PALLAVI OF THE CAPITAL DISTRICT, INC
P.O.BOX 1732
LATHAM, NY 12110
PHONE: 518-831-9430
EMAIL:pallavicapital@ureach.com
Website: www.cs.rpi.edu/~moorthy/Pallavi2006/
www.pallavi.us
Newsletter No 2 June 9, 2006
CELEBRATING THE COMPLETION
FIRST DECADE
OF
NEXT PALLAVI CONCERT WITH COSPONSORSHIP FROM HINDU TEMPLE
Nadaswaram Concert on Sunday June 18, 2006 from 2-5 PM
Venue: Hindu Temple, 450 Albany Shaker Road, Loudonville
Artists:
S. Kasim and S. Babu on Nadaswaram
Tiruchi Senthilkumar on Thavil (Drums)
Please see attached flyer for details.
Volunteers Needed for Hosting Artists
We are looking for individuals and/or families to host the 3
artists. If you wish to help out in providing hospitality for
the artists, please contact Thiyagarajan Subramanian at
831-9430 or email him at tsubrama@nycap.rr.cpm
What is Nadaswaram ?
Nadaswaram, also spelt Nadhaswaram, and also called Nagaswaram,
is one of the most popular classical instruments of south India
and the world's loudest non-brass acoustic instrument. It is a
wind instrument similar to the Shehnai but larger with a large
flaring bell, sometimes metal. It may be swung through the air
while playing, creating a doppler effect.
In India the nadaswaram is considered to be very auspicious, and
it is the key instrument which is played in almost all Hindu
marriages and temples. The instrument is usually played in
pairs, and accompanied by a pair of drums called thavil.
Tom Ross, our local composer-Performing Artist adds the
following on Nadaswaram:
It's impossible to dislike nagaswaram. Auspicious indeed.
Rajaratnam was not only a master but had a hand in transforming
the rendition of certain ragas, especially Todi: his endlessly
inventive avoidance of pa and saduring alapanas of that raga affected many vocalists.
Nagaswaram's sound is powerful enough to cause clarinet players
like AKC Natarajan to produce tones on that single-reed almost
indistinguishable from the double-reed nagaswaram.
Its association with weddings has a correlation with the
European (standing) double-reed bagpipe's similar association
with nuptials, together with many cousin double-reeds such as
gaida in Eastern Europe and algaita in Northern African countries.
Tavils, perhaps because of the hours-long religious festivals
they often occompany, reach levels of prasthara or rhythmic
permutation which even mrdangam players can find daunting, and
the give-and-take between these two drum traditions is dynamic
and ever-expanding -- literally changing annually.
Thyagaraja Aradhana held on May 6
The 10th Thygaraja Aradhana was observed on May 6. The program schedule was similar to what we had in
previous years. In the morning, there was group singing of Pancharatna kritis followed by individual
presentations. A record number ( 24 children and 16 adults) sang Thyagraja kritis. In the vening , there was
vocal recital and parallel slide show on Thyagaraja Ramayanam by TV Ramprasadh and party. The
pancharatna kriti team and the list of individual presentations are shown below. Vidya Subramanian and
Janaki Krishnamoorthy coordinated the Pancharatna kritis and Individual presentations respectively.
Thiyagarajan assisted by a coordinating committee organized the entire one day event.
Pancharatna Kriti Group:
Dileep Sathyanarayana
Haripriya Vinayak
Lakshmi Ravichandran
Poornima Bhat
Saraswathi Komaragiri
Seemanti Ramanath
Vidya Subramanian (Coordinator)
Accompanists:
Shiv Kalyanaraman(violin)
Janaki Krishnamoorthy
Ramani Raghavachari
Thiyagarajan Subramanian
Gokul Thirumalai (Mridangam)
Harihar Iyer
( Mridangam)
Individual Presentations
Children/Youth Presenters :Shriya Komaragiri ; Ahi Ajayan; Amoha Ramanath; Angeeras Ramanath;
Dhanya Thiagarajan; Divya Manoharan; Madhavan Elangovan ; Niranjana Srihari ; Pradhita Kolluru; Sessi
Addepalli; Shriya Iyer; Sreelakshmi Addepalli ; Varun Ravichandran ; Nirmala Jayaraman; Rohini
Ramani; Vaishnavi Balakrishnan; Pranjal Patel ; Deepali Haldar; Aditya Shaunak Talapatra; ; Anam
Mehta Ritam Mehta & Pawan Bhimineni ; Siddharth Dubey;
Adult presenters : Lakshmi Ravichandran ;Poornima Ajayan ; Vidya Subramanian Kirtivasan
Nagarajan; Thiyagarajan; Tom Ross; Saraswati Komaragiri; Rama Ramani; Janaki Krishnamoorthy; Jaya
Sekhar ; Mangala Puranik; Ramanath; Seemanti Ramanath; Shivkumar Kalyanaraman Dileep
Satyanarayana; Ramani Raghavachari.
