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It's a weekend-long tribute to Carnatic music's most enduring

BY · .'1 CHITRA : ' liJ ,. SUDARSHAN ~ -·

The annual rwo -day Mummoorthigal and Thyagaraja Festival organised by the futvichandhiras of the Academy of lndian Music

Australia Inc. and Sruti Laya

Kendra, lnclia, was held at the Kel Watson theatre in late May. This is the 167th anniversary of Saint T yagacaja This event pays tribute to his contribution to Camaric music, as well as that of his illustrious conte m poraneous composers M L1thuswamy

Dikshitar and Shyama Shastri.

Tbe gala event began with a traclitional puja at the al tar, fo llowed b y the congregational singing of the Pancharama kritis, the five immortal 'gems' composed b y Thyagaraja.

For the Carnatic music conuoisseurs of Melbourne, this is a much awaited event in th eir annu al music cale nda r. There are few that can equal the grand eur and the splendour of the top vocalists, instrumentalists a nd percussionists rendering d1ese great compositions together. lt is a trul y npli fting experience.

T h is year, they were joined on the stage by visiting arti stes

Sikkil Gurucharan, Shaswari

Prabhu (vocalists), mrudangam maestro Karaikndi Mani, violinists

Sriram Kumar and A G A

Ga na sundaram, and Bangalore

Amrith, kanjira pl ayer. Maesa:o

Karai kud i Mani has performed with many international artistes incluclingJazz musician Paul

G ra bowsky of d1e Ausa:alian

Arc Orchestra A series of his compositions were adapted b y the Australia n Art Orchestra imo jazz and released as album Into tbf Fire in 2000.

The Talented Young Musicians

E n semble (TY1\ffi) is an initiative of Sri Rav ichandhira to encourage and promote young, emergin g artistes of iVIelbourne by giving them a platform and an opportunity to perform before top Carnaric musicians and dancers from India, as well as a discerning audience. The group got alJ of this and much mo.re at d1e fescival mis year, presenring some interesting items, one of whicb was clirected b)' Gurucharau himsel f assisted by the 1yer brothers.

The TY1-,1[E segment consisted of mo.re than 35 vocal, percuss ion, instru m en tal numbers.

A competent and Wring bharatanatyam presentation was also made by a munber of students nominated b y Melbourne's reputed dance sc hoo ls uude r the coaching and able guidance o f Sh antby Rajendran, which ap tly included, among d1e items, Thyagaraja's Sti G,111ap"ti11i in raga Saurashtra m These were followed b)' in d ividual co ncerts by the crean1 of Melbourne's Carnacic music community, all familiar and established artistes and teachers.

One of the hig hlights of the entire event was the fullAedged vocal concert by Sikkil Gurucharan. He was suppo r ted on me violin by Sriram Kumar, on the rnrudangam by Karaikudi Maui and on kan jira b y Bangalore

Arn.rich. The percussion interlude by Guru Mani and Amcit was a smnning n1asterpiece.

The second day began with a TYi\iiE ensemble Th e instrumen tal segm ent was presented under t he able guidance of A GA Gnansm1da.ram which reflected the trueLalgudi padand1aram. Percussion was overseen by Bala.sci R asiah, which gave some insight into disti nctive s1:yles of structures composed by die stalwarts.

After some inclividual vocal and instrumental concerts by tbe cream of Melbourne's Indian classical artistes, AGA Ganasundaram presented a violin solo. Rajeshwari Sainath, a wellkn own bharatanatyam artiste, who is no sa:anger to Ausa:alia, having perfor m ed here o n many o ccasions su ch as TEDx Sydney where she was hailed for he r ' imaginative splendour tbat goes beyond technique', gave a brilliant performan ce, consiscing o f a fu!J repertoire: beginningwith a 111(1//a1i, a 1J(lra711 in valaj composed by the legendary m usic critic, tbe late Subbudu. In it, a mara d1on item, Ms Saina tl1 not onl)' displayed her mastery over no(y11, bur also nritf(I by weaving intricate patterns w ith her footwo r k, th e jati.r having been composed by her uncle Karaikudi Mani himself, and ad111J11.r which would have been a challenge to dancers even much ymmger.

Vocalist Saaswachi Prabhu (a disciple of the legendary Lalgudi Jayaraman) impressed wi tb her pleasin g and tas t efo..l se lectio1J of music Yow1g Sai N ivaei dian w h o recendy obtai ned B hig h grad e in A ll India Radio m ade us proud by his effortl ess delivery of Nadbam mixed with dexteriry ou hi s mticlangarn.

Tbe festival director Ravi M R avichandhira OAM, said d1e event has now become an integral part of Melbo urn e India n com m unity's cultural calendar and was recognised by le aders in government, Australia Council, Department of Foreign Affairs, and tbe community, as e\Tiden ced b y me presence of bo th Liberal and Labor leaders mis year. I t has grow n in the last 25 years to beco me perhaps the second largest conference and fesrival of its kind outside India.

The festi val's overseas guest of h onour was Prabhu Yagyararnan, tl1e Secretary of one o f the most respected s"bhm / m u sic al so cietie s in Chennai, the Krishna Gana Sabha He had high prai se for die way in which the festival was being conducted, keeping classical traditions alive in a land far from h ome.