part in the pallavi part

He followed it up with parulanna mATa namma vaddu. A sindhu bhairavi and bhAgyada lakshmi came after that.
Nagai's playing was impressive as usual. MAE (fellow-forumite and bro of Sam) played two super tanis and even folks like me( in the laya department) can appreciate his 'singing sound' any day. The expert rasikAs? They had more of a treat.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 26 Apr 2011, 23:28

Very well put Arasi!
Let me add my voice to yours thanking both Cleveland Balu and VVS for the enthusiasm with which they are supporting CM among the youngsters in NA. They indeed are keeping our sampradaya alive in these foreign lands and we need more committed folks like them...

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 27 Apr 2011, 05:52

Kudos to the organisers for bringing out such a alrge scale event for Carnatic music. Was interested to find out who won the overall concert competition? I understand the winner will get concerts at the Music Academy and Shanmughananda Sabha.