Sydney Music Circle is a voluntary community organisation that has been providing a forum for Carnatic music by organising concerts and music festivals over the last 25 years in Australia.
Recently, the Music Circle hosted its annual community event, the Thyagaraja Aradhana at Dundas Community Centre Hall, Sturt Street, Telopea.
The event saw an intense devotion and a display of community spirit by Sydney's Carnatic music enthusiasts and experts alike. About 59 adults and 101 children rendered Thyagaraja's compositions individually and in small groups.
The rendering of the Pancharatna kritis (preceded by a brief pooja) on the second day was followed by a dance presentation choreographed by Padma Balakumar featuring her students Malavika Srinath, Bhavya Bharadwaj, Sruthi Ravi, Vasudha Shiva, Nandhita Rao, and Aparna Balakumar.
The dance presentation depicted the the theme of 'Panchabhakthi', or five different manifestations of devotion towards the Lord. The nine different types of bhakthis ('navabhakthi') mentioned in the Vishnu Puranam were abridged to five for the occasion: Kirtana bhakthi or the singing of Lord Raama's glories, Atma Nivedana bhakthi, Vandana bhakthi, Saakhya bhakthi, Archana bhakthi. These were represented by Thyagaraja's compositions "Sri Raghuvara Prameya" in Kambhoji, "Nannu Vidachi" in Reethigowlai, "Ksheera Saagaraa" in Devagandhari, "Ninnu vina sukhamu gaana" in Thodi, and finally "Gandhamu Puyyaru Gaa" in Punnaagavaraali.
Music for this production was scored by Gayatri Bharat (disciple of S.Ramanathan and Vairamangalam Lakshmi Narayanan) who was supported by Australia's leading artistes namely Balaji Jagannathan on violin, Bala Shankar on mridangam and Giridhar Thirumalai on flute.
Following the dance, an audio-visual presentation by Mohan Krishnamoorthy of Melbourne traced the origin and history of the Thyagaraja aradhana at Tiruvaiyaru, revealing many interesting facts and anecdotes about the evolution of the aradhana, as well as the stellar role of Bangalore Srimati Nagarathnammal in acquiring and developing the site where the ceremonies are now conducted annually. Mohan's witty and neat presentation was well received by the audience.
Two interesting aspects of this year's programme stood out, namely the excellent compering, done by youngsters on both days and the 'Kshetra' based classification of songs, involving categorisation of kritis according to the 'sthalam' or the temple town, where the saint composed them.
The overwhelming community support, especially for food preparation, undertaken by about 50 different families, and goodwill made this event a grand one.
For more info, e-mail: Gayatri.Iyengar@cba.com.au, Website: www.smc.does.it
