Tsunami relief concerts in Houston
Moving recital: Rajarajeshwari Bhat
An evening of South Indian Classical Fine Arts in Houston raised $25,000 for tsunami relief. The Mata Amritanandamayi (MA) Center of Houston and Swaralayam Arts Forum teamed up for a Mother's Day event on May 8 in Houston.
Amma's compassion filled the evening air, as funds were raised for the families affected by tsunami. The event took place at Sri Meenakshi Temple, Texas. A pastel artwork of Lord Ganesha and a Thanjavur Painting of Goddess Saraswati, flanked by the traditional tall brass lamps adorned one side of the stage. A colourful Thanjavur painting of the Carnatic Trinity composers — Thyagaraja, Shyama Sastry and Muthuswami Dikshitar — shone brilliantly on the other side of the stage.
The evening started in the packed auditorium of over 500 people, with an invocatory prayer and lighting of the Kuthu Vilakku by Sri Rajarathna Bhattar (Priest Emeritus of Sri Meenakshi Temple). This was followed by the address of the chief guest, Sri Skand Tayal (Consul General of India in Houston).
Captivating
Divyaa Unni, dancer and actress (also director of the Sreepadam School of Arts in Kerala and Houston) captivated the audience with her Abhinaya in Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi styles. Noteworthy was her traditional Kuchipudi dance delicately balancing a pot full of water on her head while dancing with her feet on the edges of a brass plate. Her students drew applause with their Bharatanatyam number on the Dasavataram. Carnatic vocalist Rajarajeshwary Bhat of All India Radio Mangalore (also Director of Krishna Gana Sudha Sangeetha Vidyalaya of Ujire, Karnataka and Swaralayam Arts Forum's faculty) teamed up with violinist Shruti Iyer and mridangist Vinod Seetharaman for a soul stirring performance. Bhat's thoughtfully chosen bhajan, `Manasaa Satatam' was a special tribute to the affected families.
Violin duet
The finale was a classical violin duet by the Lalgudi siblings GJR Krishnan and Vijayalakshmi with wonderful percussion complement by mridangist Neyveli Venkatesh and Thirupunithura Radhakrishnan on the ghatam.
Cheque presented
Interspersed between programmes were video presentations by U. Sreedharan (Coordinator, MA Center Houston) of Mata Amritanandamayi's tsunami relief efforts in India and Sri Lanka.
Manjunath (treasurer of MA Center Houston) received a cheque for $25,001 on behalf of Swami Dayamrita Chaitanya (Head, MA Center, San Ramon, California) from Hemalatha Iyer (Director, Swaralayam Arts Forum) and Devi Sreedharan (Co-Chair, MA Center Houston).
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