Aruna Sairam: Taking Carnatic music beyond borders
Posted December 6th, 2018, 09:38 AM IST
Her formidable voice and musical knowledge apart, she makes a lovely visual on stage with her glittering saris and accessories – which by the way adds to her allure. And so on December 15, the inaugural day of the Music Academy Annual Conference with Indra Nooyi, chairman, Pepsico as the chief guest, she is all set to dominate the coming music season. And on January 1, at the Sadas she will be conferred the award by Governor Banwarilal Purohit.
In the spectrum of things, she is a vocalist, composer, collaborator and a person who believes she must also do for the larger good. She has taken Carnatic music beyond borders and has performed across countries - from small forums to really big ones like the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Carnegie Hall to name a few. What is more, her concerts draw a cross section of people, who love her kind of music and the way it sounds. She plays many roles and not the least of them is that of a mentor herself by involving youngsters through Nadayogam Trust, which she founded and also to others around the world.
Hers is the kind of music that has at its very roots tremendous bhakti and classicism. The foundation to this began very early in life in Mumbai ,where she began learning first from her mother Rajalakshmi Sethuraman, who belonged to the Veena Dhanammal school known for its strict adherence to tradition and form. Then she went on to learn from T. Brinda, another great who laid the foundation of her excellence. Aruna, being open to different influences, was also mentored at various points by M. Balamuralikrishna, K.V. Narayanasw-amy and S. Ramachandran.
While her proficiency in classical Carnatic music is a given, what actually gave her individualistic identity when she burst upon the concert platform at a time much younger vocalists were ruling, was the way she sang abhangs.
They became so popular that audiences started swelling at every concert to the extent that abhangs became synonymous with her. Because of her versatility, she collaborated with western artistes, especially using the abhangs as a unifying musical sound – case in point, Dominique Vellard.
The foundation for this step could, perhaps, have been laid from her early years in Mumbai where her family was steeped in music and eminent musicians. Her father Sethuraman, a music connoisseur hosted many musicians and dancers in their home. As a child, Aruna demonstrated extraordinary aptitude for music. It won her first gold medal at the age of eight at the Shanmukhananda Sabha competition in Mumbai . At 14, she gave her her first full-length solo concert at the Rama Navami festival, Bhajana Samaj again Mumbai . She turned 21, and won the Best Young Musician Award at the annual conference held at Music Academy, Chennai year ago. She has not looked back since.
When you watch her on stage she plunges you into another world where everything else stops and there is only music. It is the power of her voice and the strength with which she powers on without seeming to flag. And that is something hard for many others to create -- that sense of being on a rollercoaster of melodies and passion. Her concerts are invariably full house-- try getting a ticket to her cutcherries during the season? Most probably would be sold out!
Whether is a tillanna, a padam or a varnam or a seemingly simple devotional bhajan, she is riveting when she takes centre stage. Aruna has also conceptualized and performed themed concerts such as Aruna - Thousand Names of Divine Mother', a concert and recording project first produced in Germany. The recording was done in the crypt of a Benedictine monastery in Germany with co-artists Christian Bollmann and Michael Reimann.
‘Sources' - are a series of collaborations by Aruna and Dominique Vellard, a master of Gregorian and medieval song. Aruna and Dominique went on to join forces with the Moroccan Sufi vocalist Noureddine Tahiri folding in music of the later Arab-Andalusian tradition as evident in the album Trialogue.Matrubhumi – is a journey through India from the Himalayas to Kanyakumari. This concert was performed with Shankar Mahadevan. Strains of Heaven was with Mandolin U Srinivas, exploring dialogues between the voice and the string. Aikya - is a concert in 14 Indian languages celebrated India's unity in diversity. The Wisdom of Vitthala and Rang Ahangwere dedicated to abhangs.
Le Bebe Bleu a French production (The Blue Baby) depicting the story of Lord Krishna directed by French Theatre Director Dominique Pompougnac. The most important segment of audience for this production was the children of France. Collaboration with Dance - Aruna composed music and sang for the production Yantra and Bhinna-Pravaha of dance choreographer Chandralekha. She has also performed Sammohanam - a confluence of music and dance with Malavika Sarukkai. It's a journey of achievements and fulfilment and the milestones are truly momentous.
(The writer is a seasoned music and dance critic who has written on fine arts for more than three decades)
- Jamie Lever is ‘honoured’ to represent her heritage with Telugu debut film
- Janhvi Kapoor to co-star with Ram Charan in pan-India Film ‘RC 16’
- As ‘Kurchi Madathapetti…’ reaches Japan, this couple makes social media go crazy with dance steps
- Rakul Preet Singh, Jackky Bhagnani plan Sikh, Sindhi wedding ceremonies
- Salman Khan, Ram Charan to launch Varun Tej-starrer ‘Operation Valentine’ trailer
- Devara to release on this date, confirms Jr NTR with new poster
- Nagarjuna, Dhanush, Rashmika to star in Sekhar Kammula’s new film
- Mahesh Movie Fails to Sustain Initial Momentum
- Guntur Kaaram: Mahesh Fidaa Over Sreeleela's Dance
- Venky Film Saindhav on Costliest Injection?
- Don't take life seriously, says Venkatesh
- Kajal Aggarwal film Satyabhama' goes over budget?
- Rajamouli garu's advice helped me, says director Prasanth
- Guntur Kaaram producer hints at moral police'
- Prabhas next movie first look to be unveiled on this day
More Film News and Gossips
- Aditi Rao Hydari misses ‘Heeramandi’ event after wedding
- Bigg Boss winner Munawar Faruqui among 14 detained in Mumbai raid
- Mrunal Thakur follows ‘grandma diet,’ believes in not skipping meals
- Selena Gomez shares makeup-free selfies on Instagram
- Diljit collaborates with Saweetie for ‘Khutti’ Song, says ‘she just landed in Punjab’
- Malaika Arora, Arjun Kapoor, Richa, Ali Fazal, Farah, and more at KJo’s Bash
- Jamie Lever is ‘honoured’ to represent her heritage with Telugu debut film
- Janhvi and Aditya Roy Kapur shine on the ramp for Kalki at Lakme Fashion Week x FDCI
- I am fond of Kate Moss, says Diana Penty, about her fashion icon
- Kriti Kharbanda, Pulkit Samrat share pictures from dreamy wedding
A PHP Error was encountered
Severity: Warning
Message: file_get_contents(): http:// wrapper is disabled in the server configuration by allow_url_fopen=0
Filename: views/newsdetails.php
Line Number: 29
Backtrace:
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/views/newsdetails.php
Line: 29
Function: file_get_contents
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/controllers/News.php
Line: 135
Function: view
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/controllers/News.php
Line: 71
Function: newsdetails
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/index.php
Line: 315
Function: require_once
A PHP Error was encountered
Severity: Warning
Message: file_get_contents(http://www.indiaaffiliates.in/ads.php?size=300X250): failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found
Filename: views/newsdetails.php
Line Number: 29
Backtrace:
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/views/newsdetails.php
Line: 29
Function: file_get_contents
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/controllers/News.php
Line: 135
Function: view
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/controllers/News.php
Line: 71
Function: newsdetails
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/index.php
Line: 315
Function: require_once