Season's concerts and lecdems - online channels

The Music season offers so many concerts, lec-dems and many other events that often the timings overlap and you are left to choose only one among the lot. However, some online channels offer live webcast and the videos are available online even after the 'season'.

A welcome initiative by some of the sabhas including The Music Academy to put up concerts and lec-dems online. Some more sabhas update their online channels in the due course.

Here are a few links you can go to and enjoy the Music Season all over!

Arkay Convention Centre in Mylapore is a popular venue for many organisations to host music concerts and talks. The in-house sabha Madhuradhwani organises exclusive monthly concerts, single-mike concerts and an anniversary concert series every year. It is also among the favourite venues for many rasikas. Almost all the concerts that happen at this venue are webcast on their YouTube channel -  https://www.youtube.com/user/arkay1955/videos

Parivadini is another channel that does webcast for sabhas. They also organise concerts under their own banner. Many of the concerts that happen at Raga Sudha Hall in Mylapore are webcast by Parivadini here - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI_ZZUah1img9mg8gNdaCjQ/videos

Narada Gana Sabha's concerts held at its Mini Hall during its Pre-Music festival and during the season are being uploaded to their YouTube Channel. Many are in queue to be updated. The channel is here - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS8P7Qv0Ki2ZT9Z26aTUpZw/videos

The Music Academy has uploaded the lecture demonstrations held during the 'season' on its YouTube Channel. They were online on day-to-day basis. They are available on the channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKmE9i2iW0KaqgSxVFYmZUw/videos

Enjoy watching the concerts and lec-dems all over again!





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Relive the 'Music Season' moments

It is natural that the music lovers think and reminisce about their attending concerts during the 'season'. Many times they miss a couple of events as all the concerts, lec-dems, discourses, dance events overlap and the rasikas have to choose where they want to be amidst many other favourite concerts. Newspaper reports can bridge this gap. But there aren't many.

Here are two such print publications that bring out the flavour of the season.

One is the 'Season's daily' brought out by Kutcheribuzz.com. Beginning Dec. 15 the daily is distributed in the major sabhas in the evenings till Jan. 1, every year. The free newspaper carries reports on the music and dance events held during the 'season'.

The other is an exclusive newsletter from Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha that comes out at periodical intervals during the festival. This publication carries reports, photos of concerts held at the sabha during the season.

The digital versions of both publications are available on their websites.

Check out Kutcheri Buzz's Season's Daily at - http://www.kutcheribuzz.com/kbdaily-2019

Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabhas's newsletter Sangeeth Sarathy is available at - https://parthasarathyswamisabha.com/2019/12/28/sangeeth-sarathy-issues-isai-vizha-2019-2020/

We will soon consolidate and post the video / webcast links of concerts, lec-dems and other events. Watch out for it.



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Sadas at The Music Academy, awards and prizes

The curtains of the 'season' at The Music Academy came down with the sadas on Jan. 1, 2020.

The evening began with a Mangala Isai by Adyar D.Balasubramani (Nadaswaram)
G.Vinothkumar (Nadaswaram), Adyar P.V.Dhakchinamoorthi (Tavil) and Adyar D. Senthilkumar (Tavil).

Mr. Suresh Krishna, Chairman, Sundaram Fasteners Ltd., presided over the Sadas and presented the Sangita Kalanidhi award to vidushi Dr. S. Sowmya, Sangita Kala Acharya award to Vidushis Seetha Narayanan and M.S. Sheela, TTK Awards to vidwans Vyasarpadi G. Kothandaraman and Dr. Rajkumar Bharathi and the Musicologist award to Dr. Arati N. Rao.

Vidushi Dr. S. Sowmya - Sangita Kalanidhi Award

Vidushi Seetha Narayanan - Sangita Kala Acharya Award

Vidushi M.S. Sheela - Sangita Kala Acharya Award

Vidwan Vysarpadi Kothandaraman - TTK Award

Vidwan Rajkumar Bharathi - TTK Award

Dr. Arati N. Rao - Musicologist Award

Mr. Suresh Krishna is the son of the illustrious composer Ambujam Krishna spoke passionately about her mother's creations, her love for Tamil language, her connect with the god she worshipped and stressed on the need to include Tamil songs in concerts while performing in the state of Tamil Nadu to relate with the people who understand the language.

