Sruti and Jayshree Sarathy present mikeless ‘Kutcheri’ in Madras

First Kutcheri in India for the Calif based sisters

January 2008: California, US based sisters, 13 year old Sruti Sarathy and 11 year old Jayshree Sarathy, presented a carnatic music performance at the Mikeless Kutcheri organized by Sundaram Finance at the Nageswara Rao Park in Mylapore. This was their first ever Kutcheri in India.

Sisters Sruti and Jayshree have been learning Carnatic music, for the last 6 years at the Trinity Center for Music from Smt. Anuradha Sridhar, daughter and disciple of Lalgudi Srimathi Brahmanandam.

Says Mrs. Vatsala Sarathy, the mother of Sruti and Jayshree, "We heard, from our friends in the US, of Sundaram Finance’s Kutcheri in the Park and the platform they were providing for young musical talent in Chennai. I was keen that my kids participate in this prestigious and very different kind of Kutcheri.

We approached Sundaram Finance in November 2007 and sent them music audio files of Sruti and Jayshree via the internet. The audition team at Sundaram Finance was happy with their presentation of songs.”

On their first performance in India, Sruti and Jayashree said, “When we think of Chennai, we only think of kutcheris in the Sabhas. We have never heard of mikeless kutcheris and open air park kutcheris.”

“While we have given several music performances in the US, this is the first time we have performed in India. Also, this is the first time we have sung without mikes and speakers.

This was a different kind of experience for us. The audience was very close to us. Without the mike, we had to put in more effort and I think our voice came out much better.

We were really surprised by the big crowd that was present that early in the morning (630am) and their encouragement really motivated us to perform even better."

T.T. Srinivasaraghavan, Managing Director, Sundaram Finance Ltd., was present on the occasion and presented certificates and mementos to the performing artistes.