December 27, 2014

Season's Special : Geetha Raja - Video

Vocalist Geetha Raja is performing a unique concert and a lecture on Brindamma bani and Javalis, Tamil Padams. She spoke to ChennaiDecemberSeason.com team during the first week of this month. Here is the video:

December 26, 2014

Bhavan’s Cultural Festival - Second edition

The December festival continues with 2nd editions and spills over to January. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mylapore conducts Bhavan’s Cultural Festival 2014 (Music Series 2nd Edition) from 26th December 2014 to 12th January 2015.

Dec. 26, 2014
5.00 p.m. - Special Sitar Concert by Anjan Saha
6.30 p.m. - Inauguration
6.45 p.m. - p.m.: Dr. Shobana Vignesh (Vocal)

Dec. 27, 2014
9.30 a.m. -  Apoorva Krishna (Violin)
11.00 a.m. - Niranjana Srinivasan (Vocal).
4.00 p.m. - Lakshmi Sriram (Vocal)
5.20 p.m. - Cuddalore S.J. Jananiy (Vocal),
7.00 p.m. - P.V. Parameswaran (Vocal)

Dec. 28, 2014
9.30 a.m. - Roopa Sastry (Vocal),
4.00 p.m. - R.P. Shravan (Vocal)
5.30 p.m. - Lalitha Mohan (Vocal),
7.00 p.m. - Shankar Ramani (Vocal)

Dec. 29, 2014
4.00 p.m. - Anahita & Apoorva Ravindran (Vocal)
5.20 p.m. - Brinda Manicjavasakam (Vocal)
7.00 p.m. - Mala Mohan (Vocal)

Dec. 30, 2014
4.00 p.m. - J.B. Keerthana & Sruthi Sagar
5.20 p.m. - Sangeetha Swaminathan (Vocal)
7.00 p.m. - Ashwath Narayanan (Vocal)

Dec. 31, 2014
4.00 p.m. - Rasika Viswanath (Vocal)
5.20 p.m. - Amrutha Sankaranarayanan (Vocal)
7.00 p.m. - Sumathi Narayanan (Vocal)

Jan. 1, 2015
9.30 a.m. - T. Eswaran Battathri (Vocal)
11.00 a.m. - R. Arjun Sambasivan & R. Narayanan (Keyboard)
4.00 p.m. - K. Sathyanarayanan (Keyboard),
5.20 p.m. - Aishwarya Srinivas (Vocal)
7.00 p.m. - R. Abhiramasundari (Vocal)

Jan. 2. 2015
4.00 p.m. - Srivaralakshmi (Keyboard)
5.20 p.m. - Adityanatayanan (Vocal)
7.00 p.m. - Rithvik Raja (Vocal)

Jan. 3, 2015
9.30 a.m. - Subiksha Rangarajan (Vocal)
11.00 a.m. - Chaitraa Sairam (Vocal)
4.00 p.m. - K.P. Nandini (Vocal)
5.20 p.m. - Shreya Devnath (Violin)
7.00 p.m. - Vasudha Ravi (Vocal)

Jan. 4, 2015
9.30 a.m. - Charumathy Raghuram (Vocal)
11.00 a.m. - Sushma Somasekharan (Vocal
4.00 p.m. - Sai Brinda (Vocal)
5.20 p.m. - K. Subhiksha (Vocal)
7.00 p.m. - Rajini Hariharan (Vocal)

Jan. 5, 2015
4.00 p.m. - Padma Seshadri Sisters (Vocal)
5.20 p.m. - Karthika Vaidyanathan (Vocal)
7.00 p.m. - Vidya Kalyanaraman (Vocal)

Dec. 6, 2015 -
4.00 p.m. - Keerthana Vaidyanathan (Vocal)
5.20 p.m. - Calcutta K. Srividya (Vocal)
7.00 p.m. - N.J. Nandini (Vocal)

Jan. 7, 2015
4.00 p.m. - Raginishri (Vocal)
5.20 p.m. - Iyer Sisters (Vocal)
7.00 p.m. - Sunil R Gargeyan (Vocal)

Jan. 8, 2015
4.00 p.m. - N. Harish (Vocal)
5.20 p.m. - Kuldeep M. Pai (Vocal)
7.00 p.m. - Punya Srinivas (Veena)

Jan. 9, 2015
4.00 p.m. - K. Mahati (Keyboard)
5.20 p.m. - Calcutta Kala and Chitra (Vocal)
7.00 p.m. - Akshay Padmanabhan (Vocal)

Jan. 10, 2015
9.30 a.m. - Palakkad C.S. Sajeev (Vocal)
11.00 a.m. - Swathi Sankar (Vocal)
4.00 p.m. - Manasa Suresh (Vocal)
5.20 p.m. - Mahadevan Sankaranarayanan(Vocal)
7.00 p.m. -  Saashwathi Prabhu (Vocal)

Jan. 11, 2015
9.30 a.m. - Gayathri Sankaran (Vocal)
11.00 a.m. - Kanti Swaroop Mallela (Vocal)
4.00 p.m. - Subha Ganesan (Vocal)
5.20 p.m. - Hemmige Prashanth (Vocal)
7.00 p.m. - Lavanya Sundararaman (Vocal)

Jan. 12, 2015
4.00 p.m. - Master Abhilash (Vocal)
5.20 p.m. - K. Dharini (Vocal)
7.00 p.m.: V. Sankaranarayanan (Vocal)

December 19, 2014

Hindustani music concerts in Chennai

Rarely you get to listen to Hindustani music in Chennai. But this year, a few sabhas hosted a couple of concerts of this north Indian classical music.

Earlier, Rasika Ranjani Sabha hosted a Hindustani violin solo concert by Kala Ramnath and more than a hundred rasikas attended it.

Tchaikovsky Music Club conducted a 5 day festival at the Russian Cultural Centre and on the closing day, Pt. Janardhan Mitta presented a Sitar concert.

There is an audience for each style of music and the December Season in Chennai has realised it.

Here is the concert in pictures.
Photos by Smita Joshi.





December 16, 2014

The 'real' season begins in Chennai!

With the major sabhas like Narada Gana Sabha, Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, and The Music Academy joining in on three consecutive days, the already busy schedule of concerts gets more crowded.

At the inauguration in the Music Academy, rasikas saw a neat red and blue sky backdrops on stage. A different kind of experience for the gallery audience.

The Music Academy's lec-dem sessions are also on from today at the mini hall. Well attended by music students, rasikas and experts, these sessions hold a lot of information for the uninitiated as well.


On day one, Commader G. Srirama Rao spoke on philately and Numismatics with reference to music. This retired Navy commander is passionate collector of stamps, coins, autographs, postal cancellations - all of music from all over the world. He had earlier held exhibitions of his collections in Visakhapatnam and other places. He has brought them to Chennai and they are on display at the TAG Digital Archival Centre inside the Music Academy premises till Dec. 20, 2014 between 10 a.m and 5 p.m.

