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 Tyagaraja Aradana, along with other composers’ day, was celebrated at the Malibu Temple, California, this week. The aradana, organised well by Ganasaraswathy, (popularly known as Ganam) a versatile musician and composer, started at 10 a.m. and went on till 8 pm. The speciality of this utsavam was the rendering of compositions of not only those of Saint Tyagaraja but also those of other composers including Muthuswamy Dikshitar, Syama Sastri, Subbaraya Sastri, Subbarama Dikshitar, Patnam Subramania Iyer, Harikesanallur Muthiya Bhagavathar, Papanasam Sivan, Ganam, Annamacharya and Gopalakrishna Bharati, to name a few.
Gopi welcomed the gathering after the puja. On behalf of the Malibu Temple Society, Giridar also welcomed the gathering.
After the rendering of Tyagaraja’s Sri Ganapatini in the Raga Saurastram set to Adi tala, the group of teachers and students rendered his Pancharatna kritis with devotional
fervour.
This was followed by solo performances (both vocal and instrumental) and vadya vrinda (group ensemble) by students of Ganam, Kalyani Sadanandam, Babu Parameswaran, Geetha Bennett, Rose, Muralikrishna, Vasantha Batchu, Shankari Senthilkumar, Suba Narayanan, Tiruvaiyaru Krishnan, Delhi
Sunderrajan.
Memorable performances include an offering by Sangeetha (multi-faceted daughter of Ganam) who sang the ‘Ramayana Astapathi’, a ragamalika composition by her mother and guru, Ganam, while Ganam herself rendered another composition of hers - a ‘Divya Nama kriti’ in praise of Lord Venkateswara residing at Malibu in USA.
Ramakrishna Ramamurty, another talented artiste, rendered the evergreen ‘Tiruvadi Charanam’ in Kambhoji raga. The volunteer group of Sangeetha Arun, Sangeetha, Sowmya, Subha and Krishna Sampath rendered Saint Tyagarajas kriti ‘Sri Janaki’ in the Raga Isa Manohari set to Adi tala very well.
Notable singers include Jayakrishna, Hari Asuri, Rose Muralikrishna, Vina Vasantha
Batchu.
Arun proposed the vote of thanks. At the end of the utsavam all the gurus were felicitated with a ponnadai for their wonderful contribution and for propagating Carnatic music in Los Angeles by Giridhar, board of directors, Malibu Temple. All credit goes to Ganasaraswathy for the grand success of the event.
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