Cleveland Tyagaraja Festival is about Children

I arrived at Cleveland on Friday and went straight to the main hall. The lobby was buzzing with activity. Among the visitors, the artists, display booths and vendors, were all the children. They are everywhere. Bright faces and ages from age 5 to 17 or even 18. They are in th halls and the corridors. The fill up every room in the big complex as six to eight or more different age gropups and categories’ competitions take place simultaneously. There are parents hovering about. Some are meeting up with friends, some nervous and others purposeful. Grandparents stand by with food and drink. Volunteers for everything from ticket sales to serving food and from sound systems to stage set up and bustling about. And the children are everywhere in small groups and in twos and threes. The ones whose turns are over look relaxed and are playing. Others are practicing in every nook and cranny of the halls of Cleveland State University.

At the Sruti table we get to see a lot of the families. Every so often we would have a youngster stop by. We ask them how old they are and where they are from and make conversation. Pat come the replies. Some are a bit shy and soft spoken. Others speak with a sunny confidence. We asked a number of children to sing for us. With few exceptions they adopt a serious expression and proceed to sing krithis like Chakkani Raja or Marubalga. We even heard a Dwaitamu Sukhama. The voices are steady and have a firm grip on the months and years of effort. We get to know many of the youngsters who are milling about purposefully. Every corridor and every classroom is a scene of serous activity. The judges are listening and the children perform. Not just vocal. There are mridangam and violin competitions. Veena and flute. There is even a harikatha competition this year being judged by none other than Visaka Hari among others.

Here and there in the great lobby there are small hives of activity. One can spot a Vellore Ramabhadran or a TRS holding court with students and parents listening attentively.
New Jersey and California seem to be the most frequently represented states, but there are children here form nearly every contiguous state on the mainland. Canada is well represented; Toronto and Montreal at any rate.

Vidwans and Vidushis abound. I could not begin to name them all. Senior musicians, musicologists, instrumentalists, established stars, and up and coming artists all congregate in Cleveland. They are all here to judge and to perform and suddenly it strikes me that they all also seem to enjoy mingling with the young children who are here for the competition.

As I was returning from lunch I heard someone playing the violin around the corner from me. I thought it must be a senior artist. I waited to see them emerge from behind the wall. I saw a little girl come by and then I expected to see the artist. No one else came out. I looked at the girl again and I saw she was carrying a violin box almost too big for her to carry. I squatted down a bit so I could be closer to her as I spoke. I ask her if that was her playing the violin. “Yes.” She hesitantly replies. I asked her if she would play a song for us at the Sruti table. “I’m feeling a bit uncomfortable, “she says. I suggest she go ask her parents. She gently nods in relief and walk away in her pavadai and chokka. She returns a while late with her mother. She is 10 years of age. She sits down on the floor by our table and plays “Kalikiyuntegada”. Exquisite firm notes emanate. Not a hint of any hesitation. The violin speaks and sings and we feel every phrase being delivered with a depth not found in more senior musicians. People around us stop to listen. Listening to her play it is easy now to understand why we think music is a divine gift. The next day she comes by our table again clutching a handful of trophies she has won.

What brings all these youngsters here? How do they experience Cleveland? What do they take away from all this? I catch up with three youngsters who agree to meet and speak with me about their experiences at Cleveland. Swetha Chandrasekhar and her brother Rohit form Princeton, New Jersey and Sarvesh Ramprakash from Potoma, Maryland chat with me for a while before they, along with most of the other children, disappeared on Sunday. They all go back to their buy lives, schools. Many will stay in touch with the new friends they have made. And they will agin return to Cleveland as part of this annual migration. Many of the artists will be back as well – to see all the children again.

Here is what Rohit and Swetha had to say- in their own words (sort of).

“My name is Rohith Chandrasekar and I am a 1st year engineer at The CooperUnion in New York City, USA. Carnatic music has been an integral part ofmy life for 7-8 years. I have been learning Carnatic singing for close to6 years now. My current teacher is Ashwin Bhogendra, but I used to learnfrom Sri Palghat T.R. Rajaram.This is the second year I participated in the Cleveland Tyagaraja Aradhanacompetition. As a high schooler, bogged down by hours and hours ofhomework, I could not fully appreciate or put in as much time as I wouldhave liked into Carnatic music. However, after attending the Clevelandcompetition, I always have a new insatiable fervor to delve deeper intothe ravines and deep caves of the art, understand it better and improve myvoice. But this interest does not arise from looking at the otherparticipants and proving myself to be the best. Whenever I see the otherparticipants, I am merely in awe of their accomplishments – despite theirnumerous activities, which almost always account for much more than Iengage myself in, are able to sing so well and with such ease. What’sfunny is many times, I receive this Muse from junior and sub-juniorsingers, who could have been learning for merely 5 or 6 years at the most!It is this environment at Cleveland that I love most. For that period ofthree days, despite the piles of work we have back at home, Carnatic musicis the only thing on everyone’s minds. It is as if we all attend a musicgurukulam for that short period, learning, enjoying and appreciatingmusic, while meeting old and new friends. This is the core of theCleveland competition that I hope transcends from this age into the next,providing such an enriching environment for young singers to come as ithas for me.Thank you so much for the opportunity.”
Rohith Chandrasekar

“My name is Swetha Chandrasekar and I'm fourteen years old. I live inPrinceton, New Jersey and I've been learning Carnatic Music for about 6years now. My interest in "paatu" first sprouted when I started attendingslokam classes. My mom enrolled me in paatu classes when I was about eightyears old. I've been learning continuously since then and for the past threeyears, I've been learning from Sri Palghat T R Rajaram.For the two years that I have had the pleasure of attending the ClevelandAradhana Music Festival. It has always coincided with my school's springbreak, so I get to see all the concerts after the competition. I am certainthat Cleveland is one of the most inspiring experiences of my life. Seeingchildren as young as six and seven years old singing like professionalspushes me to learn and practice more. Apart from the competition itself, myfavorite aspects of going to Cleveland are hanging out with friends fromaround the country, whom I don't get to see very often otherwise, dressingup, going to kutcheris and socializing. One of the most exciting parts ofCleveland are meeting the artists in person and getting autographs.Cleveland is not just about coming and competing to see who's the best. Itbrings people from all over the world under one roof to share the one thingguaranteed to be common among everyone, the love for music.I have stage fear and my participation in the competition is helping mereduce my nervousness. When I told V.V. Sundaram Mama about my fear, he told me that there are two things that anyone singing on stage should always have; fear for the stageand respect for the music. He assured me that these two things areessential, even among the most famous artists.Overall, Cleveland has helped me see that there never has, never is andnever will be a limit to what you can achieve, and reach high because evenif you don't make it, you'll be able to look back and see how far you've come.”
Swetha Chandrashekar