Vibav Mouli, a music student from Baltimore, who attended the Thyagaraja Aradhana in Cleveland,shares his experiences here...
The 28th Annual Thyagraja Aradhana at Cleveland from March 25 to April 3, 2005 gave me the most
rejuvenating Spring break that I will cherish for years to come.
As a middle school and a music student I was not only treated to some memorable concerts but also to
an authentic Indian holiday spirit. The festive nadaswara and clarinet music setting, the auspicious mood along with the ever-smiling Aradhana committee trio, VV Sundaram, Cleveland Balu and Toronto Venkat welcoming everyone, children, men and women strutting around in new silk skirts, kurthas, saris and dhothis, the aroma of sambar, idly, vadai and tamarind rice filling the air, the music from the CD stalls rocking the tired bodies and the excerpts on the JAYA TV monitor reminding everyone that the Aradhana indeed is a fun place to hang-out!!!
The festival kicked off with an all encompassing music competition where 250 kids exhibited their talentin krithis, alapana, niraval, swaram and pallavi.
We were encouraged and energized and not to leave out, quizzed on the intricacies of thalam, ragam, eduppu, etc. by the expert musician judges. Hats off to the competition committee that kept the kids
and the judges' spirit way high even after 10 marathon hours of competition!
The enjoyable music of Sudha Ragunathan's Annamacharya krithis, Aruna Sairam's Kalinga Nardhanam, Sanjay's Keeravani alapana, Dr. N. Ramani and AKC Natrajan's jugalbandhi are still ringing in my ears... A special treat to me was the change of roles of the artistes during individual singing sessions where Srimushnam Raja Rao, Vellore Ramabhadran and R.K. Sriram Kumar delighted the audience with vocal music while K.N. Sashikiran played the mridangam.
The first time visitor and a young artiste, Sikkil Gurucharan, stole the show and everyone wanted his
concert to go on for a couple more hours. The same reception was given to Gayathri Venkatraghavan who also enthralled the audience.
My dinner conversations at the Comfort Inn with T.M. Krishna, Sanjay Subramaniam and Gurucharan on
India Vs Pakistan cricket match, and on a bet as to who can beat the record of staying up all night and
still be the best performer the next day, were quite lively.
I liked very much the casual atmosphere with the exceptional music the organizers and artistes provided for my Spring break. I can't wait for March 2006 and enjoy the Sangeeth Mela in the Music Academy of North America all over again!
Vibav Mouli, who is in Grade 5 at McDonogh School, Baltimore, MD 21136 can be contacted at
vibavmouli@yahoo.com
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