Carnatic Vocal Concert by Mahathi
Saturday, 26th October 2024|7:00 pm EDT
| $25 – $35Mahathi – vocal
Alankode Gokul – violin
Delhi Sairam – mridangam
Anirudh Athreya – Kanjira
Tickets: $35
$25 for Members of the McConnell Arts
FREE FOR ANNUAL SUBSCRIBERS
One of the most celebrated Carnatic musicians and playback singers of today’s generation, Smt. S. Mahathi hails from a family of musicians. Her father, Sri. Thiruvaiyaru P. Sekar, is one of the senior disciples of Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna, and her mother, Smt. Vasanthi Sekar, is a flautist and disciple of Flute Sri. Mali and Smt. N . Kesi.
Mahathi’s great-grandfather is Sangeetha Kalanidhi Pazhamaaneri Swaminatha Iyer, a renowned violinist. Mahathi’s great-grandfather comes from the 8th generation of Saint Thyagaraja’s Sishya para mampara. Mahathi is a child prodigy who started identifying classical Ragas at the age of 1.5.
An A grade artiste of the All India Radio and Doordarshan, Mahathi is a recipient of several prestigious awards like “ISAI PEROLI“ the most coveted title from Kartik Fine arts, VANI KALA NIPUNA from Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha,, YUVA KALA BHARATHI from Bharath Kalachar, ISAI CHUDAR OLI, INNISAI ILAVARASI and many others.
She is also a playback singer who has more than 600 film songs to her credit IN TAMIL TELUGU MALAYALAM, AND KANNADA and is a recipient of the TAMIL NADU GOVT STATE AWARD FOR THE BEST FEMALE PLAYBACK SINGER FOR THE YEARS 2008 and 2009.
Introduced by Maestro Ilayaraja, she has worked with leading music directors, A R Rahman, Harris Jayaraj, Vidyasagar, Dhina, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Bharadwaj, Gurukiran, Devi Sri prasad and many others. She is the voice behind many hit songs like Aiyyayo Pudichirukku, Mudhal Mazhai, nenje Nenje, yammadi Athadi, Jabillamavo etc in various languages.
She is the recipient of the Best Raga Alapani & Best Pallavi prize, Outstanding Lady Vocalist from The Music Academy Chennai. Recently received the title “ Isai Chelvam” from Muthamizh peravai from the Honourable chief minister of Tamil nadu Sri M K Stalin in Sep 2023.
She received the title Sangeetha Shanmukha Shironmani from Shanmukhananda Sangeetha Sabha & Fine Arts – Mumbai in Dec 2023. She has been performing in various prestigious venues all over the world. She has performed across the globe and travelled extensively for classical and light music concerts.
Mahathi is the only musician of the younger generation who effortlessly handles carnatic music and film music at ease and keeps it mutually exclusive.
Mahathi & her parents run Mahathi Academy Of Music & Dance, at Virugambakkam, Chennai. A successful institution for about 15 years with over 500 students in different faculties.
Mahathi’s has newly established Mahathi Online Global Academy tutoring students directly under her. Many of her students perform concerts & are prize winners in many globally acclaimed organizations.
Alankode VS Gokul, a virtuosic Carnatic violinist, has been mesmerizing audiences since the tender age of 5. With musical lineage tracing back to his illustrious gurus, Sri. Surendran Alankode, Vidwan Edappally Ajithkumar, and revered Sangeetha Kalanidhi Padmashree Kum. A. Kanyakumari, Gokul’s artistry earned him numerous accolades, including prestigious Bharath Ratna M.S. Subbalakshmi Fellowship, Best Violinist award in Raising Star Series, graded artiste title from All India Radio.
Having traversed the globe, Gokul has enthralled audiences in nearly 1000 concerts across India and international venues, his violing singing with a universal language that transcends borders. His collaborations with acclaimed playback singers KS Harishankar and Hareesh Sivaramakrishnan have also been widely appreciated, showcasing his versatility and flair.
He has also been honored with the Parampara Yuva Prathibha Puraskaram (2023) by Gokulam Goushala Kasaragod, the Mavelikkara Yuva Prathibha Puraskarama (2022) by Poornathrayeesa Sangeetha Sabha Thripoonithura, and the First Prize in Carnatic Violin Competition in the Kerala State School Youth Festival for five consecutive years. He has shared the stage with the legendary Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, and accompanied a plethora of renowened musicians, including Vidwan Abhishek Raghuram, Vidushi Bombay Jayshree, Vidhushi Aruna Sairam, Vidwan Kunnakudi Balamurali, Vidwans Malladi Brothers, Vidwan Ramakrishnan Murthy, Vidwan Sikkil Gurucharan, and many others.
Delhi Sri Sairam is a disciple of Mridangam Maestro Sangitha Kalanidhi Dr. Thiruvarur Sri Bakthavatsalam. He is a post graduate First Rank holder in Rhythmology from the University of Madras. He has also won several awards like the ‘Kalaimamani’ by the government of TamilNadu, ‘Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar’ from the Sangeet Natak Akademi, ‘Yuva Kala Bharathi’ from Bharat Kalachar, ‘Best senior mridangist’ award from The Music Academy, Chennai, ‘Laya Lavanya Trust Award’ from Padmabhushan Umayalapuram Sri Sivaraman to name a few.
His energetic yet sensitive style of accompanying vocalists and instrumentalist alike has won him critical acclaim all over India and abroad. During the past 20yrs he has given thousands of performances accompanying eminent senior artists and promising and upcoming musicians. He has accompanied veterans like Flute Ramani, T.V.Sankaranarayanan, Bombay Jayashri Ramnath, Ranjani Gayathri, Sudha Raghunathan and many senior artists. He has toured the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, Abhudhabi with several artists and performed at prestigious international festivals and venues.
He has had the good fortune of sharing stage alongside his guru on a few occasions, one such being the Guru Shishya Parampara series under the auspices of the Delhi international arts festival, India international centre. He has been part of various jugalbandhis and rhythmic ensemble concerts. He has been a teacher par excellence imparting students the art of mridangam accompaniment for the past 2 decades.
He is also a visiting faculty of the Kalaikovil Academy of Fine Arts in Toronto, Canada for the past 14 years. He has the credit of training over 40 students for their arangetram (maiden performance) in Canada and India.
Hailing from an illustrious musical lineage, V Anirudh Athreya is the great grandson of legends Sri Papa KS Venkatramiah and Alathur Sri Subbier. His grand father Vidwan Sri V Thyagarajan was also a renowned violinist. Seeing Anirudh’s keen interest in rhythm and percussion as a child, his grand uncle, Kanjira Maestro Sri V Nagarajan, a pioneer in the art, instantaneously volunteered to teach him to play the Kanjira.
His skills were further honed and polished by Mridangam wizard Dr. TK Murthy. Majestic in tone, his speciality is accompanying for music and being sensitive to the melody around him. He has performed extensively in India and across the world. Today, Anirudh has the unique distinction of being the youngest Kanjira artiste to have accompanied all senior artistes in the field of Carnatic Music along with many Violin and Mridangam Stalwarts. He has received high recognition and numerous awards and he’s one of the youngest Carnatic musicians to have been awarded the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar by the Sangeet Natak Akademi.
He holds the rare distinction of having performed at the United Nations in the year 2016 along-with legendary carnatic musician Sudha Ragunathan in connection with the World Non-Violence Day celebrations and stamp release to commemorate 50 years of Bharat Ratna Dr. M.S. Subbulakshmi’s performance at the UN.