Singing in praise

Rajee Narayan - composer, musician and dance guru lights up the Kuthu Vilakku while the other women composers - Mangalam Ganapathi & Rukmani Ramani join.

The event Stree Gaanam, organised by Vasumathi Badrinathan, a Mumbai-based musician, on women composers in Carnatic music, was a highly successful and highly-rated event judged by the response of the musicians and rasikas besides other dignitaries who attended the event in Mumbai at the Mysore Association on March 7.

It was a packed audience. The who's who in the classical music world in Bombay were present. Everyone liked the event since it was unique and never seen before on a Carnatic concert platform with a multi-media presentation (audio, video, slides, talk and the music). 

The theme had not been attempted by any musician in the past, the rasikas felt. Many of the sabha people said they would like to stage Stree Gaanam in their sabhas. Here are some extracts from the E-mails received by the organisers:

Music, Movies and Mamta Are you ready: Image makeover Red One for Achchamundu! Achchamundu! A day-trip to Dakshin Chitra குசேலன் நஷ்ட ஈடு: தணிந்த சூடு வில்லன் வேடத்தில் சீயான் கலங்க வைத்த இசையமைப்பாளர்

Vasumathi presents Stree Gaanam with Mangalam Vaidyanathan on the violin & Jayalakshmi Gopalakrishnan on the mridangam.

"...excellently conceived, researched, produced and presented event!"  "...innovative, higly informative, absolutely classy and of course extremely enjoyable." "...It was not only very interesting but also very educative, innovative and inspiring! It is absolutely great that you have put in so much effort and time for such this superb research project! You should educate and inspire people all over India with this programme..."

Vasumathi presents Stree Gaanam with the multi-media presentation of video clippings, audio clippings, slides, along with her talk and music.

"...it was a really great occasion when I attended the evening at Mysore Association hall. The programme was excellently conceived and presented. very topical indeed! A lot of work has obviously gone into it. For lay persons like me, the treaurers of our traditional music and compositions of great womenfolk was brought alive..."

"...Kudos to you, Vasumathi. I send you my heartfelt congratulations and best wishes for your future pursuits. I confess, I am awestruck by the artiste, student, organiser, performer in you. Your package was well thought of, neat and crisp. I do not understand the subtle nuances of music but appreciate your efforts and am proud that you are a woman who has excelled. You have clarity in thought and execute the thought with amazing elan..."