Jyotirgamaya: Diya Dhvani, a musical experience under candlelight

Chennai has been the epicentre of Carnatic and classical music, its sabhas and auditoriums reverberating with ragas and rhythms. For a change, from tomorrow, the citys cultural landscape is set to witness something truly out of the usual. Live4You and SciArtsRUs present Jyotirgamaya: Diya Dhvani, a festival that celebrates Carnatic and classical music steeped in tradition, yet framed in a fresh perspective. To give the music a different positioning and to be looked at from a different perspective, the organisers have chosen the century-old Museum Theatre as the venue. Generally, concerts happen in a typical auditorium. We wanted to do it in a different venue, and the Museum Theatre is more like an Opera Hall. This will be done in ambient lighting with candles and diyas, shares RSV Prakash, founder and chairperson of Live4You. The four-day celebration will bring together 12 concerts by stalwarts, including Ranjani and Gayatri, Sikkil Gurucharan and Anil Srinivasan, Ramakrishnan Murthy, and Anitha Guhas Bharathanjali at 6.45 pm, alongside a host of up-and-coming performers who will take the stage from 3 pm onwards. You can catch these artistes performing in other places also. But the candlelight is something that is attracting people, points out Prakash. Ramakrishnan Murthy It is not just the venue and ambience that make the event unique, but also its underlying philosophy. Jyotirgamaya highlights the value and the importance of light. In this particular ambience and this music concert, it is unified by the word Nada, meaning the primordial sound, which is what music is born from, explains vocalist Ramakrishnan Murthy. He draws from history to deepen the connection. If you combine Nada and Jyoti, theres only one person in the Carnatic music landscape, one of the most important composers, that is Muthuswami Dikshitar. He is known by the name Nada Jyoti because his music shines a light on all of us. And this year, coincidentally, marks Muthuswami Dikshitars 250th birth anniversary. So, it would be appropriate to take this opportunity to highlight some magnum opus compositions of his and dedicate the concept to his never-dying, and enlightening spirit. For Sikkil Gurucharan, Jyotirgamaya is personal as much as it is artistic. It is anything that instils hope and wants me to keep improving my music. He will be performing alongside pianist Anil Srinivasan at this one-of-a-kind event. Sikkil Gurucharan Gurucharan, in a conversation with Anil, had reminisced about how they belonged to the era that was before reels and Instagram and the notions. One thing that has always kept us going is how we try to imbibe different confluences of music in our presentation. This evening is going to be a celebration of every influence of music that has made our collaboration even more special, he says. The duo, starting from Carnatic music, will cross paths with Hindustani, Western classical, folk, Bengali Sangeet, and Rabindra Sangeet. Were just out there to pay tribute to wonderful forms of music all over the world, especially from India, and trying to search for light in each form, he adds. While Ramakrishnan wishes not only rasikas but all art lovers from the city to attend the event, Gurucharan looks for this event to continue. I hope this becomes a yearly feature in the Museum Theatre and features a number of artistes, he concludes. Ticket Booking Link: Music of Madras https://mdnd.in/SeasonTickets/OrganizerLandingPage?ci=101&r_id=29790 KYN https://kynhood.com/eventcategory/Jyotirgamaya