NORTH EAST OHIO ASSOCIATION (NEOTA) Presents Annamacharya Aradhana 2018 Sunday, September 30th, 2018 2:00pm - 7:00pm Revere High School, 3420 Everett Road, Richfield OH - 44286 Web: www.neota.org Mail: [email protected] 1 NEOTA Annamacharya Aradhana Vision Annamacharya Aradhana endeavors to pass India’s rich cultural heritage to our next generation, encourage us to love more consciously and with abundance, and excel in personal growth and social engagement. Tallapaka Annamacharya (1408—1503) Annamacharya composed close to 36,000 sankeertanas (songs) out of which only 12,000 are available today. Based on the Vishishtadvaita school of thought, his songs are classified into Aadhyaatma (spiritual) and Sringaara (romantic) genres. Many of his compositions are in Telugu. Annamayya is widely regarded as the Padakavita pitaamaha (grand old man of song writing) of the Telugu language who strongly influenced the structure of Carnatic music compositions that we hear today. Annamacharya considered his compositions as floral offerings to the Lord of the seven hills, Venkateswara. Every year in the month of September/October, NEOTA conducts the Annamacharya Aradhana, to celebrate the life and works of Saint Annamacharya of Tallapaka, as a humble tribute to the supreme devotion of the poetic genius that continues to captivate us to this day! 2 Sri Srivishnu Pasumarthy & Sri Sreekrishna Pasumarthy Pasumarthy Brothers, SriVishnu and SreeKrishna, are a Carnatic music vocalist duo. They started their music education under Bandi Syamala and Nethi Sitha Mahalakshmi, Prema Ramamurthy and Sri.Thiruvarur Girish. They are presently under the guidance of The Malladi Brothers. They have performed in various sabhas across Canada, US and India including All India Radio(AIR) Pasumarthy Brothers owe their knowledge and spiritual discipline to their parents Smt. JhansiRani and Sri Pasumarthy Lakshmi Narayana Sharma. In the past 12 years, Pasumarthy Brothers have gained special interest in Annamacharya's compositions and imbibed Sri.Nedunuri Krishnamurthy's Bani. They consider teaching as a service to god and will continue to strive and spread the knowledge to enthusiasts. Smt. Kalyani Veturi & Smt. Sudha Totapally Kalyani Veturi, Sudha Totapally Founder & Artistic Director Founder & Artistic Director Sree Mayuri Dance Academy- Nataratnam Dance Academy- Center For Indian Center For Indian Dances. Dances. 3 Smt. Shruti Aring Shruti is a multi-talented musician. She is a dedicated vocalist and violinist. She began her initial vocal training from her mother, Smt. Shanti Raghavan and continued her advanced training with Shri Vaigal Gnanaskandan, who was a direct disciple of the legendary Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. Within six months of her training she had learned the art of doing kalpana swarams, alapanam and neraval for more than 60 ragas. The title of Sangeetha Bhaskara was conferred on her for her extraordinary achievement in such a short time by the Gnanaskandan Trust. She has also studied under Shri Ravi Kiran, child prodigy and gottu vadyam maestro. Her violin training was done under Shri She has done a number of fund raising concerts for Narasimha Murthy, disciple of violin legend MS various organizations including Siva Vishnu Temple in Gopalakrishna. She has been multiple times first Parma, Tamil Nadu Foundation etc. and has also prize winner in the Cleveland Thyagaraja conducted music arangetrams and several music Aradhana in both violin and vocal. She has workshops. She has designed several thematic musical given concerts across USA and India. She is the presentations for students of Ragapriya. co-founder and Director of Ragapriya School of music and teaches both vocal and violin in the Cleveland area. 4 Sri Lalit Subramanian Lalit Subramanian is a well sought after performer and educator of Indian Classical Music in the US. Lalit is from Pune and is a currently a disciple of Carnatic vocalists Shri Tiruvarur Girish and Shri Neyveli Santhanagopalan. Lalit is also a trained Hindustani vocalist and has been under the tutelage of Pandit Shekhar Kumbhojkar, a disciple of Pandit Jitendra Abhishekhi of Pune. He also did a short stint of Ghazal training under Ustad Anwar Qureshi. Lalit is also a percussionist and has studied Tabla with Pandit Anand Godse of Pune and mridangam under Shri Vijay Shriram, disciple of Shri