It is 530am on a chilly Sunday morning in December. The Nageswara Rao Park in Mylapore, Madras is already buzzing with activity. It is the first Sunday of the month and we are just an hour away from the start of the Sunday Kutcheri in the Park, an event organised by Sundaram Finance, that provides a platform for young children aged below 15 years to perform in an informal park setting.
By 6am, one could see the OB van of NDTV Hindu parked on the Luz Church Road, with their young reporter making all the arrangements and getting the satellite link with their studio in Perungudi, for the Channel to go live to audiences around the city.
Ravi Narayanan, a class IX student of Hindu Senior Secondary School, Indira Nagar walked in with his parents and the Violin and Mridangam artistes.
By 630am, the Kutcheri regulars had taken their seats on the stools around the Chess Square. And it was time for Ravi to present his first mikeless Kutcheri.The morning walkers too joined in after their walk to listen to the carnatic music performance.
Over the next hour, 14 year old Ravi presented some of popular compositions such as Syama Sastrigal’s Himadri Suthe (Kalyani- Rupakam), Muthuswami Dikshitar’s Hiranmayim (Lalitha-Rupakam), Mysore Vasudevacharya’s Mamavatu (Hindolam-Aadhi) and Papanasam Sivam’s Sri Ganesha (Thilang- Aadhi) that drew a big round of applause from the park audience.
NDTV Hindu features the Kutcheri LIVE
At around 715am, Ravi’s Kutcheri was put on hold for a few tense minutes as the NDTV correspondent introduced the Sunday Kutcheri concept and shortly after Ravi’s debut mikeless Kutcheri went live on NDTV Hindu to audiences across Madras. It was a big moment for Ravi and he handled admirably the pause in the momentum, that he had gathered over the last 45minutes, and recaptured the flow of the Kutcheri as the audience tapped into once again into his ragams.
One could also hear the morning walkers chatting about Ravi’s impressive performance.
Malaysian Visitor
Impressed with the performance of the artiste, Mr. Vasu Subrahmanyam, a resident of Malaysia, who had come to the Nageswara Rao Park to watch this early morning Kutcheri said, “The carnatic music performance of young Ravi Narayanan this morning has made our visit to Chennai all the more memorable. This mikeless Sunday Kutcheri in the Park concept is an excellent platform for budding musical artistes.”
Ravi Narayanan, who is learning music from Sri Thiruvarur S Ganeshan, was accompanied by Ms. Satya Mohan on the Violin and R.Venimadhavan on the Mridangam.
TT Srinivasaraghavan, Managing Director, Sundaram Finance Ltd., was present on the occasion and handed over mementos and certificates to the performing artistes.
Organised since February 2006 on the first Sunday of every month between 630am and 730am, Sundaram Finance Sunday Kutcheri in the Park provides a platform for children aged below 15 years to display their musical talent. Mikes and Speakers are not used at the Sunday Kutcheri in the Park.
Sundaram Finance audition committee conducts an audition to select the artistes to perform at the Sunday Kutcheri in the Park.
January 2010 will see a string of morning and evening Kutcheris as part of the annual Sundaram Finance Mylapore Festival.
For registration and audition, contact: sundaykutcheri@gmail.com