The other awards and prizes presented at the sadas are:

• Senior Best vocalist - Yogam Nagaswamy award - Bombay Jayashri
• Senior Outstanding Vocalist prize:  Ranjani & Gayathri
• Senior Outstanding Vocalist Prize : Ramakrishnan Murthy
• Senior Vocal Prize for best Pallavi Singing: K Gayathri
• Senior Vocal Prize for outstanding Pallavi singing: Sumitra Vasudev
• Senior Best Vocal concert Prize: Kunnakudi M. Balamurali Krishna, Akkarai S Subhalakshmi (Violin), B Sivaraman (Mridangam), S V Ramani (Ghatam)
• Senior Outstanding Vocal Concert Prize: K.Bharat Sundar
• Senior Best Instrumentalist Prize: Lalgudi GJR Krishnan & Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi
• Senior Veena Artiste Prize: Jayanthi Kumaresh
• Senior Best Accompanying Violinist Prize: H.N. Bhaskar
• Senior Best Mridangam Artiste Prize: Patri Satish Kumar
• Senior Best Upa pakkavadyam: Bhagyalakshmi M Krishna
• Sub-senior Best Vocalist: Sriranjani Santhanagopalan 
• Sub-senior Outstanding vocalist:  R Ashwath Narayan
• Sub-senior Outstanding lady vocalist: Aishwarya Vidhya Raghunath
• Sub senior Best vocal concert: Vignesh Ishwar, Vittal Rangan (Violin), Akshay Anand (Mridangam), G Ananthakrishnan (Kanjira)
• Sub-senior Best Pallavi Singing award: Sunil R Gargyan
• Sub-senior Veena Artiste Prize: N. Ananthanarayanan
• Sub-senior Flautist: J.B. Sruthisagar
• Sub-senior Best Accompanying Violinist: Parur M.S. Ananthakrishnan
• Sub-senior Best Mridangam Artiste: Chidambaram S Balashankar
• Junior best Vocalist: V. Venkatanagarajan
• Junior Outstanding Vocalist: Aishwarya Shankar
• Junior Best Male Vocalist: Vishnudev Namboothiri
• Junior Best Vocal Concert Prize: Vivek Sadasivam, Sindhu Suchetan, B.S. Prashanth
• Junior Best accompanying Violinist: Shruthi Sarathy
• Junior Best Mridangam Artiste Prize: T. Nikshith
• Junior Best Veena Artiste: Lakshmi Ramasubramanyam

Lec-dems:

• Best Lecture Demonstration: Amrita Murali & L. Ramakrishnan
• Best Lecture Prize: K.V.S. Vinay & Purnima Jayashree

Special Prize: Gopalakrishna Bharathi's Nandanar Charitram (Special prize to the director S. Sowmya and students of Advance College of Music Academy)

HCL Concert series

• HCL Concert series Best individual Performance: Kripaa Lakshmi
• HCL Best Concert Prize: R. Sai Vignesh, Thirucherai Karthik, Sivagangai Vishvak Kumaran

Spirit of Youth

• Best  female vocalist - Deepti Suresh 
• Best Male Vocalist - Prithvi Harish
• Best Accompanying Violinist - Madan Mohan N
• Best Mridangam Artiste - Shankara Prasad Santhanagopalan
• Best Instrumentalist - Ishwarya Manikarnike - Veena
• Best Musician prize - Deepti Suresh

Devotional Music

• I Prize - DAV School, Adambakkam
• II Prize - Skanda Gana Vidyalaya

Radel Mid Year Music

• Best Individual Performance prize - S. Girijashankar

Celebrating instrumental music

South Zone Cultural Centre, Thanjavur hosts a series of instrumental music concerts,  Bharatheeya Shasthreeya Vaadyotsav from Dec. 22 to 29, 2019 in Chennai. The festival is dedicated to Saxophone maestro Kadri Gopalnath.

Venue: Youth Hostel Auditorium, Indira Nagar 2nd Avenue, Adyar, Chennai 600020

Senior Carnatic and Hindustani musicians are scheduled to perform at this festival.
Admission free.

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Chennai Metro Rail celebrates Music season

It's music season in Chennai and Chennai Metro Rail joins the celebration. It offers 50% discounted fare on Sundays and National holidays.

It hosts Metro Music Edit and invites performers of various genres to participate in it. Chennai Metro Rail has tweeted -

Come be a part of our celebrations:
CMRL also invites performers of various genres to participate in this Metro Music Edit and make it a grand success!
Interested participants can send in their details to pro.cmrl@tn.gov.in and ampr.cmrl2@gmail.com

— Chennai Metro Rail (@cmrlofficial) December 11, 2019

Arts Festival at Music and Fine Arts University, Chennai

The Tamilnadu Dr J. Jayalalitha Music And Fine Arts University located in the Music College campus on Dr. DGS Dinakaran Salai (Greenways Road) is hosting an Arts Festival on Dec. 5, 6 and 9, 2019.

The theme of this year's festival is 'Baanigal matrum Patantharangal' (பாணிகள் மற்றும் பாடாந்தரங்கள்). Lecture-demonstrations and performances are planned for the three-day festival.

The festival was inaugurated on Dec. 5, 2019 morning. Talks and presentations by leading vidwans and academicians and a veena concert by B. Kannan was hosted by the university. Vidwans O.S. Thyagarajan, Dr. Rajkumar Bharathi, K.R.Ganesh, vidushis Dr. Prameela Gurumurthy, Dr. S. Sowmya, Dr. Rajashri Ramakrishna, Dr. R.S. Jayalakshmi. Suguna Varadachari, Mala Swamy and dancers Srilatha Vinod and Lakshmi Ramaswamy were listed to present on Dec. 5, 2019.

