It is a paradox – an amazing paradox. You say ‘Washington’ and people will immediately ask “DC?” You say ‘ Columbus’ and they will ask “Ohio?” You say ‘Chicago’ and they will say “Illinois?” But when you say ‘Cleveland’ the response is always Thyagaraja Aradhana? I find this incredible. How has one otherwise not very remarkable city in the USA come to be associated with the Saint of Thiruvaiyaru, almost as inseparably? It is because of the Aradhana festival that is held there every Easter weekend, year after year.

It is a reflection of the regularity, earnestness and popularity of the event. It is a festival that is looked forward to every year by hundreds of Carnatic music loving Indians in the USA and a number of musicians from India who look forward to performing there.

I was invited this year and will give you a first hand view of the events. Let me go chronologically so that I don’t miss out on anything. I was quite surprised to see about 350 children listed to participate in the various competitions held on Easter Friday – that’s a big number by any standard. Multiple sessions were held simultaneously to complete the competitions in a day. It was an eye opener…The standard of the participation was very good. Apart from the numbers, some of the children were extremely good.

They would be able to hold on their own anywhere, including Chennai. It is not easy for them, as teachers are only a few and they live quite scattered. Given the pressures of the American lifestyle, it is hard to have regular classes. Many of them learn from the visiting musicians and follow up with classes on their visits to India and of course, tapes. All this not withstanding, some of the children were outstanding.

We did have our lighter moments when some of them spoke with unalloyed American accents and we waited with bated breath to hear the song in the same accent……!!. But many times the song came out perfectly in chaste Telugu or Sanskrit. Cleveland Aradhana is a festival—much like a wedding back home. All the guests stayed at one hotel. There were many out of state guests—all in silk sarees and pavadais and even the boys looking extremely smart in trendy kurta pyjamas.

The pancharatnams was well attended, on and off the stage. The senior percussion vidwans, Shri Umayalpuram Sivaraman, Shri Vellore Ramabadhran, Shri Srimushnam Raja Rao among others stole the thunder literally and figuratively. N. Ramani, Aruna Sayeeram, Sudha Raghunathan, M.S. Sheela, Rama Ravi, Jayalakshmi Santhanam and others added to the glamour and good will.

The local singers were present in good measure too and it was a gala rendering. The grand finale ‘Endaro’ had Srimushnam Raja Rao maintaining a lively tempo with Umayalpuram Sivaraman, adding life on the ‘Kanjira’. It was wonderful watching all the bon homie--- the crowd just loved it as did we! It was obvious that Raja Rao and Flute Ramani share a special bond with the Aradhana family…..they are just adored there!

The Awards function was equally exciting. It was wonderful to see the great stalwarts being honoured by as great vidwans. Being each other’s contemporaries, the bon homie between the maestros was really fun to watch. The Sangeeta Kalasagaram went to Kuzhikkarai Viswalingam while the Nritya Kalasagaram went to Nirmala Ramachandran.( She and Rama Ravi just wowed the audience during their lecdem on Padams and Javalis).

Vellore Ramabhadran was honoured with the Sangeeta Ratnakara award while it was Adyar Lakshmanan who was given the Nritya Ratnakara award. The Kala Sevamani went to Shri C.K Ramachandran of Salt Lake City who has been promoting Carnatic music earnestly in the US. Two other special awards were given to others in the service of music—Sri Narayan Viswanath, Editor of SRGMPDN magazine and G. Anantha of Houston. It was a heart warming programme.

The arrangements for food—that most important factor---were just perfect. There was a cook specially brought in from Pittsburg and we had hot and fresh (important feature in the USA) and tasty south Indian food every lunch and dinner. This was important as many of our senior vidwans are accustomed only to hot idili/dosa/upma routines, while the younger lot is savvy with Bagels or waffles. It is kind of hard for some of our purists!!! Meal times were looked forward to by all, as this was a place to let down your hair and hobnob with the ‘Who’s Who’ of carnatic music! Meal times are also where the G-Power—girl power is much in force. G power is also ‘Gomati’ power (Sundaram and Balu), who along with some other ladies and young men, make the dining hall lively and efficient. It is a tough job--- a labour of love for all these volunteers. The inevitable Pizza joints and the ‘Starbucks’ of course are favorite hubs in this orbit.

The concerts are well attended and received. As I often say it is the intellectual or ‘creamy layer’ that has migrated to the USA and they do maintain high standards in all they do. It was a pleasure to perform there amidst discerning listeners. Let me give you a quick overview of some of the concerts I was present in. Kasim and Babu played a delightful Nagaswaram concert. They did an elaborate Kambhoji and the Thyagaraja masterpiece—‘O Rangasayee’. They also played a Dasavatara Ragamalika of Maharaja Swati Tirunal. It was really good seeing a Nagaswaram concert so well attended and appreciated.

This was followed by a concert by Sudha Raghunathan that was also very well attended. Vittal Ramamurthy accompanied her on the violin and Mannargudi Easwaran on the mridangam. Sudha sang in her inimitable style and her fans thoroughly enjoyed her concert. The audience was however in for a double dose of Kambhoji and O rangasayee!! It turned out to be quite a Kambhoji evening. She followed it up with an RTP in Subhapantuvarali.

Ranjani and Gayatri performed a morning concert. There was a full audience in anticipation of a good concert and they were definitely not disappointed. The sisters did a very interesting Kedaram piece, a composition of Maharaja Swati Tirunal and capped it with a few rounds of swaras. ‘Marubalka’ in Sriranjani and ‘Mohana Rama’ in Mohanam, preceded a detailed RTP in Simhendramadhyamam. This had a good round of Ragamalika swaras that sustained excitement in the audience. A ‘virutham’ and an Abhang brought the concert to a close. The audience received it very well. However, some enthusiasts who had come all the way from the Bay area were disappointed because apparently the sisters had done the same items (except the raga choice for RTP) in their concert at San Jose. Nevertheless, it was a good concert, full of bhava and energy. They had H.N.Bhaskar and Arun Prakash for accompanists. They did a splendid job indeed.

Aruna Sayeeram had the veteran Vellore Ramabhadran accompanying her on the mridangam. She is a very suave artist who knows how to communicate with the audience at all levels. Her concert was well received too. Ramani Sir was his inimitable self, accompanied by his son and grandson. Some others who performed were B.Balasubramaniam who now teaches in Wesleyan and Gayatri Shankar from Chennai. My concert was scheduled for a Tuesday evening. The concert was well received and I felt good. The audience had a cultivated taste and enjoyed my Javali in Kapi, a composition of Tirupati Narayanswamy very much. All enjoyed the main piece ‘Dorakuna’ in Bilahari. They said it was some time since they’d had a detailed treatment of Bilahari.

The CD stalls by Charsur and Rajalakshmi Audio added color and interest to the festival. Artists have put ‘Semmangudi’, ‘Lalgudi’, ‘Ariyakudi’, ‘Ramnad’ etc. on the musicians map. Now we have ‘Clevaland’ Sundaram, ‘Clevaland’ Balu and ‘Toronto’ Venkataraman in the galaxy of ardent music lovers turned organizers. It is their foresight and untiring efforts that has built the ‘festival’ up to its present status, of course with the inputs of all musicians and music lovers who have supported them right through their 28 years……..