South Indian Cultural Association Ottawa celebrated 250 years of Sri Thyagaraja regarded as one of the Trinity of Carnatic music composers, in Ottawa on April 29, 2017.  The event included performances of local youth and other interactive activities.  Carnatica Brothers, Shri K. N. Shashikiran and Sri P. Ganesan were invited from India for the concert.  They were accompanied by Shri Mithuran Manoharan on violin and Sjri B. Sivaraman on mridangam.   They amazed the audience by singing a few of the ragas from Raga Repertoire that no one had guessed, including a scintillating display of alaapana and swaras in these ragas.  They presented a selection of very rare Thyagaraja kritis in ragas. 

            The last part of the programme was Nritya Cacheri, featuring the visiting artists and Smt Aishwarya Vijaykumar.  The compositions were sung with manodharmam, including niraval and swara, and the dancer interpreted beautifully. 

            The event was well attended.  Second Secretary, Vishwa Nath Goel, represented the High Commission and addressed the gathering.  He lauded the artists for their brilliant performances and SICA for organising the event.

Ottawa

8.5.2017