Percussion mela in Australia

THE AUSTRALIAN Art Orchestra (AAO) and Sruthilaya joined hands to perform in Australia at the Queensland Biennial festival, Brisbane, and Opera House Sydney in July-August. Besides, Sruthilaya presented a solo performance at the Queensland biennial programme. The AAO and Sruthilaya gave two performances at Power House Hall. Also for the benefit of the students and teachers of music, a programme on the lines of a lecture demonstration was conducted in which the nuances of jazz and classical music were explained. A highlight of this programme was a musical piece from `Into the Fire' followed by a brief thani- avarthanam by Karaikudi Mani and fellow artistes B.S. Purushothaman, Murali and Srirangam Kannan. `Into the Fire' is a product of the 1996 New Horizon's performing arts initiative mounted by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to promote Indo-Australian relations.

The Sruthilaya group presented a lecture demonstration at the Ethnic Music Centre, Brisbane. Karaikudi Mani explained the nuances of tala/laya and spoke at length on the traditional music instruments mridangam, ganjira, ghatam, morsing and konnakol. Rajeswari Sainath, Bharathnatyam danseuse, explained the importance of laya in dance. Sruthilaya performed to a full house at the Courry Butter Factory, a beautiful village near Brisbane.

The next major event was in the Opera House, Sydney. Sruthilaya presented thani-avarthanam at Studio Hall on August 5 for an hour. The audience responded with a standing ovation.

Sruthilaya and the AAO presented ``Into the Fire' on August 7 at the Concert Hall, Opera House. The highlight was Adrian's base tramboline duo with Mani. Adrian's melodic exploration merged perfectly with the Indian classical improvisation form.

The final piece presented in the prestigious concert hall was the famous `Into the Fire'. Mani sang the Bahudari raaga in the classical Carnatic style which was closely followed by Adrian's tramboline and Scandy's saxophone.

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