In keeping up the noble objective to preserve, promote and propagate the time honored cultural heritage of the East through artistic expressions, ECHO, the acme institution, presented a magnificent violin recital program as a fund-raiser on14th November, 2009. The venue was the palatial auditorium at the Scarborough High School in Scarborough, ME.

It was an eventful evening for both the organizers and the audience, for the unprecedented torrential rain gave anxious moments about the timely start and the attendance of a fairly sizeable gathering. However things came to shape soon and the program went on smoothly, proving the known fact that New Englanders don’t shy away from their commitments because of bad weather.

The stage was elegantly decorated to bring an atmosphere of a typical Chennai scene literally, as the recital was led by the violin maestro, Vittal Ramamurthy, from Chennai. His youth ensemble comprised of dedicated and upcoming artists, Maheetha Bharadwaj on the keyboard, Harini Rajashekar, Aditi Ramesh, and Neha Krishnamachary on the violin; the percussion side of things were provided by Arjun Raghavan on the mridangam and Subang Srinivasan on the ghatam.

The concert started with the traditional composition by Muthuswamy Dikshithar in ragam Hamsadhwani. The rendition by the chief de conductor was poetic with all the elegance and ebullience of the kriti. The next two items – one in ragam Suddha Dhanyasi and Nagaswarali were quite violin-friendly and were set on fast tempo with a mix of catchy niraval and sangathis. The number, niravadhi sukhadA, in ragam Ravichandrika was a favorite song of many in the audience, who enjoyed the rendition with cheerful attention. Kurai onrum illai, the time-honored composition of Sri Rajagopalachariar (Rajaji), sure had the audience spell-bound. The climax number was the Keeravani kriti by the notable Tamil poet, Papanasam Sivan. The maestro was quite enthusiastic in demonstrating the arohanam and avarohanam of this raagam before embarking on the elaborate alapana.  All the accompanying artists were quite adept in providing support throughout the program; notably, the keyboard player did an excellent job in matching the expert kalpana swara (improvisations) of the maestro. 

The thani avarthanam (solo percussion segment) that followed revealed the exceptional talent of the youngsters, Arjun and Subang, who had been groomed to stage performance only recently. Both of them matched each other in playing their notes purely (thala suddham) and precisely (poorna layam). A senior in the audience sitting beside whispered, “I see T.K.Moorthy and Vilvaththiri Iyer here.”

The maestro next paid oblations to his guru, the great music legend of our time, Lalgudi Jayaraman by rendering the thillana in ragam Maand. The composition had all the special ingredients of a lilting thillana, with the twists and swift punches keeping the audience in cheer, when it was done in fine style.

 The program concluded with the famous and solemn bhajan, ‘Raghupathi Raghava’, one of Mahatma Gandhi’s favorite pieces and the audience too was mesmerized by the presentation.

The striking feature of the program was the dedication and involvement of the performing artists, primarily children under 18 years, in promoting Indian music and culture. In this respect, the maestro deserves much appreciation, for having done a great job, leading by example. While he revealed his expertise with his chosen instrument, he also extracted the best from the accompanying artists. And they responded and showcased their talent and abilities magnificently. That made the program enjoyable and added value to the efforts of the organizers. May the Lord’s grace be showered on the performers and organizers to keep this lively tradition going for many generations in the area.

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