Tradition – An Evolving Continuum

Vidyasankar, a composer, vocalist, and accomplished performer on the chitravina (a 20-stringed slide instrument), will produce a concert that explores the evolving continuum of South Indian musical lineage. The program will feature a group of United States–based Carnatic (South Indian) musicians, and will include traditional repertoire as well as a new composition by Vidyasankar. Collaborating with Vidyasankar will be Texas-based percussionist Poovalur Srinivasan, who hails from a preeminent line of mridangam (South Indian double-headed drum) players. Other guest artists include Anuradha Sridhar (violin); Nirmala Rajasekhar (vina, a fretted string instrument); Prasant Radhakrishnan (saxophone); Raman Kalyan (Indian bamboo flute); N. Muralikrishnan (electronic synthesizer); Ravi Balasubramaniam (ghatam, a clay pot); and Akshay Anantapadmanabhan (konnakkol, rhythmic vocalization and kanjira, Indian tambourine). The concert will be presented by Sruti at the Painted Bride Art Center, and broadcast live on the web.