CHICAGO: Akshaya Music Academy, a Music school in Schaumburg, hosted its Annual Showcase on Saturday May 2 with 93 students presenting a group recital of various classical Fusion songs at Countryside Church Sanctuary in Palatine.
The founder, Mrs Minu Pasupathi, had trained students to sing Raga-based Fusion songs & made them perform with live orchestra. In honor of Saint Tyagaraja, his kritis were combined with various South Indian film songs based on the same raga / melodic scale. The event began with a welcome address, followed by a Solfeggio Special – about 19 children from ages 3 to 8 reciting the swaras from the Telugu Movie Sankarabharanam. A group full of boys sang Sarekaysaari song from the Hindi movie Parichai.
The afternoon session resumed with the evergreen Jagadanandakaraka in Naattai raga, combined with the famous Telugu song Jagadanandakaraka. The adult students performed a group song of Hindolam Madley where they combined Samajavaragamana & Nigama nigamaantha.
14 of the students made creative Swara projects depicting the meaning, color, emotion, devathaas, animals & birds associated with each of the Saptaswaras. They were all displayed for public voting & the best projects were awarded special prizes. All the 14 students were recognized as well.
The event concluded with all 93 students performing together. They sang Doe a Deer (song from the English movie Sound of Music), Nottuswaram of Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar, My country ’tis of thee (Patriotic song), Hum hongey kaam yaab with We shall overcome song by Martin Luther King junior, Janaganamana (Indian National Anthem) & Star Spangled Banner (American National Anthem). All students were uniformly dressed in Black and White costumes while rendering these group songs.
There were few special guest performers who delighted the audience in the afternoon.
There was an extra special treat – a soothing Hindustani Vocal Concert by Ashwin Rode from the University of Chicago ably accompanied by Shyam Kane on the Tabla. Finally, four wonderful students sang Surya Medley, combining Isaiyarasee. It was sung in honor of Lord Narasimha Jayanthi.
The live orchestra consisted of talented budding artists : Akshaya (Keyboard), Adrian (Keyboard), Vaibhav (Flute), Manisha (Flute), Keshav (Violin), Nikhil (Mridangam), Arjun (Guitar) & professional artists namely Sri. Guruprasad (Flute), Sri Nathan (Dolak).
The chief guest for the day was Sri. Jayaraj Narayanan. Srutilaya Music School selected the Solfeggio group & the Surya Medley group as the Best performers of the day.
Delicious food was catered by Indian Café, Arlington Heights.
Mrs Minu Pasupathi, a professional singer, gifted with a versatile voice proposed vote of thanks & provided impeccable rendering of the all time classic – “Singara veylaney deva” with her vocal Nadaswaram. This was indeed a crown ending of all the performances.
Asian Media USA