Dr. Prameela Gurumurthy's session

Dr. S. Sowmya's lec-dem

On Dec. 6, 2019, the events begin with a presentation by the students of the University.Thirumarugal Dineshkumar, Dr. Abhiramasundari, Dr. Hemalatha, Iyer Sisters, Andalkovil A.V.S. Sivakumar, V.K. Arunkumar, Madan Kumar, Kandadevi Dr. S. Vijayaraghavan, Dr. Niranjana Srinivasan, Thirumarugal Brothers, Neyveli R. Santhanagopalan will present lecture-performances.

On Dec. 9, 2019, a session on art by Maniam Selvam, a talk on Therukoothu and Devarattam and a talk on Brodie Castle (the building in which the music college is located now) by V. Sriram are scheduled in the morning. Sessions on classical music in films with music and performance by leading artistes will be on from 2.30 p.m.

In the concluding sessions, Guru Kaaraikudi Mani & Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna will present 'Laya Himalaya',a discussion about UNESCO recognition for Chennai city for its music and a special nadaswaram concert by S. Kasim & S.Babu are listed.

The sessions are for students. But the university welcomes students, performers and rasikas for the sessions.

Music season reckoner for 2019

The much-awaited ready reckoner of all the concerts of December Music season for this year is now available. This handy small book is a concise calendar for the concert-goers.

The book has been a companion for rasikas for the past 3 decades. S. Kannan and his team begin their efforts by gathering the schedules from the organisers and loading them into a database from September / October every year. Supported by Nalli, the book is available for free.

This 264-page handbook contains a section of lec-dems this year that would interest those keen on the academic part of music.

The book is available at all Nalli outlets in T. Nagar, Adyar, Annanagar, Mylapore and Palam Silks, Mylapore.

Showcasing young artiste - online series

The Hindu, a leading newspaper which extensively covers the performing arts has come up with an online series to showcase the talent of young artistes. The newspaper has planned to publish online a month-long series with recordings of up and coming artistes.

The series is available at - https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/music/the-hindu-and-margazhi-web-series/article30175525.ece


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Priya Sisters take a break this season

Popular singing duo Haripriya and Shanmukhapriya had put out a note in the social media that due to some very personal reasons they would not perform in December Season 2019.

The sisters draw a big audience to their concerts that appeal to rasikas who love the traditional style as well as different and rare presentations. The sisters are known for their rendering Annamacharya keerthanas.

The sisters in their post said that they would start their concert schedule afresh from Jan. 2020.

Carnatic music in cinema hall - MadRasana Festival 2019

If you had listened to some good music on the YouTube channel, chances are that one of your favourites in the PlayList could be from MadRasana.

Last year MadRasana had organised a series of concerts in Satyam Cinema's screen in Royapettah, Chennai. The series drew many curious rasikas to the cinema halls and the concerts had a positive response.

This year MadRasana is hosting the series from Dec 23 to Dec 27, 2019, again at Satyam Cinemas Serene Screen. The concerts will be from  9:00 AM to 12:00 noon.

This festival is 'By Invitation Only' and to a large extent run with the help of sponsors. MadRasana says that they want to give back to the society in some form and so have donated most of the invites to one charity organization this year.  All contributions made to this charity organisation go to them directly and the rasikas will also receive the 80G certificates from them to get tax benefit. As a thank you gesture a Free Invitation to the festival will be given to the rasikas.

The schedule:

Dec 23, 2019 - Vignesh Ishwar - Vocal
Dec 24, 2019 - Shertallay Dr K.N.Renganatha Sharma - Vocal
Dec 25, 2019 - Jayanthi Kumaresh - Veena
Dec 26,2019 - Bombay Jayashri Ramnath - Vocal
Dec 27, 2019 - Abhishek Raghuram - Vocal

If you are interested in attending the festival please click on the link to register.

http://bit.ly/MadRasanaFestival2019FB01

Artistes share December season schedule online

If you want to mark your calendar for listening to your favourite artistes during the season, keep a tab on the artistes' websites and social media pages.

With the increasing number of concerts year after year, the sabhas take it to the end of November to make public the complete schedule. The sharing of schedules by the artistes helps the music lovers to plan their 'season' in advance.

Here are a few websites of artistes that have the season schedule updated. 

N.Vijay Siva - https://www.nvijaysiva.com/chennai-music-season-schedule
Sanjay Subrahmanyan - http://www.sanjaysub.com/upcoming-concerts
Bombay Jayashri - https://www.bombayjayashri.com/schedule
Sudha Ragunathan - https://sudharagunathan.com/in-concert/
Ranjani & Gayatri - https://www.facebook.com/pg/ragafanclub/events/
Ramakrishnan Murthy - http://www.rkmmusic.in/event_category/schedule/
Rithvik Raja - https://www.facebook.com/rithvikraja/photos/a.927857213921825/3298089563565233/?type=3&theater

Do check back for more updates.