Pallavita presents VivRti-2012 a celebration of the birth centenary of T. Brinda, a highly regarded Karnatik vocalist belonging to one of the oldest and revered lineages of the Indian classical performing arts tradition. T. Brinda hails from a family of royal court musicians of the Tanjore kingdom. The lineage traces back through Brinda’s mother, Kamakshi, grandmother Veena Dhannammal, upto seven generations to Papammal, all very eminent women musicians. T. Brinda shares her family tree with T. Balasaraswathi and T. Viswanathan, pioneers who sowed the seeds of Bharatanatyam and Karnatik music in the US.
The featured artist for Saturday, October 27, is Aruna Sairam, a Karnatik musician and a respected ambassador of Indian classical music around the world. A disciple of T. Brinda she will reminisce on the life, times and music of the legendary T. Brinda. In one of three exclusive U.S. concerts, she will be accompanied by HN Bhaskar (violin) and Patri Satish Kumar (mridangam).
Aruna Sairam is also featured presenter on Sunday, October 28, the second day of VivRti-2012. She will have an interactive conversation on the contributions that T. Brinda has made to Karnatik music and the unique style steeped in classicism of Veenai Dhannammal School that she embodied, embellished and popularized.
Also presented will be “Shanmukha”, the 20th anniversary production by Latha Sriram, Artistic Director of Lalitha Gana Vidyalaya and her students. This presentation includes Thirupughazs and corresponding Krithis about the six stalams (religious sites) of Lord Karthikeya. Accompanied by Lavanya (violin) and Ravindhra Bharathy Sridharan.
Several Bay Area artists and schools will also perform, including “Manifestations of Vishnu”, a bharatanatyam performance by senior dancers from Abhinaya Dance Company; lecture-demo titled “Choreography in Bharatanatyam—History and Practice” by Vidhya Subramanian, Artistic Director of Lasya Dance company; and “Tala Vaadya- homage to Guru Shri Vellore G. Ramabhadran” by students of Sarvalagu Percussion Arts Center and its founder Ramesh Srinivasan.
Asha Ramesh, Artistic Director of Ragamalika, and Mythili Kumar, Artistic Director of Abhinaya Dance Company will be the Masters of Ceremony for the Sunday events.
Saturday, October 27. 5 p.m. Spangenberg Auditorim, Gunn High School, 780 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto. Sunday, October 28. Smith Center, Ohlone College, 43600 Mission Boulevard, Fremont. www.pallavita.org. Thirupathi Bheemas will cater food on both dates. Tickets for Aruna Sairam’s concert are available on sulekha.com.