R. Ramesh and grandnephew of maestro Guru Karaikudi R. Mani. His understanding of vocal music has a deep influence on his style of playing and is preferred by vocalists and instrumentalists alike for his sensitive support on percussion. Lalit holds a Sangeet Visharad degree with gold medal in Carnatic vocal music, and was a Yuva Wani artist (junior) with All India Radio, Pune for Hindustani vocal music. He also also lent his voice to a Marathi film. While Lalit is well known as a solo performer, he participates in interdisciplinary collaborations with other genres as well. He has worked extensively on projects with well known dance companies in the US and has performed at various prestigious venues in the US such as the Kennedy Center for performing arts (Washington, D.C.), American Dance Festival (Durham, NC), Krannert Center for performing arts (Urbana, IL), Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles, CA), Lied Center (Lawrence, KA), Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana, among others, and has received many positive reviews by mainstream American music and dance critics. Lalit was selected as a IndianRaga senior fellow in 2015. He manages the US operations of a trust founded by his Guru Tiruvarur Girish, called ‘The Brinda Repertory’, which organizes events like concerts and workshops aimed at preserving the unique pathantarams and repertoire of Brindamma. He teaches music and percussion to several students. Lalit is a Biomedical Engineer and works for a medical device firm in the Cleveland area. 5 Smt. Suvarna Pappu Suvarna Pappu is well known as one of the younger exponents of Kuchipudi. A versatile performer and teacher, who has perfected the nuances of Kuchipudi, her mastery of traditional style and contemporary usages reflects the cumulative richness of her learning experiences and presentations. Along with her extensive involvement in the field of dance she continues her professional status as an IT professional and hopes to play a significant role in the propagation of Kuchipudi across different cultures and nationalities. Smt. Manjula Kalluri Manjula Kalluri learnt to play the Veena from Srimathi Rajyalakshmi Sethuraman of Chennai and Srimathi Durga Krishnan of Boston. She also learnt vocal Carnatic music from Vairamangalam Sri Lakshminarayanan 6 Dr. Sudhakar Rao Dr. Sudhakar Rao, MD is our guest speaker who will deliver a short inspirational speech on the topic, "How Saint Annamacharya's devotion can be a great inspiration for children and adults in achieving their goals." Dr. Sudhakar Rao is an eloquent speaker and a good writer. His writings and speeches reflect his desire for world peace and a classless peaceful society. He has been honored with many awards like “Ambassador of American Poetry" and recognized by many organizations such as the American Heart Association. Hindu Temple Society of North East Ohio, Youngstown is awarding the title of 'Acharya' to Dr. Sudhakar Rao. Smt. Shanti Raghavan Smt. Shanti Raghavan is a well known teacher in the Cleveland area. She has been teaching Carnatic music. She is an exponent of the Karaikudi style of Veena. She is also the co-founder and director of Ragapriya School of Music. She has been the cultural chairperson at the Sree Venkateswara Temple, Richfield. 7 NEOTA Executive Board Sincerely thanks all the music teachers, following Donors, Annapoornalu & Volunteers for supporting this event! Donors Annapoornalu Sree Venkatesawara Temple Smt. Bala Kasibhatla Smt. Barathi Vedula & Sri Ravindranath Tagore Koduru Smt. Bharathi Vedula Smt. Geeta & Sri Sita Rama Reddy Tondapu Smt. Hamsa Tadepally Sri. Kannan Venkataraman Smt. Madhavi & Sri Venkatesh Polaconda Smt. Indira Gogisetty Smt. Pushpa & Sri Naveen Mandepudi Smt. Kalyani Penumudy Smt. Sita & Sri Ashok Ramadugu Smt. Kavitha Tamma Smt. Swathi & Sri RamaRao Appana Smt. Krishna Priya Buddhavarapu Smt. Lata Ayyagari Some Anonymous Donor(s) Smt. Madhavi Katta Smt. Madhavi Polakonda Smt. Malathi Jala Smt. Pallavi Raghupathy Smt. Purnima Malla Smt. Poornima Peruri Smt. Ramya Smt. Sravanthi Khammampati Smt. Srilakshmi Muvva Smt. Sudha Bhimavarapu Smt. Swathi Appana Smt. Valli Duvvuri Smt. Veena Reddyvari North East Ohio Telugu Association Web: www.neota.org eMail: [email protected] A 501© Tax-Exempt Organization Committed to promoting our heritage through the Annamacharya Aradhana 8 .