Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival 2013 on iCarnatic.org

[cmlover]

But I am a late sleeper, usually after 2 or 3 PM
(..a Yogi keep awake when the world sleeps

[arasi]

Wednesday the third starts with pleasant vINA sounds at the festival. Sarawathi Rajagopalan from New Delhi (?) started the concert with vallabha nAyakasya, followed by an agreeable sketch in naLinakanthi rAgA. manavyAlakincharA followed. the tAnam was played very well and is it gOpa nandana (in bhUshAvaLi) that she's playing?

Sushmita on the violin, the program says, and she was absent. Prakash on the mrudangam and Sriram on the khanjira.
..........
The last item of hers was bArO Krishnaiyya and the rAgamAlikA sounded sweet.

Good to hear vINa sounds first thing in the morning...

[arasi]

I haven't heard Sankari Krishnan in concert before. She has a pleasant voice and I was happy she started with her guru's tamizh varNam and went on to sing Siva lOka nAdanaik kaNDu.
Her Arabhi rAga AlApanai was very good (Amrutha's reply as good as was expected). pAlimpa rAvadEmirA came next.

TODi followed (the star rAgA of the festival so far) and gati nIvani kOri. It was a tad speedy for me, I'm afraid.
Sivaranjani thillAnA with which she concluded was again her guru's composition.
A good concert, all in all.

She was dressed well, but did not look like a mannequin in a sari shop window--which was pleasing to the eye!

[arasi]

Visal Sapuram ChitravINA with jay shankar Balan and Vinod Seetharaman...

What a mukhAri AlApanai! Loved it.

A shame I've to move away from the computer. Please do write about this concert and other concerts too, folks! It's too lonely up here in the rasikAs commentary corner

As for the programs we can't yet hear or see, I request those of you who live outside of NA and are watching, write about them, please!

[cmlover]

Arasi
Your childlike enthusiasm is infectious, but there none other than you and I listening even live at Cleveland ( look at the empty auditorium) or in India where it is night, and the busy bees in NAare at work : D
It is their loss missing the superb briga laden ( GNB clone) Ashwin who finished a superb Arabhi followed by a melodious Amritavarshini...
As we mentioned these must be available on demand for all to enjoy at their leisure..

[vasanthakokilam]

I listened to the ChitravINA a little bit. When I got the stream going, he was playing something at the tAra sthAyi and for a few seconds it sounded like a female singing. He was very good.

[arasi]

I'm glad you could hear a bit, VK.
As CML says, most of you are working. Are MKR and VKR watching?

So, it was strings day today. ChitravINA and vINAs. Would like to listen to Iyer Bros once the videos are available.

As for the ticketed programs, unless folks attending the festivals and those who do see them in India, Australia and elsewhere write about them, we are left without reviews or reports. Remember? Last year, Mahavishnu, MKR, Arun and others were there who wrote. We were also able to see the programs live and there were reviews and reports from many of us who could watch everything live.
Imagine the music season in Chennai not being written about here at RasikAs!

Oh, there was a Hindu correspondent covering Cleveland last year, I think--was it because Murali was at Cleveland?

Calling Arun, Uday, Cienu, Kedhaaram and others who spend(t) a few days at the festival: please post!

Musicians too. Surya, V, Sankaranarayanan et al, if they aren't too busy.

From India, Sachi, Harimau and others if they are watching

[srikrishna]

I listened to Vishal's concert this morning. It was awesome. He is a gem of a person and his music is equally pleasing. He played Kalyani varnam, Mukhari, Varali (Eti Janmamu) and Dwijavanti tillana.

I also listened to a D. B. Ashwin's concert, which was also excellent. In his Todi alapana, he did grahabhedam (to Kalyani and back). Nagai Sriram responded with a grahabhedam to Ananda Bhairavi from Todi, which I have not heard before. The Syama sastri kruthi he sang was very good. Kalladaikurichi Sivakumar's mridangam was very supportive.

[arasi]

Thanks Srikrishna for joining in!

[mahavishnu]

Nice to see this thread flourishing.
I have been hopelessly busy at work this week and haven't been able to catch any of the webcasts, except for Uday's demo.

Look forward to more reviews! Arasi, do you have a link to the Hindu's coverage of this? I couldn't find anything through traditional web searches.

[arasi]

Thanks Mahavishnu for looking in! For you young folks, work comes first, of course!
If you can't find a link, what can this poor 'know-nothing-at-all' do--in to giving links? (read this as 'when north wind doth blow, what can poor robin do?)

[Sreeni Rajarao]

Arasi avare and others writing about Cleveland events,

Thanks for keeping us informed about the performances!

Any chance you have watched Manasi Prasad's or RamakrishnanMurthy's performances and you could write about them?

[arasi]

Sreeni,
I'm afraid all morning programs were blocked today. Looks as though they are not streaming the programs (even non-ticketed ones) which are on the video list.

We in NA have to wait until they are available. I'm hoping they will show the saturday and sunday programs. After all, many are going to be watching, not being at work.

Why no word from India?

Also, miss VKV in the Cleveland pictures

[mohan]

Competition results available at http://www.aradhana.org/competition/results2013.html

I haven't been to watch much due to the timezone

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

Arasi,et al: Missing Cleveland terribly ----registered for the free events-but could not see any of them--blacked out in NA was the reason given--Meenakshi's pics are worth a thousand words--nice coverage of the folks behind the scenes who make it ALL happen!!

Having been a follower/attendee for over 35 years,I can see the festival emerging from a star-studded one to a mixture of young and senior talent--Kudos to VVS and his gang.