The special postal cover on D.K. Pattammal, when opened, play a song of the vidushi! There is also a stamp on Veena Dhanammal and a postal cover on Papanasam Sivan.

He has displayed a rare collection called ‘Musical Post Offices’ wherein he traced 76 post offices in 13 countries named after musicians and Musical scores. You could catch up with Mr. Rao and listen to stories of his collections at this exhibition.

Mr. Rao says he is ready to take his collections to anywhere in India. All that he needs is the space and the display boards and tables. He will take care of the rest.

His collections are recognised by Lima Book of Records. Reach him at sriramarao@gmail.com

Here are a few pictures of the exhibition captured by Ramya Vasudevan.






December 14, 2014

Opening evening at Narada Gana Sabha

On Dec. 13, 2014, the evening at Narada gana Sabha began with the mangala isai by senior nadaswaram vidwan Seshampatti Sivalingam. He is among the awardees of this year at the sabha.

The presentation of awards and felicitation were simple and neat.
Sri U.Ve.Appan Parakala Ramanuja Embar Jeeyar Swamy of Sriperumpudur who inaugurated the festival and conferred the titles, spoke long on music, azhwars and the classical Indian art forms - music and dance elevates the performers and the listeners.

The award Nadhabrahmam was conferred on mridangam maestro Umayalpuram K Sivaraman, Senior Musician award to veena vidushi Kalyani Ganesan and Tirunelveli P Subramania Iyer award to nadaswaram vidwan Seshampatti Sivalingam were presented on the evening.

Film maker and cinematographer Rajiv Menon was at the event to felicitate the awardees. Unlike many speakers, Rajiv Menon did his homework well to know about all the awardees of the evening and brought their profiles to the audience. He lauded Umayalpuram Sivaraman for his artistry and his generosity to teach music to many including the son of a mridangam maker. Vidwan Umayalpuram Sivaraman returned the gesture in his acceptance speech that with the kind of 'gnanam' Rajiv Menon has, he should be singing on stage soon and offered to play mridangam for him!

A DVD on Padams produced by Natyangam was released at this event. Vocalist Geetha Raja, scholar Sujata Vijayaraghavan and the dancers of Natyarangam received the first copies.

Later Jeeyar distributed prizes for the annual competitions. A loud applause popped up whenever the very young winners received prizes!

Following the award ceremony, Kadri Gopalnath presented a saxophone concert along with the senior violinist A. Kanyakumari.


A few snapshots of the inaugural function at Narada Gana Sabha:

The awardees, Umayalpuram Sivaraman, Kalyani Ganesan and
Seshampatti Sivalingam with the Jeeyar

 Artistes with the awards 

Jeeyar's speech - Anugraha Bhashanam - Photo by Smita Joshi

Vocalist Geetha Raja receiving the DVD
A young winner of competition receiving the prize
Kadri Gopalnath's Saxophone concert - Photo by Smita Joshi

December 12, 2014

Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha December Music Festival

Established in 1900, Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha has been hosting monthly concerts and December festival since then.
This year the festival begins on Dec. 14, 2014 and goes on till Jan. 5, 2014

Venue: Vidya Bharathi, 55, Bheemasena Garden Road, Mylapore, Chennai - 4

The festival hosts a morning lec-dem session every day at 8.30 a.m. Admission is free to concerts scheduled till 2 p.m. Th eevening concerts are ticketed.

The schedule:

Dec. 14, 2014
2.45 p.m - Mangala Isai Nadaswaram by Thiruvallikeni P. Viswanathan & Party
4.00 p.m. - Inauguration and Awards Function
5.30 p.m. - Chitravina N. RAVIKIRAN (Chitravina) with Haridwaramangalam A.K. PALANIVEL (Thavil), B.U. Ganesh Prasad (Violin), B.S. Purushotham (Kanjira)
7.45 p.m. - 'Kavalai Padathe'  (Sri Krishna Charama Shlokam) Upanyasam By  Dushyanth  Sridhar

Dec. 15, 2014
 8.30 a.m. -  Lect. Demo. : Divyaprabandam – Vilakkam (indepth explanation)  by Trichy J. Venkatraman, Vocal Support R. Saranayaki.
10.00 a.m. - ‘Baktha Meera’  Suchitra & Saindavi  (Katha Kutcheri), M.S.G. Suresh (Violin), M.S. Venkatasubramanian (Mrudangam)
12.30 p.m. -  Arundhathi Krishnan (Vocal), Mysore Sangeetha (Violin), R. Ramkumar (Mrudangam)  2.00 p.m. - Aishwarya Vidya Raghunath (Vocal), Trivandrum N.  Sampath (Violin), Salem Srinivasan (Mrudangam)
4.00 p.m. - SUGUNA VARADACHARI (Vocal), Ranjani Ramakrishnan (Violin) – K. Arun Prakash (Mrudangam), N. Guruprasad (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. - LALGUDI G.J.R KRISHNAN & LALGUDI VIJAYALAKSHMI (Violin Duo), Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan (Mrudangam), Vazhappally Krishnakumar (Ghatam)

Dec. 16, 2014
8.30 a.m. - Lect. Demo : Niraval & Kalpanaswaram Singing Techniques by Neyveli R. Santhanagopalan
10.00 a.m. -  Dr. Sirkazhi G. SivaChidambaram (Vocal), Dr. Badri Narayanan (Violin), Thanjavur G. Sankarasubramaniam (Mrudangam), Madras J. Ramdas (Ghatam), Kudanthai Sai Balaji (Morsing), K. Magesh (Thambura)
12.30 p.m. - Barghav S. Hariharan (Vocal), Parur Harini Srivatsa (Violin), Rohit Prasad (Mrudangam)
2.00 p.m. - Prasanna Venkatraman (Vocal), M. Rajeev (Violin), Arjun Ganesh (Mrudangam), G. Chandrasekara Sharma (Ghatam)
4.00 p.m. -  BOMBAY SISTERS (Vocal), R. Raghul (Violin), K.R. Ganesh (Mrudangam)
6.30 p.m. - S. SAKETHARAMAN (Vocal), Nagai Sriram(Violin), Umayalpuram Dr. K. Sivaraman (Mrudangam), G. Chandrasekara Sharma (Ghatam)

