Birdsong; a celebration of our winged muses by Ranjani Sivakumar
Friday, 23rd August 2024|7:00 pm EDT
| $25 – $35Ranjani Sivakumar – vocal
Jaishankar Balan – violin
Vinod Seetharaman – mridangam
Jayanthy Prakash – tambura
Tickets: $35
$25 for Members of the McConnell Arts
FREE FOR ANNUAL SUBSCRIBERS
Birdsong is a special concert in the classical music style of South India first presented at the Hyderabad Music Festival in India. The work is inspired by Anne Lammot’s book – Bird by Bird.
Take flight in to a melodious realm with ‘Birdsong by birdsong’ – a soaring celebration of our winged muses that set a flutter in the hearts of Tyagaraja, Kabirdas, Maya Angelou, Amir Khusro and the Beatles.
A preen; a call; a coo
Ranjani Sivakumar will enchant you through her wondrous storytelling and melodic songs in this interactive-style concert.
Being an avid birder with bird calls being her primary interest, Ranjani’s research led her to the poetry of Maya Angelou, articles written by AV Krishnan (Bird and Birdsong), AK Ramanujam, and many others. “I started making extensive notes on how birds have been the muse for poets while peppering the act with anecdotes in real time of the place they have in Nature. Birds have an integral part in our lives — apparently and covertly. Their role is pivotal as seed dispersers, pollinators, and scavengers. Their songs offer solace to everyone who tunes in.”
Flight of fancy
Birds are the pivot for the poems and music of all the pieces that are a part of the setlist in Ranjani’s concert. “The songs have been inspired by their flight and what they stand for metaphorically. The rasa or flavors of the song vary in expression from romance, wonder, spiritual anchoring, philosophy, and thoughts about freedom,” adds Ranjani.
Jaishankar Balan on the violin, Vinod Seetharaman on percussion and Jayanthy Prakash on Tambura will be her partners in tune.
Ranjani Sivakumar, is a classical musician whose music draws attention – for its aesthetics, quality of voice, finely calibrated style and a truthful expression with it.
A Grade A artiste with the All India Radio, music, has been her best teacher and she is thankful for having had the opportunity to travel far and wide with it, thereby enriching her life experience.
Grateful to her Gurus
- Sangeeta Kalaacharya Smt Seetha Narayanan
- Late Sri NS Srinivasan
- Late Sri Chetalapati Balasubramaniam
- And Isai Peroli Smt Dr. Pantula Rama who mould her, she continues her training with steadfast dedication.
Ranjani believes that, “Breadth, adds as much zest to life as does depth.”
She has sung soulful melodies, for cinemas like Pelli Choopulu, Mental Madilo, Thippara Meesam.
Her collaborative projects:
- “raga and yoga” – a detox for the five senses
- “tana bana”
- “Triobroma” – storytelling and music
have received a lot attention and appreciation.
She engages with children, musically, by being a part of an outdoor camp called “Cast Away”.She also teaches at the Jiddu Krishnamoorti school – “Shibumi” in Bengaluru and Amar Chitra Katha in Hyderabad.
A former techie from TCS, she has the opportunity to combine her software skills and music to work with Apple Inc on their music platform. She also works as technical writer for the company Wavemaker.
Jaishankar Balan hails from a family of musicians. He started his music training from the age of 6 and was under the guidance of Smt Alamelu Subramanian and Shri T.S.Krishnaswamy in Bombay.
He has worked and performed along with all major stalwarts in the present musical arena , including T.N.Seshagopalan, Dr Yesudas, Nedunuri Krishnamoorthy, Ravi Kiran and several others.
He was invited to perform along with Dr. Yesudas at the United Nations in Paris for the last UN meeting of the century. He is a graded artist of AIR and Doordarshan and has represented India in major cultural festivals including Festival of India in Russia and Middle East.
In 2009, he received the very coveted Best Teacher Award at the Cleveland Aaradhana Festival.
He holds a Masters in Computer Science and as MBA in International Finance and is settled in Michigan.
Vinod Seetharaman is among the most accomplished and sought after first generation Carnatic percussionists in the United States. His Mridangam performances have won him wide appreciation from audiences. His training in Mridangam started at the age of seven from Shri. Ardhanareeswaran, and he continues his advanced training from Bangalore Shri. Arjun Kumar and Shri. Umayalpuram Sivaraman. The purity and sophistication of Vinod’s mridangam training has enabled him to not only accompany an astonishing variety of musicians, but also given him the freedom to innovate and create meaningfully. Vinod has shared the stage with at least four generations of Carnatic musicians that includes Dr. M Balamuralikrishna, T N Seshagopalan, Dr. N Ramani, Chitravina Ravikiran, Neyveli Santhanagopalan Abhishek Raghuram, etc. Vinod is passionate about keeping up the purity of his traditional legacy even in collaborative ventures. He has composed and arranged the rhythm for many percussion ensembles. 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.
Jayanthy Prakash on Tambura