Karnatic Hindustani Music Circle (KHMC) held its annual concert on Saturday, Feb 22, 2020 at the St Matthews Church in Acton, MA. Some of you may know that, KHMC is a non-profit engaged in promoting and providing a platform to musicians in the New England area for the past 25 years, to show case their talents in Hindustani as well as Carnatic musicianship. Established artists as well as young local talent are given an opportunity at six house concerts throughout the year. The KHMC Saturday annual event was a resounding success with a wonderful mix from Hindustani and Carnatic vocal music as well as mesmerizing dance choreographies, percussion jugalbandi, and synchronous blends of Western elements.
The event started with the Indian tradition of offering prayers to Lord Ganesh with a Carnatic Music Choir from Sruthilayaa School of Music by the students of Uma Sankar. The choir also performed compositions on Devi and Lord Rama and ended with a Thillaana. The choir was accompanied by Varun Chandramouli on mridangam.
Next, along with her students (Madhumita Raghu, Hena Banerjee and Varsha Paranjape) Shuchita Rao conducted an interactive lecture demonstration comparing the Hindustani Tarana with the Carnatic Thillana. She discussed historical aspects, popular composers, rhythm cycles and vocal techniques. The team was accompanied by Pranav Ghatraju on tabla, John Funkhouser on harmonium, Siva Santhanakrishnan on violin, and Varun Chandramouli on mridangam.
The Natya Blend Tarana brought together an exotic melding of many otherwise diverse art forms into a beautiful, flowing rendition. Phil Scarff’s original composition in Raag Khamaj rendered on a saxophone reminded of melodious birds beckoning one another in spring. In addition, the rendition was brought alive on stage by what might have been graceful, rhythmic peacocks dancing to welcome rain with Odissi dancer Srabontii Bandopadhyay and Bharatnatyam dancer Anagha Sundararajan. The Natya Blend Tarana would not be complete without the perfect rhythmic blend from Jeyanthi Ghatraju on nattuvangam (rhythmic recitation of bols and cymbals), and Hari Shanmugam on mridangam.
Students of Vandana Rao from the Center for Arts and Wellness performed a Hindustani piece. The group of young, budding musicians sang a melodious Dhrupad composition in Raag Yaman with alaaps and upaj variations that are typical of this style of Hindustani music. It was a calm, soothing contrast to the storm that was about to come. They were accompanied by Pranav Ghatraju on tabla.
No rhythmic system on the planet can match the Indian system for complexity, energy and groove. Taal Vadhya brought a vibrant percussion jugalbandi and rhythmic conversation with Pranav Ghatraju & Harsha Hampapura on tabla and Hari Shanmugam and Varun Chandramouli on mridangam, which kept the audience tapping their feet, catching the beat and swaying at the rhythm.
The grand finale of the event was “Mahishasura mardini stotram with the power to destroy all negativity residing within us†performed by the Ayi Giri Nandini Choir and Dance, a 35-member ensemble. This beautiful item was performed by Music of India Choir group (Choir Artistic Director: Jyoti Sharma) accompanied by live instrumentalists and performed by dancers on stage by students of Natyanjali (Jeyanthi Ghatraju) and Spandha School of Creative Arts (Suman Adisesh). This amazing performance was accompanied by Sarala Sharma on keyboard, Prisha Naduthota on Veena, Jeyanthi Ghatraju on nattuvangam and Ishwin Dembla on tabla.
The MCs of the event were Neelima Chaturvedi and Vaishnavi Kodapalli, both renowned musicians of the area, who brought important nuances of Indian Classical Music throughout the show. The event was organized very well and ran very timely, smoothly and professionally. There was a great turnout, with the hall being full until the end of the event.
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