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Lalgudi Jayaraman’s Gati Neevani in Thodi — no words to describe

I have been enjoying this gem from the 1967 Krishnaghana Sabha concert where they have rendered Thyagaraja’s Lalgudi Pancharatnams in addition to an RTP. The whole concert is amazing.

So expressive… its hard to describe.
——

100% of prasantmusic.com sales go to Haiti until February 1st

Dear Friends,

As relief efforts in Haiti get underway, it is a crucial time to keep the donations going. Most of us have already donated to some of the major organizations.

To add another avenue to this, 100% of all digital sales proceeds from http://music.prasantmusic.com will be donated to Haiti via Red Cross. Not a percentage of, but 100% — all proceeds. You can name your price so feel free to donate more.

To provide another option, you can add a note at checkout if you want your donation to go to Doctors Without Borders. 

This is only valid for about 5 days, so you have until February 1st midnight PST. This is all to keep things simple and straightforward.

So: any album or track, 100% to Haiti, until February 1st midnight. Please share.

House Concert Pics from December 18, upcoming chamber concerts Jan 30 and 31.

Here are a few pics from a chamber concert at the Chandreshekar residence from last month in Fremont, CA. With Susheel Narasimhan and Karthik Gopalratnam. It was a nice concert series and I hope they continue to host such concerts.

I will be playing another such chamber concert at the Sarukkai residence in the South Bay along with Los Angeles based artists Nishanth Chandran on violin and Nirmal Narayan on mridangam. January 30th, Saturday 6pm. If you would like to attend, please e-mail RSVP to sekhar at gmail. The following day will be a relaxing afternoon concert at the Sangati Center in SF at 1pm with the same artists, January 31. Info at www.sangaticenter.org.

So:

Saturday 6pm Jan 30 at Sarukkai Residence in the South Bay. Contact sekhar at gmail for rsvp and inquiries.
Sunday 1pm Jan 31 at Sangati Center in San Francisco.

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See the full gallery on Posterous

Reminder to donate to relief efforts in Haiti

I know everyone has heard and probably most of you have already donated. But in case you haven't yet, here is a friendly reminder.

Please donate now!

http://www.redcross.org/
https://www.planusa.org/content1188763

I know there are many others, but I don't want you to be slowed down by too many choices!
http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649

Unmistaken Child: A moving account of purpose, devotion and reincarnation

http://www.traileraddict.com/emd/10698

via traileraddict.com

This documentary is about a young monk’s search for the reincarnation of his master, Geshe Lama Konchong. I have been especially fascinated with this very specific Buddhist tradition ever since watching the Scorsese film “Kundun” in the late 90’s. If you haven’t seen it, I would encourage you to watch it. It has a score by Philip Glass too.

Back to this documentary. It was humbling to watch the journey of this young monk who basically searched an entire region for this child with almost nothing to go on, and actually found him. I don’t think it matters whether you believe in reincarnation or not or if some might try to nitpick details about how the child chose the right objects during the test. It is a picture of real people with real emotions, engaging in their own traditions that have gone on for generations with or without scrutiny from non-believers.

If you can’t find this movie at blockbuster, try renting it on Amazon video.

Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer at Music Academy 1988

via youtube.com

I’ve been listening to this recording for years, but had never seen a video. I just came across this on youtube. T.N. Krishnan, Trichy Sankaran and G. Harishankar. Hope someone will post the RTP in Bhairavi from this concert on youtube too.

Sankaran and Harishankar are amazing in this clip and even more enjoyable during the rest of the concert.

It would be great to see some video of the masters like Semmangudi when they are in their prime.