Tributes through melody and dance

CHITRA SUDARSHAN on the classical scene

Thyagaraja Festival – now having morphed into the Mum Murthigal festival – was held over 2 days at the Kel Watson Theatre recently. As always, the pancharatna kriti rendition was the highlight of the festival. The entire carnatic music teaching and performing artiste community gathered on the stage to render the 5 great kritis of Thyagaraja, and a few choice compositions of Dikshitar and Shyama Shastry.
The highlight of the aradhana was special invitee from Chennai, Adyar K Lakshman, the doyen of Bharatanatyam teachers in India, and also the chief guest this year. In a special felicitation ceremony, the Academy of Indian Music presented him with a lifetime Achievement award – the title of Sruthi-Laya-Nritya Rishi – for five decades of contribution to music and dance, and as recognition of his virtuosity and vision. It was a moving occasion, as in the audience were some of the students he had trained and who now run successful dance schools in Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Brisbane.
Since the festival is organised by Melbourne’s arts power couple Narmatha and Ravichandhira, it showcased many of their new initiatives: more than 5 students from various mridangam schools played the instrument extemporaneously, accompanying local artists during the two day long festival; there were Bharathanatyam performances by Narmatha’s dance students, fusing instrumental melody and works of Lalgudi Pancharatnam for the first time and flute Balsai’s music incorporated western themes. TYME (Talented Young Musicians’ Ensemble) was an important segment, begun three years ago and launched by Guru Karaikkudi Mani, and put up a splendid performance. Seven different schools with 30 students jointly gave an orchestral performance which impressed music connoisseurs. A significant achievement was 8 year old Shakthi Kannan’s (of Narmatha Ravichandhira’s Bharatha Choodamani School) performance in Myladthurai, Tamil Nadu, as a representative of Australia in a dance festival.

The Laya Vidhya Centre held a concert recently at the Ashwood Secondary College to commemorate the late Trivandrum Sri R Venkataraman, a doyen among veena virtuosos. Quite aptly, it was a veena recital by two of his favourite disciples, the Iyer Brothers, with Sridhar Chari on the mrudangam.
The Iyer Brothers, Ramnatha and Gopinath had written a moving tribute to their guru in the April issue of Sruti, the premier magazine of the arts in India. They recollected some of the fondest memories of their guru in a prelude to the recital: it was clear they held him in great awe and affection, for he was not only a great musician, but a teacher who gave selflessly, without holding anything back; an observant and dedicated guru, and most of all, a brilliant musician.
Sri Venkataraman’s career spanned 5 decades, during which time he won many awards, accolades, and fame, the last being the Sangeetha Kala Acharya from the Music Academy in Chennai in January 2010.
The Iyer Brother began with a kalyani varnam, which their Guru believed embodied the beauty of the raga in all its glory. He had insisted that this varnam be taught only after they had mastered a few kritis in kalyani. They presented several Swati Tirunal kritis, the hallmark of the Trivandrum school: in mayamalavagowla; (deva deva kalayamithe) in Arabi; (Narasimha mamava); poorvi kalyani etc, kritis such as Gangeya Vasandhara, Sarasijanabha Sodari, and the well known Tillana in dhanasri. Other ragas rendered were hamir kalyani, todi, shankarabaranam (ragam-tanam-pallavi- et al), making the concert a truly ‘sampurna samarpanam’ to their great guru Sri Venkataraman.

Keerthana Music School’s fifth annual concert was celebrated on May 8 at the Chandler Community Centre.
This school, established a few years ago by Smt Uthra Vijayaraghavan, has progressed by leaps and bounds within the short time that it has been in operation, and its students have made a mark in several Indian community events in Melbourne – including the FIAV festival in April.
The students, from five to fifty five years, put on an impressive performance – both solo and in group, covering a range of ragas, talas and compositions. The items were well chosen, and appealed to a large and diverse crowd, and even the youngest of students were able to sing bhajans and geetams with confidence. This ensured that the event did not drag on, and proceeded at a brisk pace, and those staying on were rewarded with some delightful and serious music.
Sri Sridhar Chari, the chief guest, praised the school’s tremendous contribution to carnatic music in Melbourne, noting even the novice students’ ability to keep to the shruti, render kritis or compositions with bhava or emotion, and demonstrate a love for music.
They were accompanied by several mrudangam and violin students from Melbourne’s music schools.