Dec. 17, 2014
8.30 a.m. - Lect Demo:  Strategies for Raga Development – Methodologies  shared between Carnatic, Hindustani and Western Classical Music by Dr. Sriram Parasuram
10.00 a.m. - Nirmala Rajasekar (Veena ) with Sikkil Malachandrasekar (Flute) and V.V. Srinivasa Rao (Violin),  Mumbai Rajesh Srinivasan (Mrudangam), Trichy Krishnaswamy (Ghatam)
12.30 p.m. -  Samyukta Ranganathan (Vocal), S.V. Sudarsan (Violin), Ramsriram (Mrudangam)
2.00 p.m. -  Mahadevan Sankaranarayanan (Vocal), M.R. Gopinath (Violin), R.Ramesh (Mrudangam), Alathur Rajaganesh (Kanjira)
4.00 p.m. - Shertalai  K.N. RENGANATHA SHARMA (Vocal), Trivandrum N. Sampath (Violin), Trichy Harikumar (Mrudangam), Udipi Sridhar (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. - Madurai T.N.  SESHAGOPALAN (Vocal),  M. Chandrasekaran  (Violin), Trichur C. Narendran (Mrudangam), Vaikom Gopalakrishnan (Ghatam)

Dec. 18,2 014
8.30 a.m. - Lect. Demo. : Rendition of Violin Techniques in Parur Tradition by Dr. M. Narmadha
10.00 a.m. - Dr. B. Vijaya Gopal  (Flute), Mysore Srikanth (Violin), Mannargudi A. Easwaran (Mrudangam), S.V.Ramani (Ghatam)
12.30 p.m. - Sunanda (Vocal) -  S.V. Sudarsan (Violin) – Surya Subramaniam (Mrudangam)
2.00 p.m. -  Nandita Ravi  (Vocal), Kamalakiran Vinjamuri (Violin), Kunnakudi M. Balamuralikrishna (Mrudangam)
4.00 p.m. - PRINCE  RAMAVARMA (Vocal), S. Varadarajan (Violin), Arjun Ganesh (Mrudangam), Dr. S. Karthick (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. - Dr. KADRI GOPALNATH (Saxophone), A. Kanyakumari (Violin), Patri Satishkumar (Mrudangam), Rajendra Nakod (Tabla), B. Rajashekar (Morsing)

Dec. 19, 2014
8.30 a.m. - Lect. Demo :Divyanama Kritis of Thyagaraja by Dr. M.A. Bhageerathi
10.00 a.m. - V. Sankaranarayanan (Vocal), Nagai Sriram (Violin), B. Sivaraman (Mrudangam), N. Guruprasad (Ghatam)
12.30 p.m. - Radhika Rajesh (Vocal), Ravi Srinivasan (Violin),  J. Aravind (Mrudangam)
2.00 p.m.  - Thiruvarur S. Girish (Vocal), Delhi Sairam (Violin), Ambika Prasad  (Mrudangam), Sree Sundarkumar (Kanjira)
4.00 p.m. - O.S. THYAGARAJAN (Vocal), Vittal Ramamurthy (Violin), Srimushnam V. Rajarao (Mrudangam), Coimbatore V. Mohanram (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. -  MALLADI BROTHERS  Sriramprasad and Ravikumar (Vocal), B.U. Ganesh Prasad (Violin), Sai Giridhar  (Mrudangam), Anirudh Athreya (Kanjira)

Dec. 20, 2014
8.30 a.m. - Lect. Demo. : Topic will be announced on the date by  T.M. Krishna
10.00 a.m. -  R. Suriya Prakash (Vocal), M.A. Sundareswaran (Violin), Thiruvarur Bhakthavatsalam (Mrudangam), Anirudh Athreya (Kanjira)
12.30 p.m. - Karthick Raju (Vocal), Mysore Sangeetha (Violin), Sanjeev Raja (Mrudangam)
2.00 p.m. -  Ramakrishnan Murthy (Vocal), Trivandrum N. Sampath (Violin), N.C. Bharadwaj (Mrudangam),  Anirudh Athreya (Kanjira)
4.00 p.m. - MAMBALAM SISTERS (Vocal), Dr. R. Hemalatha (Violin), B.  Ganapathy Raman (Mrudangam), K.S. Rangachari (Kanjira)
6.30 p.m. -  ARUNA SAYEERAM (Vocal), M A Krishnaswamy (Violin),  Sai Giridhar  (Mrudangam), S.V. Ramani (Ghatam)

Dec. 21, 2014
8.30 a.m. -  Lect.  Demo.:Voice Culture: Care and Management -  Interactive  Session by  Anant Vaidyanathan,  Abhishek Raghuram,   Yoga  Venkatraman With  K.N. Shashikiran  
10.00 a.m. -  S. Mahathi (Vocal), Dr. Jyotsna Srikanth (Violin), Patri Satish Kumar (Mrudangam), Alathur Rajaganesh (Kanjira)
6.30 p.m. -  DR. K.J. YESUDOSS (Vocal), Mahadeva Sharma (Violin), Thiruvarur Bhakthavatsalam (Mrudangam), Vaikom Gopalakrishnan (Ghatam)

Dec. 22, 2014
8.30 a.m. - Lect. Demo : Structuring a Raga Alapana  by Rama Ravi
10.00 a.m. - Subhashini Parthasarathy  (Vocal) – Pakkala Ramadas  (Violin) – J. Vaidyanathan  (Mrudangam) -B.S. Purushotham (Kanjira)
12.30 p.m. - Sushma Somasekaran  (Vocal) – Sudha Iyer (Violin) – Praveen Kumar  (Mrudangam)
2.00 p.m. -  K. Bharat Sundar (Vocal) – Parur M.S. Ananthakrishnan (Violin) – Trivandrum V. Balaji (Mrudangam)-  S. Venkatramanan (Kanjira)
4.00 p.m.-  Dr. SRIRAM PARASURAM & ANOORADHA SRIRAM  (Vocal) -  K.J. Dileep (Violin) – K.V. Prasad (Mrudangam) – Umakant Puranik (Harmonium)-Gurumurthy Vaidya (Tabla)
6.30 p.m. -  GAYATHRI VENKATARAGHAVAN (Vocal)  – R.K. Shriramkumar (Violin) – Manoj Siva  (Mrudangam)– Trivandrum Rajagopal (Kanjira)

Dec. 23, 2014
8.30 a.m.- Lect. Demo : Melodic Identity of selected Hindustani & Karnatic Ragas by
Dr.  Premeela Gurumurthy
10.00 a.m. - Sriranjani Santhanagopalan  (Vocal) - R. Rajiv ( Violin ) - Sumesh Narayanan (Mrudangam)- Anirudh Athreya (Kanjira)
12.30 p.m. - Shiv Subramaniam (Vocal) – Vignesh Thyagarajan (Violin)  - Sai Raghavan  (Mrudangam)
2.00 p.m. - Rithvik Raja (Vocal)  - M. Rajeev (Violin) - Sumesh Narayanan (Mrudangam)- G. Chandrasekara Sharma (Ghatam)
4.00 p.m. -  GAYATHRI GIRISH (Vocal) - Kandadevi Vijayaraghavan (Violin) - B.Sivaraman-  (Mrudangam) -K.V.Gopalakrishnan (Kanjira)
6.30 p.m. -   T.V. SANKARANARAYANAN (Vocal)  – M.A. Sundareswaran (Violin)  – Thanjavur Murugaboopathy (Mrudangam)-  H. Prasanna (Ghatam)

