The ARTery, a Chennai-based arts portal and culture magazine, is hosting a four-day national festival of performing arts titled Svatantra from August 13 to 16 , at Kumararaja Muthiah Hall , Chettinad Vidyashram, R.A. Puram. “The event aims to bring together diverse performing art forms such as music, dance, vernacular theatre and contemporary music on one platform”, says Ramanathan Iyer, promoter of The ARTery. The line-up features celebrated names such as dancer Shobana, vocalist S. Sowmya, actor Suhasini Maniratnam, Hindustani musician Sanjeev Abhyankar and classical pianist Anil Srinivasan.
The festival will be inaugurated on August 13, 6 p.m. with guests of honour including N. Sivaraman (director, L&T Finance Holdings), S. Sowmya and V. V. Sundaram. At 6.15 p.m., Sowmya will present a thematic recital of ‘Ramanatakam’, Arunachala Kavirayar's magnum opus.
The line-upThe presentation will also feature Nisha Rajagopalan, K. Gayatri, Bharat Sundar and Sandeep Narayan. Adding an unusual visual perspective will be a series of paintings by cartoonist Keshav (of The Hindu) . On August 14, 5.15 p.m., a thematic pallavi will be presented by Ashwath Narayanan. At 6.30 p.m., listen to Hindustani strains by Pt. Sanjeev Abhyankar. The vocalist will then collaborate with pianist Anil Srinivasan for ‘Creative Confluence’ at 7.45 p.m.
On Independence Day, the evening will begin at 5.15 p.m. with Sargam Choir by Rhapsody featuring children from 13 Chennai schools. At 6.45 p.m., dancer Shobana and group will present ‘Lotus Feet.’ There will be a live orchestra featuring Rajhesh Vaidya (veena), Palakkad Sreeram (flute), S. Karthick (ghatam), Revathy (vocal/nattuvangam) and Guru Bharadwaj (mridangam).
On August 16, 5.15 p.m., ‘Youth Power’, an orchestral presentation by The Hybrid Division (School band from P.S. Senior Secondary School, Mylapore) will be followed at 6.30 p.m. by ‘Classically Kodambakkam!,’ an audio-visual presentation by Suhasini Maniratnam. This is a retrospective of classical music in Tamil films. The concept is by Subhasree Thanikachalam.
A live orchestra with Saindhavi Prakash, Sathyaprakash Pillai, Anand Aravindakshan, Ravishankar Iyer and Sinduri Vishal; and dance by Krithika Shurajit are added attractions.
Record for freeThe ARTery will set up a special booth at the festival where anyone, irrespective of age, gender, experience or musical genre can record a five-minute performance for free. Video clips from a selection of the best performances will be uploaded on the ARTery’s YouTube channel and there will be special prizes for the top three. The Hindu is the media partner for the festival which is sponsored by L&T Financial Services, Appaswamy Real Estates and Arun Ice Cream.
Seating is free on first-come-first-served basis. Premium reserved seating (first eight rows) may be availed with donor passes (Rs. 2,500/Rs. 1,000). Proceeds will go to charity. Webcast at www.theartery.in for ARTery members and rasikas worldwide (except Chennai). Contact 94440 18270 / 94440 18274 / 86088 88092 for details.
