Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam (a not-for-profit organization) held its second annual Student Carnatic Music Competition, on September 24, 2005, at the Hindu Temple of Greater
Chicago, Lemont, IL.
It was an emotional high for the immigrant community to hear the time honored Tyagaraja Kritis sung by children born and raised in the USA. The five first prizewinners in different categories were Siddharth Sriram (15, California: who sang Ennalu urake, Subhapantuvarali, Vocal), Vidya Raghavan (13, Illinois: - O Rangasayee, Kambhoji, Vocal), Maheetha Bharadwaj (11, Missouri: - Samaja varagamana, Hindola, on keyboard), Keertana Shankar (12, Michigan: - Rama Nannu brovara, Harikambhoji, on violin) and Kiran Vangipuram (14, Michigan: - Adi Tala on Mridangam). The second prize winners were: Shilpa Sadagopan (8, Michigan:- Kuvalaya dala nayana, Naata Kurinji) and Uma Krishnan (13, Illinois:- Bhajana seya, Athana). More prizes were won by: Deepak Kumar, Aparna Ramakrishnan, Kamya Shankar and Arthi Kumar. That evening, 11 students took home $1575 in cash prizes.
Each candidate performed a single Tyagaraja kriti (except of course in the case of mridangam artists) with no accompaniments, before T.N. Bala andMadurai R. Sundar, who were the judges. A sizeable audience of music lovers provided loud and enthusiastic support. The competition lasted over three hours.
Eighty-one candidates entered the competition in vocal, instrumental, or percussion categories, by submitting demo tapes or CDs, of whom 25 were invited to perform. Twenty-two accepted the invitation, and 11 won prizes ranging from $250 to $25. In addition, the winners were also awarded plaques, and certificates. The final participants on stage came from Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Iowa, and California. Sumptuous snacks and dinner were served after the competition.
Two concerts after the competition
The student competition was followed by two concerts. The first was 'Dikshitar's Compositions' by Madurai R. Sundar (Vocal) accompanied by Jay Shankar Balan (Violin) and
Vinod Seetharaman (Mridangam). The second programme was a musical discourse on Thirupugazh in Tamil by T. N Bala (Vocal) with the same accompaniments.
The funds for the Student Competition prizes were donated by the Meenakshi Ganesan Endowment Fund. These programmes were supported in part by a grant from the Illinois
Arts Council, a State Agency.
For details see http://tyagaraja-chicago.org E-mail: sadagopan74@comcast.net
