The NAK team: (From left) Charulatha Chandrasekar, Swarathmika Srikanth, Adithya Raja, Shreelakshmi Bhat and Vamsidhara Anand.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Social media may have become the go to medium for young artistes to connect with audience across the globe, but the appeal of a live performance will never fade. Artistes are exploring new ways of in-person presentations. One such is ‘Namba Aathu Katcheri’, an initiative by a group of young artistes, where chamber concert-meets-technology. As the name suggests, the concerts are held in an interactive and intimate setting. But unlike conventional chamber concerts, they are also live streamed.
Conceptualised by Adithya Raja, a young Carnatic music enthusiast, the group includes vocalist Swarathmika Srikanth, violinist Shreelakshmi Bhat, and mridangist Vamsidhara Anand.
The initiative is designed to host performances by both established and young artistes to engage rasikas of all ages. The first episode featured a group of artistes singing Tyagaraja’s Pancharatna kritis. It took place at Swarathmika’s house.
New approach
In a well-lit living room of an apartment in Nanganallur, the rasikas are seated on the floor. The microphones and cameras are all in place, and vocalists Dhruv and Dhatre are joined by mridangist Anirudh Raj and violinist Gayathri Vibhavari. Dhruv chooses a slip of paper from a bowl and begins to sing the kriti written on it. “While we follow the traditional format of the Carnatic kutcheri, these new approaches using gamification have attracted millennial rasikas and young artistes”, says the NAK team.
Over the last six months, the team has conducted 11 thematic concerts every alternate Sundays. The themes included ‘Real-time Pallavis’ (focusing only on pallavis), ‘The Duality’ (bringing out two aspects of a composition), ‘Welcoming Varali’ (featuring seven different Varali ragas), and ‘The Unsung Abhangs’.
Spotlight on instrumentalists
The NAK team also aims to recognise the significance of instrumentalists and ensure they get the spotlight they deserve. The solo instrumental performances included ‘Strings and Swarams’ (a mandolin concert based on chittaswaras), ‘Exploring Tadhinginathom’ (mridangists presenting panchanadai) and ‘+4 to -4’ (a flute and mridangam concert).
At ‘The Wheel of Ragas’ concert, violinist Shreelakshmi along with mridangist Sannath Parameswaran played ragas starting with the alphabet selected from a spin-off wheel that was randomly displayed on a screen. “It was a unique experience. I played most of the ragas impromptu,” says Shreelakshmi.
What makes this initiative more enjoyable for artistes is that they can perform in casual clothes. , , “Here, artistes have the freedom to choose their theme, co-performers, and repertoire”.
Says vainika Charulatha Chandrasekar, who led ‘Solo Duo’, NAK’s first instrumental kutcheri “We experimented with ragam-tanam-pallavi in Vanaspati raga, with mridangists Vamsidhara and GN Bhuvan playing for the tanam, which is seldom heard in traditional kutcheris”.
Social media presence
NAK has embraced the online media too — from interesting promos about practice sessions and content discussions to the digital presentation of pillar graphics displayed on screen during live-streamed kutcheris andshort videos of unique performances.
Vamsidhara shares, “The promo shoots are the most fun-filled as they arenaturally shot, and nothing is scripted”. We’ve received messages from unknown rasikas asking for more promos and Spotlight videos”.
Adithya adds, “Some senior artistes such as mridangists Sumesh Narayanan and Delhi Sairam, and vocalist Bharath Sundar have watched our online content and have evinced interest in participating in NAK kutcheris. This is very encouraging.”
While kutcheris were initially held at artistes’ homes, the team is now taking it to the homes of rasikas. The first such concert was at Valasarawakkam. “Those interested to host a kutcheri can message us on our social media handles”, says Adithya.
Sessions by experts
In a bid to expand the musical horizons, NAK is looking at music education. “We have planned to invite experts to share their insights on the various aspects of Carnatic music. Our first interactive workshop titled ‘Richness in alapanas and swaram’ will be conducted by vainika Ramana Balachandran,” say the team members.
NAK is working on a variety of exciting projects to bridge the gap between classical music and music lovers.