Dec. 24, 2014
8.30 a.m.  -  Lect. Demo :  Sancharas – the life line of Rakthi Ragas By Dr. R.S. Jayalakshmi
10.00 a.m. -  P. Nisha Rajagopal (Vocal) -  V. Sanjeev  (Violin) - R. Sankaranarayanan  (Mrudangam)-  N. Guruprasad (Ghatam)
12.30 p.m. - Vignesh Ishwar (Vocal) -  M. Rajeev (Violin) -    N.C. Bharadwaj  (Mrudangam)             2.00 p.m. -  Sandeep Narayan  (Vocal) - M.  Rajeev (Violin) - Thanjavur Praveen Kumar (Mrudangam) -  Anirudh Athreya (Kanjira)
4.00 p.m. -  SANGEETHA SIVAKUMAR (Vocal)  - B.U. Ganesh Prasad  (Violin) - K. Arun Prakash -   (Mrudangam) - N. Guruprasad (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. -   N. VIJAY SIVA (Vocal)  –  R.K.Shriramkumar (Violin) - Bombay Balaji (Mrudangam)-  N.Guruprasad (Ghatam)

Dec. 25, 2014
10.00 a.m. -  “ Geetharthamu Sangeethanandamu” (Geethayum Sangeethamum)  By VISAKHA HARI – Dr. Jyotsna Srikanth ( Violin)  – B. Ganapathy Raman (Mrudangam) – Trichy Murali  (Ghatam)
12.30 p.m. - Shruthi Shankar Kumar( Vocal)  – Mysore Sangeetha (Violin) - K.H. Vineet  (Mrudangam)
2.00 p.m.  - Jayashree Vaidyanathan (Vocal) – Karaikal  Venkatasubramanian (Violin)  - Manikudi Chandrasekaran (Mrudangam) - N. Narasimhan (Ghatam)
4.00 p.m. -  HYDERABAD BROTHERS  D. Raghavachari & D. Seshachari  (Vocal) -  Nagai Sriram (Violin)  - Trivandrum V.Balaji  (Mrudangam)– Papanasam S. Sethuraman (Kanjira)
6.30 p.m. -  SIKKIL GURUCHARAN (Vocal) – Nagai Sriram  (Violin) – Umayalpuram Dr.K.  Sivaraman  (Mrudangam)– Shree Sundarkumar (Kanjira)

Dec. 26, 2014
8.30 a.m. -   Lect. Demo : Layanubhava- Understanding and appreciation of rhythmic aspects By K. Arun Prakash,  K.V.Gopalakrishnan  and  N. Guruprasad 10.00 a.m. -  Maharajapuram Ramachandran (Vocal) -  Nagai Muralidharan  (Violin) – Thiruvarur Bhakthavatsalam (Mrudangam) –  V. Sai Subramaniam (Morsing)
12.30 p.m. - Mayuri Vasan (Vocal) – S.V. Sudarsan (Violin) – Delhi Sridhar (Mrudangam)
2.00 p.m. -   Amrutha Venkatesh (Vocal)  – R. Madhavan (Violin)  – Vijay Natesan (Mrudangam)
4.00 p.m.  -  Dr. ASHWINI BHIDE (Hindustani vocal )- Vyasmurthy Katti (Harmonium)- Ravindra Yavagal (Tabla)
6.30 p.m. -  PRIYA SISTER  Shanmukhapriya and Haripriya (Vocal)  -  Mysore Srikanth (Violin) – Neyveli Skandasubramaniam (Mrudangam) – B.S. Purushotham (Kanjira)

Dec. 27, 2014
8.30 a.m. -  Lect. Demo : Pratimadyama,  Dha-na  Melas by Prof. S.R. Janakiraman
10.00 a.m. -  ‘Rangam Srirangam’ Sublime Observation  Sri. Srinidhi Swami,  Musical Presentation by  Vasundara Rajagopal  (Vocal) with R. Raghul(Violin)  and  Nellai Balaji (Mrudangam)
12.30 p.m. - Akshay Sridhar(Vocal)  – Sruti Sarathy (Violin) – Korattur Karthick Narayanan  (Mrudangam)
2.00 p.m. - J.A.  Jayanth ( Flute ) – Parur Ananthakrishnan (Violin) – Mannarkoil Balaji  (Mrudangam)– Nerkunam Shankar (Kanjira)
4.00 p.m. -   CARNATICA BROTHERS  K.N. Shashikiran & P. Ganesh (Vocal) -  S. Varadarajan (Violin) – Thanjavur Murugaboopathy (Mrudangam)– S.V.Ramani (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. -  SUDHA RAGHUNATHAN (Vocal)  -  B.V.  Raghavendra Rao (Violin) – Patri Satishkumar (Mrudangam)– R.Raman (Morsing)

Dec. 28, 2014
8.30 a.m. - Lect. Demo : Concert Pattern:  Planning-Practice-Presentation.  A panel discussion.
by Chitravina. N. Ravikiran,  S. Shashank, Suguna Varadachari. Co-Ordinator : Dr.Radha Bhaskar
10.00 a.m. - T.M. Krishna  (Vocal) -  R.K. Shriramkumar (Violin) - Rajna Swaminathan  (Mrudangam)- B.S. Purushotham (Kanjira)
12.30 p.m. - Kruthi Bhat  (Vocal) -  H V Raghuram (Violin)  -  Vignesh Venkataraman  (Mrudangam)
2.00 p.m.  -  Amrita Murali (Vocal)  –  M. Rajeev (Violin) – N.C. Bharadwaj (Mrudangam)–  G.Chandrasekara Sharma ( Ghatam)
4.00 p.m.  - TRICHUR BROTHERS  Srikrishna Mohan and Ramkumar Mohan (Vocal) -  V.V. Ravi (Violin) – Trichur R. Mohan (Mrudangam)– S. Venkataramanan (Kanjira)
6.30 p.m. -   P. UNNI KRISHNAN (Vocal)  – Embar Kannan (Violin) – Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan –  (Mrudangam) - Vazhappally Krishnakumar (Ghatam)

