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| New England Guruguha Vaibhavam 2023 |
Press Release
05/11/2023
Guruguha Vaibhavam, celebrating the priceless compositions of the Saint composer, Muthuswamy Dikshitar was conducted and performed by a group of Carnatic music enthusiasts at the Parvathi Parameshwara temple in Littleton, MA on Sunday, May 7th. It was a full-day event with over 70 musicians pouring their hearts out, performing Dikshitar's compositions on vocal, veena, flute and the violin.
The "Guruguha" part of the event's name comes from Saint Muthuswamy Dikshitar's mudra or the signature that forms a part of his compositions, representing the guru dwelling in the cave of his heart. It was no wonder that the mudra reflected and resounded in every composition presented that day.
The program commenced with an invocation conducted by the priest, Sri Bhavannarayana Dendukuri and a symbolic vedic hymn presented by Sri T.R. Venkatesh. Sri R. Balakrishnan, from Thiruvarur, set the stage solid with his perspective on the saint's life and highlighted how the term "Dikshitar" mononymously represents Muthuswamy Dikshitar. He urged the performers to approach their learning/offering from understanding the "what, how and why" aspects of the compositions and shared a document that he arduously created for the occasion, describing the background details on every composition that was presented that day. Here is a link to that document: https://tinyurl.com/GGV2023
This year's theme was exquisitely organized as groups of deities, starting with Ganesha, Subrahmanya, Shiva, avatars of Vishnu, and Goddess in various names, moving on to describing the concept of vibhakthi, a unique composition on Dikshitar himself by another eminent composer, Mysore Vasudevachar, and culminating with the popular Kamalamba navavaranam krithis.
It was heartwarming to see how people travelled from all over New England to participate and offer their musical tribute. The following table summarizes the details of the krithis, performers, their gurus, and accompanying artists, all bringing their unique soul-fullness and adding to the ambiance:
GGV2023_Performers.JPG 
Various artistes provided accompaniment to enhance the effect and energize the presentations: Krishnan Parameshwaran, Sadhana Venkatesh, Ramachandran Balakrishna and Siddharth J Sama on the violin; Sriram Rekapalli, Tarun Bangalore, Tarun Shriram and Suraj on the mridangam
Another key aspect of the program was the videos of blessing messages from eminent gurus from India, namely, Vidwans Lalgudi G.J.R. Krishnan, Malladi brothers, and R. Raghul, that were shared. Everyone from far and wide felt the yearning to participate at their own level.
Compering plays a very crucial and important role in any uninterrupted indoor event lasting the whole day, particularly when the event is packed with a large number of performers taking their turns on the stage. The compere eliminates all distractions by ensuring that all attention is focused throughout on the performances on the stage. Guruguha Vaibhavam 2023 Boston was extremely lucky to have Smt. Jeyanthi Ghatraju as the compere. She conducted the event with poise and presence of mind, highlighting in a nutshell the background of every performing artiste and spontaneously expressing appreciation for the outstanding aspects in each performance. All her observations blended seamlessly and beautifully with the theme of the event. It was really a professional handling of her role throughout, which kept the entire atmosphere charged with enthusiasm and involvement.
Elaborate support and arrangements were provided by the volunteers of the temple, particularly temple priest Bhavannarayana garu, Sri Sastry Pulya, Sri Mahesh Gattu and Sri Ravi Sivasankaran, who took it upon themselves to make this a temple event, through live streaming the entire event, by being there throughout the program, and by arranging for fresh food in the canteen. Our special thanks to Sathish Movvar for his audio support throughout the program.
Photos and video clips from the event are available on the 'Guruguha Vaibhavam Boston' public Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/599292308441007). Participants and attendees are encouraged to post their video clips and photos here.
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