GE Matching Gifts Program – An appeal to GE Employees and Retirees
In 2003 we received approval from General Electric Corporation
to be part of their gift matching program. . GE will match an
equal amount of the donated amount. Pallavi thanks all those who
donated the amount in the past and hopes they will continue to
contribute for 2006 as well. Your donation thus is doubly
blessed. If you know any potential donor from GE please promote
the Pallavi cause and obtain donations. The step by step
procedure to donate and register the amount with GE is outlined
on the Pallavi website.
New members, renewals and Donors
Donors
Arul and N. Balasubramanian
Sandhya and Ravi Pilar
Janaki and M. Mrishnamoorthy
Ramani and M. Raghavachari
New Members/Renewals
Latha Kaliath
K. Balasubramanian
Ishwara Bhat
Bimal Malaviya
Lakshmi Ravichandran
Dileep Sathyanarayana
Sheela Jayasimha
Priyanka Seth
Rajiv Rajan
G.Sadasivam
Sheela Rao
Sridhar Nath
Satish Ukkusuri
Devanathan Vembar
Gopal Sistla
Promoter/Patron
Promoter/Sponsor
Promoter/Sponsor
Promoter/Sponsor
Individual Patron
Family
Family
Family Patron
Life
Family Patron
Family Patron
Student
Family
Family
Individual Patron
Individual Patron
Individual patron
Family Patron
Family
GE Matching Gift Donors
Dileep sathyanarayana, Ramani Mani, VS Venkataramani, Suresh Rajaraman, PR Subramaniam. Praveen
Gramma, Avinash Taware, Rasik Shah, Narayan Nair, Kasi Krishnan, Sheela Jayasimha, and Mohan
Manoharan.
Sponsors and Patrons and Acknowledgements for Pallavi programs
Pallavi organized three major programs this Spring: Hindusthani vocal recital by Ashwini Bhide,
Thyagaraja Aradhana and Sowmya’s vocal concerts. All these programs were highly successful. In
additoon to the donors mentioned above, Pallavi thanks the following persons who sponsored the various
programs.
Gattu Rao, Mangala Puranik, Raj Addepalli, Jyoti Swaminathan, Ramani Mani, KR Shankar, Hari Iyer,
Shiv Kalyanaraman, PR Subramanian, G. ramanath,P.Ajayan, Veena Chandra, Sekhar Garde, R. Ghoshal,
Veena Goel, K. Jayasimha, R.Joshi, Sharad Joshi, H.Kabra, Kajal Lahiri, Nalini Madiwale, Vishnu Mathur,
Swatantra Mitta, Jayant Paranjpe, S.Pardanani, R. Parthasarathy, Raje Prasad, and Mukti Sarma thanks are
also due to Nalini Madiwale, Janaki Krishnamoorthy and Meena Thiyagarajan for hosting the artists.
Pallavi also thanks several volunteers who worked tirelessly for the success of the programs.
Pallavi is grateful to Nalini Madiwale for the coordination of the Ashwini Bhide concert.
Several members have already renewed their memberships for
2006. Thanks a lot! If you have not already done so, please
renew your Pallavi membership soon. If you are not a member,
please become one and support classical music activities in the
capital district. You can send the check to Pallavi of the
Capital District, P. O. Box 1732, Latham, NY 12110. Pallavi has
obtained tax exemption status under section 501(c) of the IRS
code.