Dec. 29, 2014
8.30 a.m. -  Lect. Demo : Contributions of Talapakka Annamacharya and Badrachala Ramadasa to Carnatic Music by   Malladi Suribabu and  Malladi Brothers
10.00 a.m. - K. Gayatri  (Vocal) – Charulatha Ramanujam (Violin) – Poongulam Subramaniam –  (Mrudangam ) -K.V.Gopalakrishnan (Kanjira)
12.30 p.m. - Hariharan Ravi  (Vocal) - Kamal Kiran (Violin) – Akshay Venkatesh ( Mrudangam )
2.00 p.m. -  D.B. Ashvin  (Vocal) – M. Rajeev (Violin) –  R.Ramkumar (Mrudangam)– Nanda Masti (Kanjira)
4.00 p.m. -  Papanasam ASHOK RAMANI (Vocal) – Mysore Nagaraj  (Violin) – Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan (Mrudangam) – Trichy Krishnaswamy (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. -   Dr. S. SOWMYA (Vocal) –  Parur M.S. Ananthakrishnan (Violin) – Poongulam Subramaniam  (Mrudangam) –  Chandrasekara Sharma – (Ghatam)

Dec. 30, 2014
8.30 a.m.  - Lect. Demo : Role of Mrudangam in enhancing a concert By  Prof. Trichy Sankaran, Supported by B.S. Purushotham
10.00 a.m.  - Namasankeerthanam by Udayalur Kalyanaraman Bhagavathar & Party
12.30 p.m. -  Mandolin Sisters  Sree Usha & Sreesha (Mandolin )– Thirucherai Kaushik  (Mrudangam)–  S. Venkatramanan  (Kanjira)
2.00 p.m. -  Nadha Brahmam –Essentially Divine Concert by Swasthi Prabhu (Vocal)  – Vijaya Ganesh (Violin) – Sai Navaneethan (Mrudangam)– N. Sundar (Tabla) – Nagarathinam(Spl. Effects)
4.00 p.m. - Mysore Brothers MYSORE NAGARAJ AND MYSORE MANJUNATH ( Violin Duo)- Srimushnam V. Rajarao  (Mrudangam)– Giridhar Udupa (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. -  SANJAY SUBRAHMANYAN  (Vocal) -  Nagai Sriram (Violin) – Mannargudi A. Easwaran  (Mrudangam)– Dr.S. Karthick (Ghatam)

Dec. 31, 2014
8.30 a.m.  - Lect. Demo : The Importance of Compositions for Manodharma  Sangeetham by
R.K. Shriramkumar
10.00 a.m. -  V.K. Manimaran (Vocal)  – V. Sanjeev (Violin) – Poongulam Subramaniam   (Mrudangam)– N. Guruprasad (Ghatam)
12.30 p.m. -  Vikram Raghavan (Vocal) -  Sandeep Ramachandran (Violin) - K. Praveen Kumar  (Mrudangam )
2.00 p.m. -   V. Deepika  (Vocal) -  S.P. Ananthapadmanabha (Violin) – Srivanchiyam Sriram  (Mrudangam )
4.00 p.m. -  Neyveli  R. SANTHANAGOPALAN (Vocal) – V.V. Ravi (Violin)  – Thiruvarur Bhakthavatsalam (Mrudangam)– Thirupunitura Radhakrishnan (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. -  ‘ Bajan Sandhya’ By  O.S. ARUN  (Vocal) -  Mullivasal Chandramouli (Violin) – J. Vaidyanathan  (Mrudangam)– Chandrasekar  (Harmonium) - Ganapathy (Tabla)– Kalaiselvam (Talam)

Jan. 1, 2015
10.00 a.m. -  Abang and Bajans by Pushpa Anand & Party.
12.30 p.m. - Kalyanapuram Aravind (Vocal) –  B. Ananthakrishnan (Violin) – R. Ramkumar
(Mrudangam)
2.00 p.m. -  Maharajapuram Ganesh Viswanathan (Vocal) – M.A. Sundareswaran (Violin)  – Sherthalai Ananthakrishnan (Mrudangam) – Trichy Murali (Ghatam)
4.00 p.m. -   Madurai T.N.S. KRISHNA (Vocal) – Delhi P. Sundarrajan (Violin)  –  Neyveli B. Venkatesh  (Mrudangam)- S. Sunil Kumar (Kanjira)
6.30 p.m. -   Dr. NITHYASHREE MAHADEVAN (Vocal)  –  B.V.  Raghavendra Rao (Violin) – I. Sivakumar (Mrudangam), Madipakkam Murali (Ghatam)

Jan. 2, 2015
10.00 a.m. - Chinmaya Sisters  (Vocal) – Mysore Srikanth (Violin) – Ramesh Srinivasan –  (Mrudangam) Madipakkam Murali (Ghatam)
12.30 p.m. - Deepa Divya Sisters  (Vocal) -  Nagerkoil Anand (Violin) - Ammangudi S. Ramanarayanan (Mrudangam)
2.00 p.m.  - Akshay Padmanabhan (Vocal) – B. Ananthakrishnan (Violin) – Guru Raghavendra   (Mrudangam)
4.00 p.m. -  DR. R. GANESH  (Vocal) – Bharathi Gopalakrishnan (Violin) – Umayalpuram Mali   (Mrudangam )– H. Sivaramakrishnan (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m.  - ABISHEK RAGHURAM  (Vocal) – Charulatha Ramanujam (Violin) – Patri Satishkumar – (Mrudangam) Guru Prasanna (Kanjira)

December 11, 2014

Nanganallur Music Festival

December is also the time of many celebrations. Margazhi Bhajans & Hanumath Jayanthi form part of the singing schedules for artistes and are extensions of the Decembeer Season in Chennai.
Nanganallur Anjaneyar Temple is celebrating a music festival for the Hanumath Jayanthi for the last 20 years. This year the festival begins on Dec. 22 and goes on till Dec. 31, 2014

The schedule:

Dec. 22, 2014
5.30 p.m. - Srinivasan & Party - Nadswaram
6.30 p.m. - T. V. Sankaranarayanan (Vocal), H N Baskar (Violin), R Ramesh (Mridangam), Bangalore Bhargava (Kanjira)

Dec. 23, 2014
4.30 p.m. - Sunil Gargeyan (Vocal), Anayampatti Venkatasubramanian (Violin), Balasri Rasaiah (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - S. Sowmya (Vocal), Parur Ananthakrishnan (Violin), Poongulam Subramanian (Mridangam)

Dec. 24, 2014
4.30 p.m. - Vishveshwar (Flute), Vignesh Thyagarajan (Violin), Gopal Ravindran (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - O S Thiagarajan (Vocal), T. H. Subramaniam (Violin), Srimushnam V Rajarao (Mridangam), Udupi Sridhar (Ghatam)

Dec. 25, 2014
4.30 p.m. - Kum RAMYA (Vocal), Sanjay Sharma (Violin), Ashwin Selvanathan (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - KADRI GOPALNATH (SAXOPHONE), A Kanyakumari (Violin), B.Harikumar(Mridangam),Rajendra Nakod (Tabla), B Rajasekar(Morsing)

