From Aanandaa Fdn

Unique Music Competition for the Young

Aanandaa Foundation’s third edition of its annual festival of music and dance will be held at the Bangalore Gayana Samaja, K R Road, Bangalore from January 13 – 19, 2008. The festival will feature seven eminent composers of the Carnatic Music including Purandara Dasa, Syama Sastri, Thyagaraja, Muthuswamy Deekshitar, Swati Tirunal, Muthaiah Bhagavathar and Mysore Vasudevachar. Their collective life spans a time period of 1484 to 1961. Leading artists such as U Srinivas, R K Srikantan, Madurai T N Seshagopalan, T M Krishna, Nithyashree Mahadevan, V V Subrahmanyam, Saralaya Sisters and H K Venkatram will perform during this festival. The concerts are open to all music lovers at no cost.

A unique feature of this festival is the initiative to attract the younger generation to understand and appreciate the essence of Classical Art forms in India. A competition has been organized for those under the age of 25 to research on the life and times of the composers being featured, presenting their perspective. The best entry would be judged by an eminent panel of musicians and the award carries a cash prize of Rs. 25,000 and commendation for each of the seven composers. The award winner will also present the work before the relevant concert featuring the composer. This competition is open for contestants globally. Those seeking to participate in the competition need to register on the Aanandaa Foundation website.

The organisers will also announce the V S Lakshmi Narayanan Memorial Scholarship award during the Festival. This initiative aims to match deserving students with carefully chosen Gurus to undertake a five year program. During this period all expenses related to the grooming of the student, not just from a music perspective but also life skills will be undertaken by the foundation. It is estimated that each student will be allocated a sum of 5 Lakhs and this will be reviewed periodically for replenishment. Besides promoting the concept of Gurukulavasam, this scholarship aims to rid the student of the worries of pursuing an education free of the worry of financial constraints and assurance of a secure future.

The Aanandaa Foundation is an organization founded by Subbu Iyer to promote Excellence through Cultural Transformation. Launching the website (www.aanandaa.com), he reiterated the objectives of the foundation viz. to create an appreciation among the young about the essence of Indian Classical Arts, to facilitate performers to practice excellence and perpetrate the great established tradition, and to bring Indian Classical Arts to the mainstream by creating the right channels of distribution and reach.

He also revealed that the Festival will be broadcast live through IPTV. The Anandaa Foundation intends to create a rich repository of content that can be legally accessed to pay on devices such as the Apple IPOD and the Microsoft Zune. Efforts are on to create mutually rewarding relationships with universities and institutions globally that will allow an exchange of culture and informed dissemination of content to create a more accurate awareness of Indian Classical Art Forms and Culture.

Festival details :
Day 1 - Jan 13, ’08:
*Bharatanatyam Janani Iyer Nattuvangam: Guru Smt. Minal Prabhu; Vocal: Shri. Balasubramanya Sharma; Mrudangam: Shri. Gurumurthy; Flute: Shri. Narasimhamurthy; Veena: Smt. Chitra Lingam; Kanjeera & Morsing: Shri. Prasanna Kumar.
*Award Winning Entry Presentation on the Saint Composer Thyagaraja
*Compositions of Saint Thyagaraja: Padmashree U Shrinivas; Violin: Shri. H K Venkatram; Mrudangam: Shri. Shertallai R; Anantakrishnan; Ghatam: Shri. E M Subramaniam.

* Day 2 - Jan 14, ’08:
Award Winning Entry Presentation on Mysore Vasudevachar; Compositions of Shri. Mysore Vasudevachar: Sangeetha Kalanidhi, Shri. R K Srikantan; Vocal Support: Rudrapatnam S. Ramakanth; Violin: Shri. M A Sundareshan; Mrudangam: Shri. Srimushanam Rajarao; Ghatam: Shri. G S Ramanujam.

* Jan 14, ’08:
*Award Winning Entry Presentation on Syama Sastri;
* Compositions of Shri.Syama Sastri; Kalaimamani Smt. Nithyashree Mahadevan; Violin: Shri. M A Krishnaswamy; Mrudangam: Shri. P Sathish Kumar; Ghatam: Shri. Srishylan S.

