Carnatic music at its best

Violin is considered one of the most noble percussion instruments that has the capability to produce music of any genre ranging from classical to western to fusion. 

The Carnatic music Violin arangetram of Anandh Kalyanaraman and Shivapriya Dayal was held on January 9 at the Sri Sathya Sai auditorium in the national Capital. They have been training for five years under the tutelage of Guru Kalaimamani V.S.K. Chakrapani, who was a top grade artist of All India Radio. He has been performing, teaching and promoting carnatic music for the past five decades.

The chief guest of the evening was Aruna Bahuguna, Director of the National Police Academy, Hyderabad. Dr Vageesh, retired Deputy Director General of All India Radio, in his speech complimented the efforts of the children. Padma Shri Guru Geeta Chandran spoke of the importance of music training in our lives.

The arangetram commenced with a varnam in raga arabhi, a composition of Tiger Varadachari, followed by a Muthuswami Dikshitar’s composition vathapi ganapathim in raga hamsadhwani. The main piece played by the children was a kriti by Tyagaraja -  rama ninnu nammina - in raga mohanam, which they started with an alapana. The percussion accompaniments came together to perform what is called the ‘taniyavartanam’.  ‘taniyavartanam’. 

The two hour long concert was a journey through compositions ranging from that of Arunagirinathar, the 15th century shaivite saint to the 18th century composers-Thyagaraja, Dikshitar, Puranadaradasa, patriotic songs of Subramania Bharati, Narsinh Mehta’s Vaishnava janato, to name a few. They concluded with a thillana in raga dhanasree composed by the Maharaja of Travancore - Swathithirunal.

The musicians included Anandh Kalyanaraman, class 9 student of D.A.V. School, Vasant Kunj and Shivapriya Dayal, a student of class 8 of Shriram School, Aravali, Gurgaon, who apart from being great musicians are also academic enthusiasts, performing very well at school.

The children were ably supported by accompanying artists - Shri Padmanabhan on Mridangam, Shri Harinarayanan on Ghatam and Shri Ravikiran on Morsing.