What happens when a group of connoisseurs organise a festival of Carnatic music? It draws a sizeable audience, nurtures artists, sets a trend and tone and determines the future course of the art itself.
The most striking feature of this year’s Cleveland Aradhana Festival was the overwhelming presence of children as competitors, performers and avid listeners. Unlike the the sabhas in Chennai, where the audience largely comprises the elderly, the scene in Cleveland was heartening.
Almost a thousand children performed over the 12 days of the festival — in groups, as soloists and as accompanists to senior artists. There were 859 participants for the music competitions that were held for three days. As many as 73 competitions for various age groups included categories such as javalis, harikatha, whistle, konnakkol, saxophone, keyboard, guitar other than vocal, violin, veena and mridangam.
Over the years, efforts to draw youngsters into the realm of Carnatic music now seem to bearing fruit. The winners in the senior category are given concert opportunities with senior accompanists. Kamalakiran Vinjamuri, the teenage violinist, was veritably the asthana vidwan of the Cleveland Aradhana Committee, so much so he was playing almost on all days at all hours, accompanying seniors, juniors and participating in ensembles. A disciple of senior violinist Kanyakumari, he is one of the many youngsters who descends on Chennai every summer to undergo advanced training under eminent gurus. Many do it year after year and follow up their gurukulavasam with regular classes on skype.
Ten years ago, V.V. Sundaram, one of the main organisers, launched the project ‘Sustaining Sampradaya’. To be a part of it, teenagers from all over the U.S. audition and learn compositions from stalwarts in Chennai on skype, while younger musicians fly to the U.S. to train the students in small clusters. The final rehearsals at Cleveland on the eve of the festival are marathon affairs, where the children are allotted turns to indulge in manodharma of raga, niraval and swaram. Senior artists Suguna Varadachari and R.S. Jayalakshmi monitored the two choral sessions of Sustaining Sampradaya, presenting the repertoire of Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar and M.S. Subbulakshmi in celebration of their centenary.
More groups of children led by gurus from India as well as from the U.S. and Canada dazzled with a variety of thematic presentations. Neyveli Santhanagopalan’s troupe of 225 children mesmerised the listeners with fast-paced alankarams, Thiruppugazh, pallavi mala of Tyagaraja kritis, making the complexity of melody and rhythm, child’s play.
The bar was raised again this year, when the most promising talents sang with the stars. Geetha Iyer shared the stage with Aruna Sairam, Vivrdh with his guru Neyveli Santhanagopalan, Triven Kannan with Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna and Sruthi Sarathy with Chitravina Ravikiran and they came out in flying colours in impromptu embellishments.
Paataantharam (authentic formats of compositions of great masters) and sampradayam (tradition) are the watchwords at the festival. The festival with over 90 concerts covers a wide range — classical, jazz, fusion, harikatha, namasankirtanam and more. Yaksha Gana, Bharatanatyam and Kolattam make up dance and traditional theatre.
Barring a handful of ticketed programmes, admission was free.
The second weekend saw nearly a 100 dancers arriving to participate in the competitions. There were group and solo Bharatanatyam performances. One of the groups, consisting of young dancers from across America , got together to choreograph, rehearse and perform to music by youngsters. Another striking feature of the festival was the camaraderie among artists, audience and even those who manned the stalls in the lobby. The atmosphere was one of a huge family celebration, where good music and dance was savoured all day long with short food breaks.
The organisers over the last four decades, V.V. Sundaram, Balasubramaniam. Roger Natarajan, Venkataraman and their wives have established a warm, personal rapport with the artists, a trait that has been passed on to the next generation, whose involvement was seen everywhere.
Where else would you get senior vidwans to occupy the entire front row of the audience? To get a nod of approval from this galaxy was perhaps one of the best incentives for the young performers.
