Shruthi Swara Laya’s annual musical festival, Bay Area Kala Utsavam (BAKU) will be held on March 28 and 29 at Aria University. Shruthi Swara Laya is a fine arts institution dedicated to Indian music classes in the Fremont area, founded by Anuradha (Anu) Suresh in 1997.
Their goal is to create an annual arts event that honors and shares the culture and history of India via the public performance and traditional Carnatic music, encourage the continued practice of this art form to a high standard, share the appreciation and enjoyment with the larger community and honor those who have paved a way for them to do so.
Anu Suresh pointed out, “This is the [festival’s] fourth year, and we had positive feedback from prior participants about the wonderful experience of participating in this event, listening to the valuable and encouraging comments of the judges. It has also been helpful for the students to watch other peer participants and the quality of the students at all age categories keeps getting better each and every year.”
Students actively participate in local community outreach events and community organizations. Suresh and some of her students are active members in the Fremont Cultural Arts Council (FCAC) and strive to be ambassadors for the Indian classical arts. They have been participating in the Festival of Globe-Silicon Valley, which recognizes the need for communities to work together for a larger good.
This year’s event will be held over two days. On Saturday, March 28, Carnatic music competitions in vocal, violin, veena and mridangam categories will be conducted the whole day.
Suresh said, “This year’s competition adds one more event category with addition of Veena an ancient Indian plucked string instrument along with vocal singing, violin and mridangam, a south Indian classical percussion instrument.”
She continued, “This year we are recognizing two award winners. Rajam Swaminathan Memorial Award recipient Roopa Mahadevan is an accomplished leading Indian classical and crossover vocalist who has worked with many leading artists across many fields. Rukmini Kannan Memorial Award is being awarded to Subhapriya Srivatsan in recognition of exceptional dedication and contributions to the sharing of cultural knowledge and traditions including Ithihasas and Puranas.”
Margaret Thornberry, BAKU committee member and FCAC board member pointed out, “It is important to let these young musical artists know just how much their talent and hard work is appreciated by our larger community. Many of these student performers will be flying to Cleveland, Ohio shortly after BAKU, to play and compete in a nation-wide Carnatic music festival and competition.”
Sunday program:
8:45am Invocation – Varshini Shankar and Maanya Putrevu
8:55 – 9:15am Snigdha Venkataramani & Students (Vocal), Keerthi Krishnan (Violin) Anirudh Suresh (Mridangam)
9:30 – 11am – Guhan Venkataraman (Veena) and Akshay Swaminathan (Mridangam)
11:15am – 12:45pm – Ranjani Ravindrabharathy (Vocal), Aditya Sathyadeep (Violin) and Santhosh Ravindrabarathy (Mridangam)
1 – 2:30pm – Roopa Mahadavan (Vocal), Shiva Ramamurthi (Violin) and Vignesh Venkataraman (Mridangam)
2:45 – 4pm – Dhrithi Balan (Vocal), Avanija Vangala (Violin) and Govinda Rangan (Mridangam)
4:30 to 5:30pm – Prize & Awards Distribution
Bay Area Kala Utsavam
Sat, Mar. 28 and Sun, Mar. 29
9am – 6pm
Aria University
1521 California Circle, Milpitas
