You can download episode 2 here.

Podcast: Keeping the Beat - The pulse of the Cleveland festival
Episode: Trichur Brothers: all-access pass
Producer: Savithri Sastri
Music performed by: Trichur Brothers, V.V. Ravi, Trichur R. Mohan, Karthik Venkataraman

Putting together two different musicians from two different continents trained in two different styles of music seems like a recipe for disaster. However, the beauty of Carnatic performance is that even under constraints like this, there is tremendous scope for creativity.

With differing styles, the manodharma aspect of concert performance predominates. With two main artists plus accompanists, there is much more opportunity for interplay between performers, rapid-fire bursts of creativity, and artists playing off of one another, leading to a happy confluence of minds and musical styles.

We expect an exciting series of concerts unlike anything seen before.

We have started a podcast to document, discuss and celebrate people's experiences. We plan to post them throughout the year.

You can download the first episode here.

Podcast: Keeping the Beat - The pulse of the Cleveland festival
Episode: Hitting a high note
Producer: Savithri Sastri
Music performed by: Supraja Sridharan and Srinidhi Sridharan

Murugan is predominantly a South Indian god. He appears prominently in Tamil literature and traditions. He is recognized in other parts of India, but is not accorded the same importance that he is in the South. Thiruppugazh (Tamil: திருப்புகழ்) are a collection of religious songs written in Tamil by the poet Arunagirinathar in praise of Lord Murugan.

Smt. Sundaravalli has devoted her life to Bhakti music. She has done a lot of research on Thiruppugazh and is an acknowledged expert in the field. Her program will mainly feature songs about Lord Murugan, and will include several songs from Thiruppugazh as well.

Students are invited to participate in the workshop. For details, please see the workshop page.

The genesis of this program is from Dr M.L. Vasanthakumari. She came to visit V.V. Sundaram in Chennai to talk about Smt. Krishnaveni Lakshmanan. MLV thought very highly of her as a dancer, and wanted the Aradhana Committee to arrange a dance program that featured her. Smt. Krishnaveni was at Kalakshetra at the time.

MLV said, "I don't sing for dance programs, but I will for Krishnaveni; that's how great I think her dance is." For such a great musician to make an offer like that moved VVS and he agreed to arrange the program.

Unfortunately, it was too late that year to schedule it. The next year also, there were issues bringing the program to fruition, and very shortly after that, MLV passed away. With that, the program was put on the back burner, and before long, Smt. Krishnaveni had also died.

This year, the Aradhana Committee is finally bringing MLV's program to audiences. We consider it to be an unpaid debt that is being honored. It is the same program that was conceived by MLV. The featured dancer is Smt. Krishnaveni's daughter and disciple, Smt. Gayatri Balagurunathan.

The program is dedicated to the memory of the two great artists, Dr MLV and Smt. Krishnaveni, whose concept is being brought to stage.

In GNB's days, the manodharma that vocalists performed tended to be rather staccato, with passages broken into short phrases. Ramnad Krishnan and Madurai Mani Iyer, who were his contemporaries, are good examples of this style.

Nadaswaram artists, on the other hand, used to play with long kaarvais, and filled in the gaps between phrases. This was typical of the periya melam style that was used in the music that accompanied religious rituals and festivals. T.N. Rajarathnam Pillai was a leading exponent of this style, and GNB greatly admired his music, often attending performances given by him.

It was GNB's insight that led him to incorporate the periya melam style into the traditional Carnatic music that was performed in concert halls. It certainly helped that his voice was versatile enough to handle the gamakam-laden nuances, crisp brighas, as well as the long sustained karvais that characterized the new style that he created. On top of that, his musicianship was such that he incorporated all of it in a manner that was pleasing to the ear.

GNB's style has pervaded Carnatic music since he introduced it. His music was wildly popular in his time, and his style has endured among modern performers as well. We would like to recognize this contribution, and educate listeners about the extent of his influence.

Before select concerts during the Aradhana, a leading musician will speak about a raga, how GNB handled it, what his favorite krithis in that raga were, etc. A nadaswaram artist will also perform that raga for a few minutes. The concert will feature a major piece in that raga, so that listeners can discern the elements of the nadaswaram technique in the performance.

We hope that listeners will find this introduction educational.

Much before he became the eminent Professor and well-known laya expert, the young T.R.S. was an entrant in the Pallavi competition at the Madras Music Academy. Applicants were supposed to submit their contact info, and the details of the pallavi they were going to perform (sahityam, raga, tala, eduppu). As T.R.S. was seated, the judges saw that his application only contained his name, and the sahityam of the pallavi.

When the judges (among whom were the Alathur Brothers) asked him what the particulars of the pallavi were, T.R.S. merely said "whatever ragam you want me to sing, I'll sing." They gave him Mukhari.

T.R.S. performed his raga alapana and thanam in Mukhari, and then asked what talam to sing his pallavi in. The Alathur Brothers, deciding that this young man needed a challenge, asked him to sing his pallavi set to sankeerna chapu talam in sankeerna nadai.

T.R.S. agreed, and proceeded to sing a flawless pallavi with the sahityam he had written, set to the raga and tala that the judges had selected. While singing the pallavi, he was showing a simple sankeerna chapu talam in his hands, while the judges, stalwart laya experts themselves, were scrambling to show the sankeerna nadai with it, to make sure that this young man was singing it correctly.

At the end of the competition after all the participants had finished, someone came and asked the judges who had won the competition. A judge responded, "who else could have won but Subrahmanyam?"

We don't expect all of our participants to be the next T.R.S. We do hope though, that his example of confidence and creativity in the face of these strict constraints will inspire the participants to reach for a higher level of achievement in the art of Ragam-Thanam-Pallavi.