Chitra Srikrishna presents BHAKTHI – a musical journey with mystics.

BHAKTHI is anchored by a live performance of songs of the Indian Bhakthi saints, interspersed with short narration accompanied by a visual presentation, to provide the audience both context and a thread of continuity. The program features poetry and music from the 7th century through the 20th-century; traversing across India and in several languages. The program will help the audience explore how the music and poetry of these mystics helped them experience the divine.

ARTIST

Chitra Srikrishna

Chitra Srikrishna, carnatic musician and writer, is a graded artist of All India Radio. As a vocalist for over two decades, she’s performed live, on the radio, and television, across India, the USA, Canada, Malaysia and Singapore. She has trained under several stalwarts such as Seethalakshmi Venkatesan, V.Subrahmanyam, O.S.Tyagarajan and Lalgudi Rajalakshmi. She’s the co-creator and musical force behind HumRaag a show that explores the classical roots of Indian popular music. Chitra blogs for Sruti magazine, writes a column on music for Citizen Matters and runs the podcast Raga Ruminations. She produces RaagTime, a radio program on Indian music in Columbus, Ohio. Her jugalbandhi concerts with Hindustani vocalist Shubhangi Sakhalkar were well received by audiences. Her albums include devotional poetry of Tamil Alwars & Dasa kritis, and thematic compositions on Rama and Hanuman. Her latest program BHAKTHI explores the musical journey of the mystics of India.

The Accompanists

Jaishankar Balan

Jaishankar Balan hails from a family of musicians and had his training in Indian Classical Music from Smt. Alamelu Subramanian in Mumbai.

He has worked extensively with all the leading stalwarts in the Carnatic arena including Dr Ramani, T.N. Seshagopalan, Dr, K J Yesudas, Sudha Raghunathan, Shankar Mahadevan, Ravi Kiran, Nedanuri Krishnamoorthy, and others.

He has performed extensively all over the world and was invited to perform at the United Nations in Paris for the last UN Meeting of the century in 1999. He has also represented India in major Cultural festivals including the “Festival of India” in the USSR and the” Festival of India” in the Middle East. He is also a graded artist of AIR (All India Radio).

Besides being a performer, he is actively involved in teaching this art to many students. He has students all over the world and is regular invitee to numerous Universities to judge the competency of their students.

He was awarded the “Best Teacher Award in NA -2009” by the Cleveland Festival, which is the largest Indian Classical Festival in North America.

Vinod Seetharaman

Vinod Seetharaman began learning to play the mridangam at the age of seven. His first guru was Shri. Ardhanareeswaran. He had his advanced training under Bangalore Shri. Arjun Kumar and Sangeetha Kalanidhi Shri. Umayalpuram Sivaraman. Schooled in the pure classical music tradition under his Guru’s guidance and tutelage, Vinod has developed into one of most accomplished and sought after first generation Carnatic percussionists in the United States. His Mridangam performances have won him wide appreciation from audiences, and his sound technique and creative abilities in the art of accompaniment, solo renditions, and collaborative efforts have earned him a special place in art circles.Vinod has shared the stage with at least four generations of Carnatic musicians that includes Stalwarts like R K Srikantan, Dr. M Balamuralikrishna, T N Seshagopalan, Dr. N Ramani, Chitravina Ravikiran, Sudha Raghunathan, Sanjay Subramanian and T M Krishna.He is a popular teacher, and his students are regular features in music festivals and competitions. His vision is to work with a variety of musicians and propagate Indian percussion to diverse audiences across the globe.