Pallavi board members are doing their best to bring in talented
musicians to our area. It costs more (especially after September
11, 2001) to bring artists from India. Please consider paying
your membership dues early in the year so that we can estimate
our revenue position better. Also please become a Family Patron
member or even better Promoter/Sponsor class member.
The categories of membership and donations remain the same ( No
adjustments for inflation!) are noted below:
Annual Membership Classes
Family Patron (Admission to all concerts free for two people)
$120
Individual Patron (Admission to all concerts free for
The individual)
Family Membership (Pass for two people for one concert)
$ 60
Individual Membership (Pass for one concert for
The individual)
Student Member (Admission to all concerts free)
$ 20
Life Member (Admission to all concerts free for two people for
Four years)
Note: Life membership fee can be paid in two consecutive annual
installments of $200 each or in one installment of $400.
$400
$ 30
$ 10
Annual Special Donation Categories
Patron/Promoter
Sponsor/Promoter
GE matching Gift Donors
Patron/Promoter and Sponsor/Promoter Donors will be recognized
at every event of Pallavi during the year as Patrons or
Sponsors.
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2006
____________________________
__________________________
Last name
First name
Spouse (if applicable) ________________________________
Mailing address
__________________________________
Phone: _______________________
E mail address________________________________
Activities you would like to be involved
____________________________________(Some of the activities are
: hosting of artists, fund raising, Brochure preparation, Food,
collections at the desk, membership promotion, newsletter,
mailing etc) Please make your checks payable to “Pallavi of the
Capital District” and mail to the above address: Pallavi, PO Box
1732, Latham, NY 12110.
$500
$250
S.KASIM and S.BABU are the latest in a Nadswaram tradition preserved for more than 300 years by a
great family of musicians from Karawadi in Andhra Pradesh. They were jointly trained by the legendary
maestro Dr.Sheikh Chinna Moulana Sahib (their grand father). They have accompanied him for several
years in concerts. Kasim-Babu concerts in India and other foreign countries in Europe like France,
Germany, Russia, Finland as well as Sri Lanka & Malaysia were widely acclaimed. They perform in the
Thanjavur Bhani- the same style of the one and only T.N.Rajaratnam pillai in pursuit of which Sheikh
Chinna Moulana Sahib (himself a famous Nadaswaram artist) moved to Tamil Nadu and their unique
gayaki style of rendition is exciting and full of depth. Kasim has a degree in physics but decided on a
musical career to uphold the three hundred year musical tradition of his family.
HONOURS AND AWARDS
S.KASIM and S.BABU currently Asthana Vidwans of Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams, Sri Sarada
Peetham of Sringeri Math. Sri Kanchi Sankaracharya honoured them on the occasion of Jayanthi Mahotsav.
S.KASIM:
1984-Awarded Music Scholarship by Government of India.
1987- Mother Theresa awarded “ Kala Saraswathy” title at Hyderabad.
2002- Gold Medal&Citation Award by Pongu TamilDevelopmentTrust.
2003- Kalaimamni Award from the Govt of Tamil Nadu.
Currently running “Saradha Nadaswara Sangeetha Ashram” founded by Sheikh Chinna Moulana imparting
Nadaswaram training to students. As founder of “Dr. Chinna Moulana Trust” presents Nadaswarams to
deserving students & purses to senior indigent artists in Nadaswaram fraternity.
.Babu troupe he has been playing in Tirupathi for over two decades. He is recipient of several awards and
titles.
TRICHY S.SENTHIL KUMAR: Accompanied Sheikh Chinna Moulana Sahib on his tours of Europe,
Finland, Sri Lanka. Has accompanied leading artists like A.K.C.Natarajan & Haridhwaramangalam
A.K.Palanivel among others. At present a regular member of Kasim-Babu troupe & has taken part with
them in all major festivals at Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanams. He is recipient of several awards and titles.
WRPI Melodies of India is back
This is to let everyone know that after a semester-long hiatus,
Melodies of India is back this summer on WRPI, As before this
will be aired from 10-12 noon on Sundays through 91.5 FM