Rupa Ramanathan from Detroit USA, disciple of Neyveli Santhanagopalan accompanied by Amit Ranganathan from California, USA on Mridangam and Viswas , Chennai on Mandolin presented a free carnatic music concert for the residents of Sevalaya on 29th December 2016 at the Margazhi Music festival organised by Sevalaya.
Rupa sang many compositions in Tamil, with Ravi Ranganathan, father of Mridangist Amit Ranganathan providing a brief introduction to each song with details of the composer, the raga and the Tala, which was enjoyed by the children and the elders alike, who were able to understand and appreciate the lyrics.
Chennai is the destination for Carnatic music lovers from all over the world in the month of Margazhi (Dec 15th To Jan 15th). The city comes alive with the Annual Music festival with performances by seasoned and upcoming artistes all through the day for one whole month, in various venues in the city.
Sevalaya organised the concert by Rupa Ramanathan and party to bring the music season to village and provide an opportunity for the rural children and elders to enjoy and appreciate the traditional music which is hitherto confined to only to the upper class urban population.
To facilitate the holistic development of the children Sevalaya also provides free training in music and dance to the children studying in Sevalaya’s Mahakavi Bharathiyar School. The children are also taken to various concerts and dance programmes in city. Sevalaya also invites artistes periodically to perform for the residents.