Dec.26, 2014
4.30 p.m.- SARADHA KARTHICK (Vocal), Melakaveri Thiagarajan (Violin), Trivandrum Balaji (Mridangam), N Rajaram (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m.- MYSORE H N BASKAR & Ashwin (Violin Duet), Shiva Bharadwaj (Mridangam), Murali (Ghatam), Harihara Sharma(Kanjira), Shankar Viswanathan(Morsing)

Dec.27, 2014
4.30 p.m. - KARUR SISTERS VIDHYA (Vocal), Mukhathala Anandu Lal (Violin), Gajendra Ganesan (Mridangam), K B Hariharan (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. - O S ARUN (Vocal), Mullaivasal Chandramouli (Violin), Tiruvarur Bhakthavatsalam (Mridangam), Adambakkam Sankar (Ghatam)

Dec.28, 2014
4.30 p.m. - SOWNDARYA RATHNAMALA & Party(Group Music)
6.30 p.m. - GAYATHRI VENKATRAGHAVAN (Vocal), Charumathi Raguram (Violin), Sherthalai Ananthakrishnan (Mridangam), Trichy S Krishna (Ghatam)

Dec.29, 2014
4.30 p.m. - JAYASHREE VAIDYANATHAN (Vocal), Villivakkam Raghuram (Violin), Thillai Suryanarayanan (Mridangam),Tiruvarur K Venkatesh (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. - U RAJESH (Mandolin), V V Srinivasarao (Violin), Madirimangalam Swaminathan(Mridangam), S V Ramani(Ghatam), Srirangam Kannan(Morsing)

Dec.30, 2014
4.30 p.m. - SAMYUKTA RANGANATHAN (Vocal), Thirumarugal Dineshkumar(Violin), R Kishore (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - RANJANI & GAYATHRI (Vocal), B U Ganesh Prasad (Violin), K Arunprakash (Mridangam), Trichy Murali(Ghatam)

Dec.31, 2014
4.30 p.m. - S MALAVIKA (Vocal), K J Dileep (Mridangam), Sumesh Narayanan (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. - S SAKETHARAMAN (Vocal), S Varadarajan (Violin), Mannargudi Easwaran (Mridangam), Anirudh Atreya (Kanjira)
 

Simple person. Great music. Maha award.

Guests, patrons, awardees, felicitators, sabha secretary were seated in a row on the dais at The Mylapore Fine Arts Club, as seen in all the inaugural functions. Customarily, a musician and a dancer are chosen for the awards. This year is no exception. Both the awardees this year are well-known and have received many awards earlier, It was apt to decorate a senior vidwan, who has received many titles in his career of more than 70 years with a 'maha' title.


'Cleveland' Sundaram felicitated violinist M. Chandrasekar and informed the audience the roles the vidwan plays - violinist, vocalist, composer, guru and above all a 'rasika'. He related the title 'Maha' given to the musician-composer of the 1800s Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan with the title of Sangeetha Maha Kala Nipuna to the maestro. "To me, he is 'Chandru Sir', though he is many talents rolled into one," Sundaram said. He also hailed the Veena Dhanammal bani in the violinist's way of playing the instrument.

Nandini Ramani, who felicitated the dancer Rajeswari Sainath vouched for the Pandanallur Bani and the layam inbuilt in the dancer's performances. Nandini did not forget to mention T. Balasaraswati and T. Jeyammal though.

Some pictures from the inaugural function:
Photos by Sripriya Ayyangar & Smita Joshi






December 07, 2014

Shanthi Fine Arts & Endowments (SAFE) begins its music festival on Dec. 8, 2014

Chitravina vidwan N. Ravikiran will be honoured with the title ‘Sangeetha Sasthra Virpannar’ on the inaugural day. ‘Life Time Achievement Award’ will be conferred on M. A. Sundhareswaran, Neyveli B. Venkatesh,
Sikkil Mala Chandrasekahar and Patri Satish Kumar. The artistes who will receive the title 'Sangeetha Saptha Sagara' are vocalists Gayathri Girish, Sumithra Vasudev, Amritha Murali and voilinists Akkarai S. Subhalakshmi, Dr. R. Hemalatha and Charumathi Raghuraman.

The inauguration will be followed by Chitravina concert by N. Ravikiran with M.A. Sundareswaran on the violin, Neyveli B. Venkatesh on the mridangam and Vaikom Gopalakrishnan on the ghatam

The venue is Srinivasa Sastri Hall, Mylapore. Concerts are open to all.
The festival is on till Dec. 17, 2014.

Schedule:

Dec. 8, 2014
6.45 p.m. - N. Ravikiran (Chitravina), M. A. Sundhareswaran (Violin), Neyveli B. Venkatesh (Mridangam), Vaikom Gopalakrishnan (Ghatam)

Dec. 9, 2014
4.30 p.m. - M.R. Subramaniam (Vocal),  Madurai S. Balasubramanian (Violin), S. J. Arjun Ganesh (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - Sumitra Vasudev (Vocal), PakkalaRamadas (Violin), K. Arun Prakash (Mridangam)

Dec. 10, 2014
4.30 p.m. - Kanaka Durga Venkatesh (Vocal), Neela jayakumar (Violin), V.R. Jayakumar (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - M. Lalitha & M. Nandini (Violin Duet), A.V. Manikandan (Mridangam)

Dec. 11, 2014
4.30 p.m. - Rithvik Raja (Vocal), R. Raghul (Violin), N.C. Bharadwaj (Mridangam), Sunil Kumar (Kanjira)
6.30 p.m. - Gayathri Girish (Vocal), V. Sanjeev (Violin), B. Ganapathiraman (Mridangam)

Dec. 12, 2014
4.30 p.m. - Akkarai Sister (Vocal), M.R. Gopinath (Violin), K. Sai Giridhar (Mridangam), V. Anirudh Athreya (Kanjira)
6.30 p.m. - G. Srikanth (Vocal), V.V. Ravi (Violin), Kallidaikurichi Sivakumar (Mridangam)

Dec. 13, 2014
4.30 p.m. - C.S. Sajeev (Vocal), H.N. Bhaskar (Violin), Poongulam Subramaniam (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. -Vasundhara Rajagopalan (Vocal), H.M. Smitha (Violin), R. Sankaranarayanan (Mridangam)

Dec. 14, 2014
4.30 p.m. - Ratnaprabha (Vocal), V. Dipika (Violin), Thillaisthanam R. Suryanarayanan (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - Madurai R Sundar (Vocal), AkkaraiSornalatha (Violin), Dr. K. Ashok (Mridangam)

Dec. 15, 2014
4.30 p.m. - K. Bharat Sundar (Vocal), ParurAnanthakrishnan (Violin), Papanasam R Kumar (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - Geetha Raja (Vocal), K.J. Dileep (Violin), T.K. Ramakrishnan (Mridangam)

Dec. 16, 2014
4.30 p.m. - Vimarshini Jairam (Vocal), Sudha R. S. Iyer (Violin), S. Ramaswamy (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - Shankar Ramani (Vocal), B. Ananthakrishnan (Violin), K.R. Ganesh (Mridangam)

Dec. 17, 2014
4.30 p.m. - Varalakshmi Anandakumar (Vocal), Shreya Devnath (Violin), Sumesh S. Narayanan (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - Mambalam Sisters (Vocal), Dr. R. Hemalatha (Violin), Nellai A. Balaji (Mridangam), K. S. Rangachari (Kanjira)

Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society inaugurates its Chennai festival

A music school and a socirty that promotes Fine Arts in Singapore comes to Chennai every year durting December and showcases the best of talents from their organisation.

