The Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana is many things - it is a home away from home for Indians living in the US, a place to meet friends, and an immersion in many art forms. Above all, the Cleveland festival is the venue where thousands of people gather each year to reconnect with their souls through the beauty of Carnatic music. I was amazed to learn that for 38 years now, the dedicated Aradhana Committee has nurtured this event. It has evolved into a massive operation with several thousand patrons flocking to Cleveland from the world over.

But there is something distinctive about this festival, something that differentiates it from any other Carnatic music festival in the world. This special ingredient is the presence and involved participation of hundreds of children of all ages. Carnatic music is made accessible via a variety of events that include children like myself at various stages of learning. The festival is an exciting resource for passionate young students, who breathe life into the festival, thronging every competition and performance in their colorful pavadais and kurtas. A core event that illustrates the singularity of the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana is the Sustaining Sampradaya (SS) program, brainchild of, and led by, Shri V V Sundaram for the past eight years.

The Sustaining Sampradaya program is considered the crown jewel of the two-week festival. Easily one of the most intricate and complex processes I have ever witnessed, SS is in essence, a concert by children focused on a central theme. My guru, Smt. Tara Anand, encouraged me to apply to this program. This year, forty vocalists and instrumentalists were chosen from among scores of applicants to participate in each of two such programs. The themes were - the glory of Lord Venkateshwara, and a musical tribute to vidwans Shri M S Gopalakrishnan and Shri T R Subramaniam. I had the privilege of participating in the former program.

In order to learn two stotrams and fifteen kritis drawn from a variety of composers, languages, and ragams, preparation began in early November last year. We had intensive online classes each weekend where Shri V V Sundaram would arrange for stalwart gurus like Shri P S Narayanaswamy, Shri B Krishnamurthy, Smt Suguna Varadachari, Smt Nirmala Sundararajan, Smt Charumathi Ramachandran and others to teach one and sometimes two entire kritis. Students logged in from all over the world, eager to learn from these eminent gurus equipped with notations that had been emailed to us in advance of the class. The gurus usually had notable connections to the songs they were teaching us, and we would be fortunate to receive anecdotes apart from authentic patantarams of the compositions. For instance, Smt Manda Sudharani explained the spiritual significance of the Karavalamba stotram to us, emphasizing the need for correct pronunciation of each word. Shri B Krishnamurthy’s explanation on the usage of anuswarams in “Aparaadhamulan” and “Terateeyaga Radha” was poignant and stirring. Then came the regal Sri Venkatagirisam in Suruti ragam from Shri P S Narayanaswamy, taught in the inimitable style of Shri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. In addition to these classes, we had weekly one-on-one Skype sessions with pre-assigned instructors who pushed us to memorize each song and render it with fidelity. Learning at such a pace, it took us over four months to complete the syllabus. Tirupati Perumal holds a very special place in the hearts of many families such as mine, and I certainly felt a deep emotional and spiritual connection to the music.

After this phase of training was complete, classes in manodharmam (creative) skills were commenced, again via online sessions by our instructors. These sessions were conducted for small groups of students where we would each take turns to sing sections of alapanai, kalpanaswaram, and niraval as modeled and guided by the instructor. A concert framework began to emerge, with these sessions often continuing late into the night given the multiple time zones across which we functioned! We laughed when audio time lag on the internet often left us questioning whether or not our swaram landed on talam. As our understanding of the material solidified, so did our friendships. During this training, I had to adapt to the SS workload and learn to juggle school homework and other extracurricular commitments. There was something immensely satisfying in knowing that there were so many of us working strenuously towards a common goal. Despite the daunting task ahead of us, everybody seemed lighthearted and happy. The combined image of God and beauty of the music could not produce any other result.

With two weeks to go for the final performance, the next phase of ‘live’ classes was launched with the instructors from India traveling to different US cities to work with groups of students in each location. This was the first time that the SS community had interacted live, and it was remarkable to see how technology had allowed us to get this far in our preparation. Several classes were crammed into this week with the live instructor pushing us to practise diligently and frequently.

With just three days to go for the recital, all participants assembled in Cleveland for the major rehearsals. In the first marathon 9-hour rehearsal, the instructors apportioned the manodharmam responsibilities amongst us. Late in the day as fatigue set in, lapses in attention began to emerge. While doing niraval in Varali for the line “Aravinda Patra Nayanam, Govindam Uraga Shayanam”, some of us began to sing “Aravinda Uraga Shayanam, Govindam Patra Nayanam” much to the horror of instructors such as Bhargavi Balasubramanian. I thought my legs were forever twisted like a ribbon murukku having sat cross-legged for so long! Song by song, line by line, we reviewed every piece of the puzzle, and things started falling in place thanks to the painstaking effort of the committed team of instructors. By day we would practise, and receive a little homework to be done by the next morning. By night, we would practice our individual assignments amidst preparation for participation in competitions and other festival events.

|