Sunday, April 1st, 2012 (Special Ramanavami event)

I don't know where to begin the summary for our April event, it was full of special touches: A special venue, special bhajan segment, special taala vaadya segment dedicated to Sri Vellore Ramabhadran mama, soulful solos from our girls, it was such a treat to all those who attended yesterday. My sincere thanks to all those who made an effort to be there.

I know it was bit of an extra drive for many but those who attended would certainly agree with me that the venue was so divine and the ambiance was so very wonderful for the performers. Our children who performed yesterday were really lucky that they got to sit and perform in the 'special stage' that Amma shares. The Ashram folks (MA Center) were extremely happy with our program and have extended their welcome to us for the future also.

Our CCC children who performed as part of the Sarada Bhajan Mandali group did an awesome job singing in unison, it was very well received by one and all. I heard from the Ashram devotees that couple of the bhajans presented were well-known to the MAC folks and they pass their appreciation to the entire group! Thanks Natana for putting together this segment and thank you children for all your efforts towards this. I was happy to see many first-time performers singing as part of this group as well. Congratulations to Adarsh, Aditya, Divya R, Kashyap, Mayuri, Medha J, Ritika, Sandya, Vedika, Kaavya (harmonium), Prasanna (flute), Rahul (Tabla) for a job well done!

The Taala Vaadya segment by Akshay, Vivek, Sathya and Achyut was really nice with support from Srivatsan on the konnakkol. Thank you Vignesh for accepting to be a part of this and accommodating the practices. Our sincere thanks to Sri Ramesh Srinivasan for preparing the children for this segment amidst his hectic schedule. The highlight of this segment was the presentation Ramesh put together with slides about his Guru Sri Ramabhadran mama after the performance. It was very informative, especially for the many children present in the audience. I feel very happy that we were able to show our respects to this great legend in our event yesterday!

The solo concerts by Priya, Shruthi, Malini and Divya were really wonderful and the accompanists Durga, Chinmai, Sanjna, Keerthi, Nitin, Vignesh and Gopal did a very fine job as well. We are getting aboard new members to our accompanist pool and I'm very happy about that.

Sriram and Namdev did an excellent job with their departments, along with me, MAC folks extend their thanks to them as well. Sound was well taken care of by Nami and Sriram's powerpoint slides flowed smoothly keeping the audience well connected with the performers and the performances. Sriram also pitched in with taking pictures and Namdev promptly has uploaded all the pics to our album, please visit the URL below when you get a chance.

https://picasaweb.google.com/118082724801273713233/Apr012012?authkey=Gv1sRgCLGDo93W1pW5dA

Our next event will be on Sunday, June 3rd 2012, please mark your calendars and save the afternoon for CCC. Our best wishes to all those going to Cleveland competitions. Do send me your thoughts/comments about CCC when you get a chance.

Best Regards,

Padma