Indo-American Festival of Performing Arts

Sarovar 2017
For Global Peace & Harmony

Apr - June 2017

Chitra Srikrishna, our featured NA artist for Sarovar 2017 is carnatic musician, writer, and a graded artist of All India Radio. As a vocalist for over two decades, she’s performed  live, on the radio, and television, across India, the USA, Canada, Malaysia and Singapore.  She has trained under several stalwarts such as Seethalakshmi Venkatesan, V.Subrahmanyam, O.S.Tyagarajan and Lalgudi Rajalakshmi. She’s the co-creator and musical force behind  HumRaag a show that explores the classical roots of Indian popular music. Chitra blogs for Sruti magazine, writes a column on music for Citizen Matters and runs the podcast Raga  Ruminations. She produces RaagTime, a radio program on Indian music. Her jugalbandhi concerts with Hindustani vocalist Shubhangi Sakhalkar were well received by audiences. Her  albums include devotional poetry of Tamil Alwars & Dasa kritis, and thematic compositions on Rama and Hanuman. Her latest program BHAKTHI explores the musical journey of the mystics of India.   

Vinod Seetharaman began learning to play the mridangam at the age of seven from Shri. Ardhanareeswaran. He had his advanced training under Bangalore Shri. Arjun Kumar and  Sangeetha Kalanidhi Shri. Umayalpuram Sivaraman. Schooled in the pure classical music tradition under his Guru’s guidance and tutelage, Vinod has developed into one of most  accomplished and sought after first generation Carnatic percussionists in the United States.  His Mridangam performances have won him wide appreciation from audiences, and his sound technique and creative abilities in the art of accompaniment, solo renditions, and  collaborative efforts have earned him a special place in art circles.Vinod has shared the stage with at least four generations of Carnatic musicians that includes Stalwarts like R K Srikantan, Dr. M Balamuralikrishna, T N Seshagopalan, Dr. N Ramani, Chitravina Ravikiran, Sudha Raghunathan, Sanjay Subramanian and T M Krishna.He is a popular teacher, and his  students are regular features in music festivals and competitions. His vision is to work with a variety of musicians and propagate Indian percussion to diverse audiences across the globe.   

Jay Shankar Balan hails from a family of musicians and had his training in Indian Classical Music from Smt. Alamelu Subramanian in Mumbai. He has worked extensively with all the  leading stalwarts in the Carnatic arena including Dr Ramani, T.N. Seshagopalan, Dr, K J  Yesudas, Sudha Raghunathan, Shankar Mahadevan, Ravi Kiran, Nedanuri Krishnamoorthy, and  others.   He has performed extensively all over the world and was invited to perform at the United Nations in Paris for the last UN Meeting of the century in 1999. He has also represented  India in major Cultural festivals including the “Festival of India” in the USSR and the” Festival of India” in the Middle East. He is also a graded artist All India Radio.  Besides being a performer, he is actively involved in teaching this art to many students. He has students all over the world and is regular invitee to numerous Universities to judge the  competency of their students. He was awarded the “Best Teacher Award in NA -2009” by the Cleveland Festival, which is the largest Indian Classical Festival in North America.   

As an educator, performer and lifelong music lover, Prof. Mark Stone has an extensive knowledge of global musical traditions. Apart from being a teacher of music at Oakland University, he is an accomplished percussionist and has performed with the foremost percussion groups of Uganda, Ghana, Trinidad, United States and in Chennai - the Hub of Carnatic Music where he performs with the likes of Sudha Raghunathan, Carnatica Brothers and other present day stalwarts during the December season. He is also co-founder and partner of Jumbie Records and has produced and recorded eleven different CDs.

FREE DAY
May 20th 30th Annual Thyagaraja Aradhana Festival of Michigan
30th Annual Michigan Thyagaraja Aradhana
The Paschimakasi Sri Viswanatha Temple Auditorium

Paschima Kasi Sri Viswanatha Temple, Flint, MI

8.30AM      Pooja and Bhajans
9.00AM      Group singing of the ‘Pancharathna Krithis’
10.30AM     Individual Singing
12.30PM     Mangala Arathi
12.35         Free Lunch
1.30           Grand Vocal Concert
3.30           Individual Singing (contd)

Click here to register for individual/group singing..

Siva Punya Gana Mani Brahmashri Papanasam Sivan’s birth anniversary is celebrated every year in September. He has composed over 2000 songs in both carnatic music and film songs. His compositions include varnams, kritis, operas and all types of compositions typically rendered in all concerts. To propagate the works and compositions of Papanasam Sivan, the Sivan Fine Arts Academy conducts annual music and dance competitions to showcase the talents of students of Vocal, Instrumental and Dance.