A five day festival begins on Dec. 8 this year and goes on till Dec. 12, 2014 at the Music Academy Mini Hall.

Here is the schedule of concerts.

Dec. 8, 2014
4.30 p.m. - Mangala Isai - T.K.R. Iyyappan & T.K.R. Meenakshisundaram (Nagaswaram), T.K. Sekar and T.G. Babu (Thavil)
6.00 p.m. - Inauguration. Chief guest H.E. Roy KOH Ngee Seng, Consul General of Republic of Singapore in Chennai
6.45 p.m. - Nishanth Thiagarajan (Vocal), Shreya Gopi (Violin). Sai Akileshwar (Mridangam)

Dec. 9, 2014
5.45 p.m. - Sharad Ramanathan (Vocal), Shreya Gopi (Violin), Sudharshan Narasimhan (Mridangam)
8.00 p.m. - Nanditha Gurunath (Vocal), Sharad Rajaraman (Violin), Sri Akileshwar (Mridangam)

Dec. 10, 2014
5.45 p.m. - Sudarshan Narasimhan (Vocal), Srikanth Radhakrishnan (Violin), Thulasidas Vasudevan (Mridangam)
8.00 p.m. - Meera Balasubramanian (Bharatanatyam)

Dec. 11, 2014
5.45 p.m. - Mythili Rajaraman (Vocal), Srikanth Radhakrishnan (Violin), Sudharshan Narasimhan (Mridangam)
8.00 p.m. - Madhumitta Venkatesan (Bharatanatyam)

Dec. 12, 2014
5.45 p.m. - Srikanth Radhakrishnan (Violin), Sharad Rajaraman (Violin), Sai Akhileshwar (Mridangam)
8.00 p.m. - Manasa Sri Ganesh (Bharatanatyam)

December 06, 2014

Paddhati Festival is on. Live webcast of all concerts

Sri Parthasarthy Swamyu Sabha and Carnatica is hosting 'Paddhati festival at Arkay Convention Centre, Mylapore from Dec. 3 to 11, 2014

All the concerts are webcast at https://www.youtube.com/user/arkay1955

A few pictures of the inaugural day events and concerts:

Sri. Krishnamurthy of Ari Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha and Sri K.N. Sashikiran of Carnatica
at the inauguration of the festival

Inaugural concert by Vidwan Nagai R Muralidharan and Nagai Sriram 

A section of the audience at Arkay convention Centre

Music, art, dance and theatre come together in 'Fire and Ash'

'Fire and Ash' is a confluence of three art forms - music, dance and theatre. The theme focuses on the destruction of negative forces and rejuvenation of positive energies.

Conceived and directed by Gowri Ramnarayan, playwright, theatre director and founder of the theatre group JustUs Repertory,this production was premiered on Nov. 14, 2014 at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan for Kartik Fine Arts.

Today the show is again being staged at Kalakshetra at 6 p.m.

Inspired by Indian poets of the olden era, Kalidasa in Sanskrit, Appar and Muthuthandavar in Tamil, Akka Mahadevi in Kannada, Surdas in Hindi, Shahaji Raja in Telugu and Rabindranath Tagore in Bengali, this production Fire and Ash sees prehistoric archetype Siva as a contemporary metaphor to make sense of the world to find ways of empowering the individuals and the community.

With Dance and Choreography by young dancer Anjana Anand, Vocal and Paintings by musician Savita Narasimhan and Bharatanatyam by Indu Nidheesh and Nidheesh Kumar (Alumni, Kalakshetra), 'Fire and Ash' is once again on stage at Rukmini Auditorium, Kalakshetra, Tiruvanmiyur.

Here are a few photos shot at the premier at BHaratiya Vidya Bhavan by L. Baba Prasad.




December 03, 2014

A festival of music on 'paddhati'

Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha and Carnatica jointly organise a festival that focuses on 'paddhati'. This festival is held in Arkay Convention Centre, R.H. Road, Mylapore.

Beginning Dec. 3, 2014, this festival will for 9 days bringing the traditional kritis and patantharam in the concerts.

The concerts are open to all and not ticketed.

Schedule:

Dec. 3, 2014
6.15 p.m: Nagai Muralidharan & Nagai Sriram (Violin Duet), Tiruvavur Bhakthavatsalam (Mridangam), Vaikom Gopalakrishnan (Ghatam )

Dec. 4, 2014
5.00 p.m: Radha Bhaskar (Vocal), Melakaveri Tyagarajan (Violin), Kumbakonam Swaminathan (Mridangam )
7.00 p.m: Hyderabad Sisters -  Lalitha & Haripriya (Vocal), Ranjani Ramakrishnan (Violin), Melakaveri Balaji (Mridangam), Trichy Murali (Ghatam)

Dec. 5, 2014
5.00 p.m: Rudrapatnam S. Ramakanth (Vocal), M.R. Gopinath (Violin), Melakaveri Balaji (Mridangam), Anirudh Athreya (Kanjira )
7.00 p.m:  Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna (Vocal), V. Sanjeev (Violin), Anantha R. Krishnan (Mridangam)

Dec. 6, 2014
2.00 p.m: Swetharanyam Sisters - Nithya & Vidya, (Vocal), Mannargudi Srinivasan (Violin), Guru Raghavendra (Mridangam)
3.30 p.m: Varalalakshmi Anandkumar (Vocal), Melakaveri Tyagarajan (Violin), Nellai Balaji (Mridangam )
5.00 p.m: Palghat Sreeram & Baby Sreeram (Vocal),  Avaneeswaram Vinu (Violin), Palghat Hari narayanan (Mridangam), Sree Sundar Kumar (Kanjira)
7.00pm:  R. Vedavalli (Vocal), M.A. Krishnaswamy (Violin), Neyveli Narayanan (Mridangam), Madipakkam Murali (Ghatam)

