A stunning silver jubilee performance in London

by R. Jayadevan

(October 01, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) London experienced a rare violin performance by a twelve year old child prodigy Malavan Sreemurthy. The event was the Arangetram (graduation ceremony) and was held at the Brent Town Hall, Wembley, Middlesex on 27th September 2008.

The veteran violist Shreemathy Kalaivani Indrakumar’s tireless efforts have produced twenty five of her students becoming graduats in violin in London within a span of nine years.

The twenty fifth was for the budding aspirant Malavan Sreemoorthy, who reflected unbelievable talent and his melodious sting play continued uninterrupted (even without an interval) for three hours. It was pin drop silence throughout the programme, except for occasional thundering claps and the comperer’s introductions, which reflected the exhilarating feelings of the audience.

The accompanist artists were renowned Shri Bhavani Shankar (Miruthangam –drum), Shri N Rajaraman (Gatam). They were joined by Sri Sithamparanathan (Morsing/Thabla) and Master Sharavanan Indrakumar (Kanjira).

The flair of Malavan was unprecedented that his accompanists too got deeply involved in the play, thus making the whole event very vivacious. The body movement of the young violinist reflected his deep involvement in the music he played. The event was progressing at a mesmerising progression that I too naturally closed my eyes in enjoyment. It was like being present at a violin program of a renowned vidwan of mature age.

The program started at the precise scheduled time with the Varnam played by the violinist. The play on string of melodic Pancharatna kriti ‘Jegadananda Karaka’ was followed by ‘Entha Munthu’, ‘Ahilandeswari’ ‘Jaga Janani’ ‘Thunbam Nerkayil’ , Thillana other songs. . He played thirteen pieces altogether and Ragam Thanam Pallavi which is important feature of an Arangetram was played very simplistically by the young violist.

At the age when children are preoccupied with the joysticks and computer games, Malavan seems to be preoccupied with the strings and the bow. Without his commitment and unrelenting practice, he would not have gained this unimaginable mature achievement.

The young aspirant has gained this exceptional talent in the western environs in which children get sidetrack by other priorities. The standard achieved by Malavan is beyond the level of much older students in India or Sri Lanka.

Tireless efforts of the Malavan’s Guru Shreemathy Kalaivani Indrakumar and his committed parents have contributed to unearth the talent embedded in this young icon. It was an achievement for Shreemathy Indrakumar and holding this event as her silver jubilee celebrations is very opportune and momentous.

The Chief Guest for the event was Sangeetha Vidwan K Sivaraman who is an exponent in violin. At the initial stage of his speech, he struggled to express his feelings and rightly praised the teacher and the budding aspirant for giving an inspiring musical event which he had not experienced for a very long time. He went on to explain the extra ordinary talents of the teacher to produce extra-ordinary Carnatic violinists in the western society. The Guest of Honour Dr Sri Ramanatha Kurukkal, the Chief Priest of Shiva temple in Wembley joined the Chief Guest to appropriately praise the unimaginable capacity of the young violinist.

The silver jubilee celebrations incorporated a special item of introducing the 25 students whom were graduated by the sheer effort of Shrimathy Indrakumar. Some of the students made passionate speeches about the teacher for making them reach good standards in violin.

If Malavan Sreemurthy continues to build on his extra ordinary talent, he will be placing himself as one of the first to progress to achieve the eminent status in South Asian violin music in a western country. - Sri Lanka Guardian