Blue Planet Festival – A CARNATIC QUARTET
$25.00
February 27, 2022 8:30 AM EST
Shreya Devnath – Violin | Mylai Karthikeyan – Nagaswaram | Praveen Sparsh – Mridangam | Gummudipoondi R. Jeevanantham – Thavil
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
Blue Planet is a four-month-long digital festival of Indian Classical Music featuring 21 Carnatic and Hindustani musicians. The festival will consist of several concerts and events being made available on the Dhvani website each month. A $200 value, this set of programs and concerts will be included at no additional cost in the 2022 annual Dhvani membership. Some concerts will be released in December will also be available to those who have renewed their 2022 membership. Please renew your Dhvani membership today and don’t miss out on any of these very special programs.
Concept
The festival seeks to invoke the Living Ecology of our Planet and its beautiful but fragile natural resources. It hopes to draw analogies between the Natural World and the Ecosystem of the Arts. It seeks to suggest that both ecosystems need to be cared for, understood and respected. In harming them we only harm ourselves.
Concerts under the Sky
Each concert and performance will be set in natural, outdoor settings in carefully chosen locations in the midst of mountains, sacred groves, mangroves, forests, river banks, beaches and in some of India’s endangered biodiversity zones. Guided by environmental groups and organisations working for social justice in different parts of the country, we hope to initiate preliminary conversations and meetings with artists and these groups to point at issues related to Climate Change, sustainability practices and Climate justice, which underpin the efforts of all peoples’ movements.
We have taken great care to ensure that we are not merely using Nature as a pretty backdrop; we are trying to include the spirit of local and regional conservation and sustainability practices and ideas so that they reflect in subtle ways in the films as we explore the links between Indian Classical Music and contemporary discourses on Ecology and Conservation.
A CARNATIC QUARTET
This quartet has been conceptualised as an effort to explore the coming together of two distinct instrumental artforms, within the Carnatic tradition. The melodic instruments in this collaboration, violin and nagaswaram, come from very different cultural and musical backgrounds, and similar is the case with the mridangam and thavil. The intent is to explore each of these instruments, as also the musical traditions from which they come, without restriction, and to witness the magic that happens when they come together.
Each performance is crafted keeping in mind the musical and sonic uniqueness of the four instruments, and their coming together in both composition and improvisation. Every listener so has something special to take back with them, be it a Mallari, a Bhairavi swarajati, a lilting tillana, a folk song (Kavadi) or even an old film song sung by one of the Carnatic greats. This collaboration, more than anything else, is the coming together of four artistes in simply, a celebration of instrumental music.
A Carnatic Quartet, conceptualised and curated by Shreya Devnath, features artistes Shreya Devnath (Violin), Mylai Karthikeyan (Nagaswaram), Praveen Sparsh (Mridangam) and Gummudipoondi R. Jeevanantham (Thavil).
SHREYA DEVNATH
Shreya Devnath is a student of the legendary Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman. She is a well- established solo violinist, who also curates, performs and tours with “A Carnatic Quartet”, a Carnatic instrumental ensemble, as also “An Experiment with Sound and Music”, a duet with percussionist Praveen Sparsh. A capable vocalist, and committed teacher, Shreya handles students from different parts of the world. She has toured the US and UK extensively, as also Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Dubai for concerts and workshops. She has scored and performed music for plays, ad jingles and short films. Shreya has also created music outreach programs for underprivileged children, with the intent of spreading the joy of music far, wide and deep. Her music is characterised by substance and freshness, a journey for the artiste and the audience.
PRAVEEN SPARSH
Praveen Sparsh is one of the most sought after Mridangam exponents in the field of Carnatic music today. Having trained in the mridangam under Guruvayur Sri Dorai from the age of five, Praveen is now also a multi percussionist and a music producer who has scored and performed music for plays, ad jingles and short films. He has toured the United States extensively, as also, countries like Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium, France, Amsterdam, Singapore, Malaysia, Srilanka, Jakarta, Sydney, Melbourne, Israel and Palestine. Praveen’s perception of music is as nuanced as it is precise, and his boundless artistic curiosity reflects in his wide array of musical explorations.
MYLAI M.KARTHIKEYAN
Mylai M Karthikeyan is a young torchbearer of the Nagaswaram tradition. He started learning Nagaswaram at the age of eight from his father Mylai Sri S.Mohanraj, and then proceeded to learn from Nagaswaram Vidwan Mylai Sri Rajendran, at the age of ten. He then joined the Adyar Music College, and went on to complete his Diploma in Nagaswaram under Nagaswaram Vidwan Vysarpadi Sri G. Kothandaraman. He remains under the tutelage of Sri Vysarpadi Kothandaraman, with a view to further enhance his skills. Karthikeyan completed his Diploma from Adyar Music College, as a Gold Medallist. He was subsequently awarded the title “Vaadya Visaaradha”. He has also been awarded the titles of “Vaadhya Kalaimani” and “Nadaswara Eilaval”.
GUMMUDIPOONDI R. JEEVANANTHAM
Gummudipoondi R. Jeevanantham is a well regarded Thavil artiste, and a disciple of Gurus Sri Sozhavaram Nathan and Sri Vetharanyam V.G.Balasupramaniyam. He has completed his Music Diploma in Raja Annamalai Mandram, earning the title Vaadya Visaaradha upon completion. He has also been awarded the title of Sangeetha Seva Rathna. Jeeva is a ‘B High’ graded artiste of the All India Radio