* Day 3 - Jan 15, ’08:
* Veena, Venu & Violin Concert - Shri. H K Venkatram (Violin); Shri. G Ravi Kiran (Flute); Double Mrudangam: Shri. Srimushanam Rajarao & Shri. H S Sudheendra.
* Shri. Ashwin Anand (Veena)

* Day 4 - Jan 16, ’08:
*Award Winning Entry Presentation on Harikesannalur Muthaiah Bhagavathar;
* Compositions of Muthaiah Bhagavathar; Sangeetha Kalanidhi;  Madurai Shri. T N
Seshagopalan; Violin: Shri. V V Ravi; Mrudangam: Shri. Guruvayoor Dorai; Khanjira: Shri. N Amrith;

* Day 5 - Jan 17, ’08:
*Award Winning Entry Presentation on Sangeetha Pithamaha Shri. Purandara Dasa;
* Compositions of Shri. Purandara Dasa - Saralaya Sisters (Triveni & Kavita); Violin: Shri. VV S Murari; Mrudangam: Shri. Poongulam Subramaniam; Khanjira: Shri. G Guruprasanna.

* Day 6 - Jan 18, ’08:
*Award Winning Entry Presentation on Maharaja Swati Tirunal; Compositions of
Maharaja Swati Tirunal; Naadabrahmam Prof VV Subrahmanyam, V V Ravi and V V S Murari
in a Violin Trio Concert; Mrudangam: Shri. Thiruvaroor Bhaktavatsalam; Ghatam: Shri. Vaikom Gopalakrishnan.

* Day 7 - Jan 19, ’08:
* Bharatanatyam Ensemble by Mudrika Foundation - Ponnamma Devaiah, Anant Nagaraj,  Janani Iyer, Rohini Dhananjayan, Preetanjali, Nattuvangam: Guru Smt. Minal Prabhu; Vocal: Shri. Nandakumar; Mrudangam: Shri. Gurumurthy; Khanjira & Morsing: Shri. Prasanna Kumar
Veena: Smt. Chitra Lingam; Flute: Shri. Narasimhamurthy.

* Jan 19, ’08:
*Award Winning Entry Presentation on Muthuswamy Deekshitar;
* Shri. T M Krishna Violin: H K Venkatram; Mrudangam: Trichy Shankaran; Khanjira: B S Purushottaman.

How to take part
Participants (below the age of 25 years only) will register either online or offline using the manual forms available for distribution through the Aanandaa Foundation designated centers.
The last date for registration is December 20, 2007. Participants can register either individually or as teams. When registering as teams, it is necessary to provide the details of each team member.
The registered participants can submit their presentation either electronically through the Aanandaa website or manually. All entries will be in English and will adhere to the structure provided.
The last date for submission of the presentations is December 25, 2007.
The presentation can include reference material such as video and audio files. However, all these have to be submitted in a windows compatible format. The presentation should follow the following guard rails:

1.The life and times of the composers with respect to social environment, other contemporaries
2.The genre, approach and the style of compositions by the composer.
3.The composer's antecedents, network and connections such as family and friends.
4.The awards and recognition bestowed on the composer.
5.The relevance of the composer, his compositions in the current day context and for the future.

A panel comprising of Bombay Jayashri, T M Krishna, H K Venkatram, V V Subrahmanyam, Subbu Iyer and Janardhan Shankar will judge the entries for the research depth, understanding, articulation, content and expression.

Candidates who are short listed will be interviewed either by phone, video conference or in person. The interview will be for an approximate duration of one hour. Shortlisted candidates would be required to indicate a time slot of their preference during the period of January 01 - 05, 2008.

A final decision on the winning entry will be made based on the consensus of the panel chosen to select the winners of this competition.

Winners will be informed directly on or before January 07, 2008. The award winners would need to travel to receive their awards and make the presentation on the day of the concert representing the specific composer.

For further details / clarification, please contact Sri Subbu Iyer, chairman and managing trustee, No. 26, Palasha, 202, 9th Cross, Malleswaram, Ph 41289549, 9845688917, email subbu.iyer@aanandaa.com, website http://www.aanandaa.com.