Outside the transit gate at the Salt Lake City airport, 50-year-old advertising skilled Bharadhwaj Lakshminarayanan was making an attempt to excellent a gamaka, an embellishment utilized to notes in Carnatic music. His 12-year-old daughter, Mahathi, corrected him. Moments later, a gaggle of individuals ready to board the identical flight joined in, singing a Carnatic kriti.
Soon, a mini kutcheri unfolded, with curious onlookers questioning in regards to the style of music being carried out.
This is a scene from mid April this yr, when Bharadhwaj and Mahathi, together with many different Carnatic college students, had been on their strategy to the Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival. First celebrated in 1978, it’s now thought of the most important Indian classical music fest outdoors of India.
At the festival, this group from Bay Area joined a number of different smaller teams, who had practised the identical set of songs. Together, they got here to carry out for EPIC Choir, Chennai-based Sishyakulam’s signature choral ensemble.
This yr’s efficiency featured over 250 performers, aged 5 to 60, sharing a stage earlier than an viewers of over 2,000, in an hour-and-a-half lengthy occasion that’s maybe the most important Indian music choral ensemble ever assembled.
“It was like a musical vacation,” mentioned Bharadhwaj over a name, “There is an energy when we all sing together which cannot be described in words. For us, as much as the actual performance, the journey to it was very rewarding.” He was referring to the months main as much as the occasion, when Carnatic music gurus within the Bay Area together with Hari Devanath, Akila Iyer and Kasturi Sivakumar reached out to their many college students to take part on this endeavour.
EPIC Choir at Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Conceptualised by Sishyakulam, an organisation based by Neyveli R Santhanagopalan to advertise Indian classical arts, the EPIC Choir was shaped to foster a tradition the place youngsters throughout the US dedicate a whole lot of hours to studying Indian classical music.
“It gives these students immense musical growth and exposes them to songs beyond traditional kritis. They also learn harmonies and chords,” mentioned musician Shankar Santhanagopalan, CEO of Sishyakulam, and son of Neyveli Santhanagopalan, a recipient of the Sangita Kalanidhi.
Track file
All this musical motion unfolded at the Wolstein Center, which often hosts basketball occasions. Over 250 college students carried out six compositions set to tune by Santhanagopalan.
The remaining observe, ‘Aradhanai’, set in Nalinakanthi raga, was among the many highlights of the efficiency, with many youngsters enthusiastically chipping in. “It’s become the theme song for the festival,” mentioned Shankar, who additionally carried out the choir.
He added, “When I told people back home that I had organised a choir, everyone was surprised. But the rewards were rich, not just for the participants but their parents too. It helped normalise the idea of meaningful investment in the arts.”
For individuals like eight-year-old Sabarish Rajagopal from New Jersey, taking part in the mridangam on such a giant stage was thrilling. He learns nearly from Chennai-based Patri Satish Kumar. “I made many friends and jammed along with them too,” mentioned Sabharish, whose father drove them to Cleveland, an eight-hour automotive journey throughout which he performed the kanjira to some Carnatic tracks. “I also learnt a lot of new musical ideas,” he added.
With this yr’s choir bringing collectively over 250 classical music college students and their households, the hope for a similiar occasion subsequent yr is hovering. Shankar guarantees to be extra formidable within the forthcoming years with this train. He mentioned, “We might try to bring together over 300 students and their families, and maybe even apply for an official record, like the Limca Book or Guinness. The sky is the limit.”
Published – May 21, 2025 05:20 pm IST