Dec. 7, 2014
2.00 p.m: Rakesh Raghunathan (Vocal), Parur Harini Srivatsa (Violin), Mysore Vadhiraj (Mridangam)
3.30 p.m: T. C .A. Sangeetha (Veena), Manakkal Sriram (Mridangam)
5.00 p.m: Aruna Ranganathan (Vocal),  Ambika Prasad (Violin), Thanjavur Ramdoss (Mridangam )
7.00 p.m: Malladi Suri Babu (Vocal), V.V.S. Murari (Violin), Thanjavur Murugaboopathy (Mridangam), Adambakkam Shankar (Ghatam)

Dec. 8, 2014
5.00 p.m:  S.Srinivasan (Veena), Trichur Narendran (Mrudangam), Pudukottai N. Ramachandran (Kanjira )
7.00 p.m: Vijayalakshmi Subramanyam (Vocal), Mysore Srikanth (Violin), Neyveli Skandasubramaniam (Mridangam), Alathur Rajaganesh (Kanjira)

Dec. 9, 2014
5.00 p.m:  Rudrapatnam Brothers - R.N. Thiyagarajan & R.N.Tharanathan (Vocal), M A Sundaresan (Violin), Srimushnam V. Raja Rao(Mridangam), Kovai Mohanram (Ghatam)
7.00 p.m:  Sriram Parthasarathy (Vocal), B.U.Ganesh Prasad (Violin),  B.Sivaraman (Mridangam), K V Gopalakrishnan (Kanjira)

Dec. 10, 2014
5.00 p.m:  Shankari Krishnan (Vocal), Anuradha Sridhar (Violin), Nellai Balaji (Mridangam), D.V. Venkatasubramaniam (Ghatam)
7.00 p.m: Rama Ravi (Vocal), Mysore Srikanth (Violin), Mannarkoil Balaji (Mridangam), Srisundar Kumar (Kanjira)

Dec. 11, 2014
5.00 p.m: Dr.K.Krishnakumar & Binny Krishnakumar (Vocal), Padma Shankar (Violin), Sai Giridhar ( Mridangam)
7.00 p.m: R.K. Shriram Kumar (Violin Solo), N. Manoj Siva (Mridangam), K.V. Gopalakrishnan (Kanjira)

December 01, 2014

Margazhi Maha Utsavam in Indira Nagar, Adyar

The 15 year legacy of Margazhi Maha Utsavam put together by Maximum Media began this year's series at Hamsadhwani, Youth Hostel, Indira Nagar, Adyar today.

Mrs. Meena Muthiah, the Kumara Rani of Chettinad inaugurated the festival. Rasikas began taking their seats as Tiruvavaduthurai SNR Krishnamurthy along with accompanists presented the Mangala Isai. The steady flow of audience made it houseful when T.M. Krishna was on stage.

The first day hiccups did show up as the audio was low and couldn't reach those in the back rows. Many seniors braved the chill weather in Chennai since last weekend. The sides are closed with Shamiana and the hall is not fully closed or air-conditioned. Still, this venue is a boon to those living in the neighbouhood of Adyar and beyond till the colonies in ECR, as most of the concert venues are around either Mylapore or T.  Nagar.

Here are some pictures of the scene at the Margazhi Maha Utsavam on the inaugural day.
Photos: Ramya Vasudevan






Jaya TV inaugurates Margazhi Utsavam

On Dec. 1, as in the past, the auditorium at Chettinad Vidyashram in R.A. Puram plays host to a 15 day long music festival by Jaya TV. The difference this time is just that it dropped 'Maha' from its banner and was called Jaya TV Margazhi Utsavam.

Veteran musician Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna and R. Nataraj IPS were the guests of honour at the inauguration. Young dancer Krithika Shurajit was the master of ceremonies. E. Gayathri presented the inaugural concert, amidst tight security in the campus.

A few photos from the venue and concert.
Photos: L. Baba Prasad




Meenakshi Sundararajan Fine Arts Academy

A three -week long annual Fine Arts Festival is organised in the campus of Meenakshi College for Women, Arcot Road, Kodambakkam, to coincide with the December Music Season in Chennai.

The concerts are open to all.

Schedule:

Dec. 4, 2014
5.30 p.m. - Inauguration
6.00 p.m. - Vasundhara Rajagopal (Vocal)

Dec. 5, 2014
11.30 a.m. - Sathya Sangeetha (Bharatanatyam)
6.00 p.m. - Geetha Krishnamurthy (Veena)

Dec. 6, 2014
11.30 a.m. - Bharathi Thirumagan (Discourse)
6.00 p.m. - Trichur Ramachandran (Vocal)

Dec. 7, 2014
6.00 p.m. - Dr. Radha Bhaskar (Vocal)

Dec. 8, 2014
11.30 a.m. - Shwetha (Vocal)
6.00 p.m. - Dr. Subhashini Parthasarathy (Vocal)

Dec. 9, 2014
11.30 a.m. - Ramakrishnan Murthy (Vocal)
6.00 p.m. - Sailaja (Bharatanatyam)

Dec. 10, 2014
11.30 a.m. - Shreya Kolathaya (Vocal)
6.00 p.m. - Urmila Sathyanarayana (Bharatanatyam)

Dec. 11, 2014
11.30 a.m. - Srividya Sridharakumar (Vocal)
6.00 p.m. - A.K.C. Natarajan (Clarinet)

Dec. 12, 2014
11.30 a.m. - Bombay Sharada (Vocal)
6.00 p.m. - Bhargavi Gopalan (Bharatanatyam)

Dec. 13, 2014
11.30 a.m. - Gayathri Chandrasekaran (Vocal)
6.00 p.m. - Mambalam Sisters R. Chitra & R. Vijayalakshmi (Vocal)

Dec. 14, 2014
6.00 p.m. - Archana Narayanamurthy (Bharatanatyam)

Dec. 15, 2014
11.30 a.m. - Shyamala Venkateswaran (Vocal)
6.00 p.m. - S. Sowmya (Vocal)

Dec. 16, 2014
11.30 a.m. - Rajini Hariharan (Vocal)
6.00 p.m. - Roja Kannan (Bharatanatyam)

Dec. 17, 2014
11.30 p.m. - M.R. Subramanian (Vocal)
6.00 p.m. - Smitha Madhav (Bharatanatyam)

Dec. 18, 2014
11.30 a.m. - Bhavani Natarajan (Vocal)
6.00 p.m. - Parvathi Ravi Ghantasala (Bharatanatyam)

Dec. 19, 2014
11.30 a.m. - N. Harish (Vocal)
6.00 p.m. - Gayathri Balagurunathan (Bharatanatyam)

Dec. 20, 2014
11.30 a.m. - K.R. Srivaths (Veena)
6.00 p.m. - Shobana Ramesh (Bharatanatyam)

Dec. 21, 2014
6.00 p.m. - Papanasam Ashok Ramani (Vocal)

Dec. 22, 2014
11.30 a.m. - S. Gokulakrishnan (Vocal)
6.00 p.m. - Gayathri Girish (Vocal)