One of the main reasons I could not go to Cleveland was my preoccupation with an upcoming event--MORNING RAGA Tour of Sudha Raghunathan and party(NY-April21 @ the Flushing Hindu temple and NJ--May 11).This is a fund-raising event for JANA SEVA a new organisation started by my friend L.Shantikumar(who was involved with the Kanchi kamakoti seva Foundation). The organisation plans to start a home for destitute children in India-near jalarpet--land has been acquired and construction is going on. Incidentally VVS has sponsored the tour of this ensemble throughout the US(as a gesture to JANA SEVA and Sudha R) and we are hosting the NY and NJ concerts. The tristate area residents are invited to attend and support a good cause.Details of event etc can be had from the website www.janasevainc.org
Looking forward to the reviews/stories--I keep visualising myself in the Comfort Inn Lobby doing Thinnai Pechu--a la MA./KGS/NGS--Last year we had a good exchange with TNS,TVR et al.

[arasi]

Great to hear from you, MKR!
Nice to hear that you are involved in raising money for a good cause (Sudha Raghunathan and party too). VVS as well.

Yes, the Cleveland Festival these days looks as if it's partly a children's festival. Wonderful!

As you say, the pictures speak volumes about the ambiance at the festival. Thanks again Meenaakshi! Expecting more photos from you this weekend...

Wonder if VKV will be there too.

We miss Ramanathan's photographs this year...

[cienu]

A fresh set of pictures by Minakshi - "Cleveland - Part 2"

https://picasaweb.google.com/Minavg/Cle ... tivalPart2#

[arasi]

Cienu,
Thanks! That's quick work!
Aishwarya looks lovely in the two pictures. I'm sure she's going to give a very good concert tomorrow morning. How I wish I could hear her live! If not, will hear her soon on the video, along with the performances of all the artistes who grace the pictures.

The weather is warming up for spring here on the east coast. Hope it's the same in Cleveland for the entire weekend.

Meeeenaakshi,
You outdid yourself with this batch of pictures--and it's only friday! Looking for more pictures, of course, by monday.

Your work (apart from volunteering) shines in these pictures. A mighty appetizer it is, for what's going to come to us as videos of all the music and dance.

It's a pleasure to see the happy music makers, dancers, organizers and audience in your pictures. A big thanks again to you

[thanjavooran]

Many thanx shri Cienu for the link.
Thanjavooran
06 04 2013

[cmlover]

Too bad we can't listen to Aishwarya live. We got cut off right when she started!
Hope to catch her late in the video and of course with arasi's lively comments!

[arasi]

Saturday the sixth of April started at Cleveland with a pleasant presentation of songs by youngsters from Toronto. Tyagaraja's chEtulAra with an impressive intro on the flute by Ajanthie Mathanakaran was the opener. They followed it up with sItamma mAyamma and proceeded with Shyama Shastri, Purandara Dasa and Annamacharya songs and concluded the program with verses from Kulasekara Azhvar.

Abhirami Kannan, Saibruntha Subramaniam and Vaaraki Wijayaraj were the vocalists. Kajajeyan Pararasasegaram on the mrudangam and Karthik Venkatraman were the percussionists.

Was hoping Aishwarya's concert was going to be aired (since Keerthana Sankar of MI, a north american youngster was accompanying). No luck.

Aishwarya, Suryaprakash (both are mambers at Rasikas.org) and others,
Will see you all on video

CML,
Our posts crossed.
Will see a bit of the dance competition and will catch up with my chores!

[hnbhagavan]

Dear Friends,

A very pleasant concert by Madam Suguna Varadachari and I am viewing from Bangalore.Excellent accompaniment by Akkarai Subbulakshmi.
Jananee Mamava is the main song in bhairavi raga.Yesterday wonderful concert by Ravi Kiran was enjoyable too.

[Sreeni Rajarao]

I had typed up quite a bit about my day in Cleveland and something happened and it is all gone now before I could hit submit button!

I had typed up a lot of details about the songs performed and such but everything vanished just like that!
I should have typed up on Word and then copied it over here!

I will try to write it again but it will have to be tomorrow! I am too tired now!

I had a great day in Cleveland. Listened to Suguna Mami's outstanding, memorable concert! This concert will stay with me for a long time. The dignity, the balance, everything about the concert was special - I hope there will be audio/video recording made available for us to cherish in the coming years. And, I must mention that Akkarai Subhalakshmi's music is sweet!
This was the first time I was hearing Suguna Mami and team in a live concert and how lucky I was to be there today!

Also listened to Trichur Brother's High Energy/Fast paced concert. Again, a first time for me in terms of listening to a live concert by them. The brothers have a certain charisma and they deliver their concert with great impact. I predict a very successful career for the brothers.

Being in CSU campus is always special for me - I reminisced quite a bit about my years at Cleveland State as a Grad Student (1990-91)!

A very satisfying day overall! I am glad I decided to go to Cleveland, even if it was only for a day.

Cienu, Sorry I could not make it in time for Aishwarya's concert. I wanted to be there but I did not start on time, so I did not reach Cleveland until about 11:30 am. I looked for you but I could not find you. I feel bad about not meeting you during my day in Cleveland today.

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

Hey Folks: PLEASE STOP THIS "VERUPPU YETRA EXERCISE"- I-am kidding!!! the pics and the comments convey a great flavor--hopefully to be enhanced by the Videos to come later--for some reason despite my opting for watching the freebies I could not get the webcast but then that serves ME right for not being there personally.

Forumites: Can any of you help me in tracing TNS's whereabouts--need to contact him.help is appreciated.

[mohan]

Abhirami Kannan, Saibruntha Subramaniam and Vaaraki Wijayaraj were the vocalists.

Abhirami is a Sydney-sider who recently moved to Toronto after her marriage to the younger of the Toronto Brothers, Rohin!

[arasi]

Mohan,
Good to know of the inter-continental connection!

[cmlover]

Belated greetings to Rohin and best wishes for a happy wedded life!