Vidya Mandir Students perform at the Sunday Kutcheri

15 students from Vidya Mandir, Mylapore presented a vocal music performance on Sunday morning (2nd March 2008) at the monthly mikeless ‘Sundaram Finance Sunday Kutcheri in the Park’ at the Nageswara Rao Park in Mylapore. These 15 children were accompanied by Shyam on the Violin, Shrikrishna & R. Varun on the Mridangam and by S. Krishna on the Ghatam.

Interestingly, these students, who have been learning music individually from different music teachers and have different music styles, were brought together and trained specifically for the Sunday Kutcheri.

Mrs. Harikripa Kannan, Maths Teacher at Vidya Mandir, who brought together these students for this Sunday Kutcheri said, “The early morning park ambience was very pleasant and conducive for a kutcheri. The mikeless kutcheri is an interesting and innovative concept. The children were very surprised when they were told that there would be no mikes and speakers but they enjoyed their first ever experience of a mikeless open air kutcheri.”


You Tube of Vidya Mandir Students at Sunday Kutcheri

TOI on Sunday Kutcheri

Times of India visits the October 2008 Sunday Kutcheri in the Park at the Nageswara Rao Park in Mylapore

Pammal School Students present Group Kutcheri

UKG Student part of the Kutcheri

For 20 students from Sri Sankara Vidyalaya Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Pammal, Sunday morning (6th July 2008) was a big occasion.

These students started as early as 5am on their 20 km trip from Pammal, on the outskirts South of Madras, to the Nageswara Rao Park in Mylapore for their first Kutcheri in Chennai. One could see the enthusiasm and excitement in the eyes of these little children as they performed on the big stage for the first time.

The rendition of songs such as Sagala Ganaathipa(Aarabi raagam, Athi Thaalam- Dr. Bala Murali Krishnaa), Sri Valli Deva Senapathipathey (Papanasa Sivan), Sriman Narayana(Bowli Ragam, Athi Thaalam), Venkataasa Nilayam(Sindhu Bairavi Ragam-Athi Thaalam- Purandaradaasa), Kurai Onrum Illai and Maithreem Bajatha had the hundreds of people who had gathered around the Kutcheri chess square at Nageswara Rao Park tapping in synch with the music.

Mrs. Malathy Balakrishnan, Principal, Sankara Vidyalaya Matriculation Higher Sec School Pammal, said “The Sunday Kutcheri is a unique concept providing opportunities for young children to present kutcheris in an open air environment, amidst a nice park setting.”

“This is the first time these children have presented a public carnatic music performance. Singing without mikes and speakers was a new experience for them and the performance at the Sunday Kutcheri would have given them the confidence to present more such public performances in the future.”

T. T. Srinivasaraghavan, Managing Director, Sundaram Finance said, “It is heartening to hear that these children put in long hours of hard work practicing as a team, ahead of the Sunday Kutcheri. Our objective is to provide opportunities to young children and the presence of an enthusiastic 5year old UKG student, as part of this music troupe, was particularly pleasing.”

Sri Sankara Vidyalaya Matriculation Higher Sec School, Pammal was started in 1983 with an initial strength of 135 students. The school now is a full-fledged Higher Secondary School with 2700 students on its rolls in this Silver Jubilee Year.

Violin performance at the Sunday Kutcheri

It was a Sunday Kutcheri with a difference. Moving away from the usual carnatic music performance that one has been accustomed to on the first Sunday of every month, the November edition of the Sundaram Finance Sunday Kutcheri at the Nageswara Rao Park in Mylapore saw 12 year old Sriram Sridhar, a 7th class student of Bharathi Vidyalaya, Perumbakkam, present a violin performance on Sunday morning (2nd November 2008).

Sriram has been learning Violin from Smt. Padma Sankar (disciple of Lalgudi Jayaraman). Sriram has also been training in Carnatic Vocal from Smt. Sankari Krishnan.

Sriram was accompanied on the Mridangam by V. Santhanagopalakrishnan and on the Ganjira by S. Balaji.

Some of the songs Sriram presented were Enna Thavam (Aadhi Thaalam, Kapi, P.Sivan), Kurai Onrum (Raagamaalika, Aadhi), Marivarey (Anandha Bairavi, Shyama Sastri) and Shobillu (JaganMohini, Rupakam, Thayagarajar).

In addition to this solo performance, Sriram has also been playing the role of a Violin accompanist in the ongoing Sundaram Finance Sunday Kutcheri in the Park.