Life in early South India revolved around temples. The temple was the place where people gathered around everyday, took darshan, hovered around in the courtyard to chat a bit with friends, had prasadam, heard some good carnatic music, took the kids along for some entertainment, wore new clothes to, looked for possible matches for their sons and daughters, gossiped a bit... and so on.

Did we think this invaluable tradition of life revolving around the temple had vanished from ourvillages? No, not in the great American ones. Here it is back to basics...Indian expats in America do exactly what I mentioned above in the American Indian temples!

Temples here house all the different deities to cater to the different worshippers. (In one temple two factions have been formed in the community based on whether they want to have Pillayar as one of the presiding deities or not). The priest officiates as the manager / PR officer. Generally he is the resource person giving a lot of spiritual support.

Cities like Chicago, Toronto, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Houston, all celebrate Thyagaraja Aradhana during May - June. Youngsters perform Thyagaraja Kritis during the mornings and afternoons, with the two-day festival culminating with a major concert in the evenings. In most of these cities, the temple is the venue for this beautiful event.

Not to mention the Cleveland Aradhana which has become a Movement. You go to any town, the first thing that comes up in the conversation is the Cleveland Aradhana. The people who started this great event have pooled in their personal finances to run the show. Food is prepared at the Aradhana by volunteers, so is serving, cleaning etc.,.. all volunteered.

The American-Indian audience
When people leave their country of origin, they take with them the sensibilities they grew up with, to the land of adoption: they zealously guard those values, whereas back home, things might have changed drastically. This is true of the American-Indian audiences' taste in carnatic music. Long concerts, at least four hours in duration, elaborate Ragm-Tanam-Pallavis, heavier pieces of the musical trinity, a keen knowledge of Raga Lakshana, all these were the hallmarks of the audience we encountered.

In Austin, I was awarded the title 'Isai peroli'. The citation mentioned senior luminaries of carnatic music as earlier recipients and that filled my heart with nostalgia and elation at receiving the award.

The Pittsburgh temple steals a march... sheer beauty. After the concert they requested us on the next day to perform at the 'Sayanam' function, the time when the Lord of Tirupati is put to sleep. It was a memorable experience. The ambience was so beautiful... and one felt inspired. I sang 'En Palli Kondeer Ayya', the Tirupati Kavacham and Laali (Oonjal), among other pieces.

From masala dosai to match-making!
The temple in Queens (we did not perform there, but heard of it) draws a large number of devotees, particularly their masala dosai does! Here, there is a saying in Hindi, "Pehle Bhajan, Phir Bhojan" (first bhajan, then food). This is a great way of attracting people who end up being inspired by the temple and draw a spiritual strength.

The temple in Framingham keeps a record of eligible bachelors and bachelorettes for match-making purposes.

In many cities concerts were held in auditoriums. How they are able to arrange concerts month after month is a real marvel. Most of these organizers hold at least 8 to 10 concerts annually. Sometimes more.

In the small town of Jacksonville, there were very few listeners. Luckily one didn't get fazed by the small number of people in the auditorium. The concert in fact was one of the best in the tour. Later the host Mr. Venkat told us that a total of four or five individuals had under written the entire concert. In fact most of the centres have started just like this with the passion of a few committed pioneers who personally put in funds to start the movement. Today this whole thing has taken a big turn and is actually providing Indian artistes an alternative career. This is a phenomenal break through.

Hindusthani and Carnatic
In Calgary, (Canada) there were both North and South Indians in the committee. They held a dinner each of the two days that we stayed. All the committee members attended the dinners, in a general spirit of bonhomie and bonding. I chose a 'Hindustani' raga for the sub main 'Kumudakriya' in honour of the North Indians. For the main I did a totally south Indian raga 'Todi' and explained to the northerners, its gamakas. They got it. Actually it was more well received by them than the N. Indian Kumudakriya.

In Phoenix, students of the SPICMACAY chapter did a great job of hosting the concert. They put up the entire show, with the help of community members who hosted us.

In the U.S., now we have got used to standing ovations after every concert. At Phoenix we got a double standing ovation, one after the Ashtalakshmi RTP, and one more at the end of the concert. This was a really special treat.

We landed in the U.S., the same day the Iraq war started. From then on flights were a nightmare. We had very serious looking immigration security personnel staring into each and every article of our belongings. The flight journeys were two-five hours, but the security checks lasted for two hours. Once my suitcase was oversized, another time it was overweight, they didn't themselves know the luggage rules any more than we. Total confusion.

A road show company?
On Fridays we'd perform until 12 midnight, go home, eat, pack, hit the bed by 2 or 3 am, wake up on Saturday by 4 am to catch a 6 am flight. Plus we were crossing two-time zones per flight, the exhaustion would crack us. We'd scramble on to the stage almost sleeping for the sound check. Then another 3 to 4 hours concert. (Once it was almost 5 hours). Then the same routine for Sunday. By Monday morning we would be dead ducks. And then there would be post concert discussions about the sanchari in Kamboji, or the Nadaswara Bani in todi. I wouldn't know what they were saying. We were like a road show company, hitting the next town, doing the act and moving on to the next town and so on!

The hosts bent themselves backwards to make us comfortable. On a couple of occasions I remember they didn't sleep all night, after a late concert, to prepare tiffin for us to carry in the flight (they don't serve any eats in the U.S flights any more, however long the journey) Long live Jet Airways!

Wall of Fame...
One of the hosts has created a 'Wall of Fame' at his home. He takes all his artiste guests to a well known photo studio, has their portraits taken and then puts them up on this 'Wall of Fame'. So you enter their home and you see all these lovely photographs of contemporary musicians!

I found audio tapes with a young 14 year old boy. A 'Manasika Sishya', of Semmangudi mama! He had tapes of concerts of the grand old man with different combinations of accompanists. He has actually made a study of how many times Semmangudi mama sang the same RTP, how it sounds with different pakkams(accompaniments), which are the pieces he abandoned later on in his career. And the boy sings like Semmangudi mama!

In Minneapolis, our hostess had made a timetable. She had planned what she would cook for us at which meal! We were bowled over by this kind of hospitality. Who says music doesn't feed you! In cash, ...mmmm.. yes, sometimes, in kind oh yes, plenty always!

Sometimes I saw the same group of people in the audience. Once, they came and met me and I said, "We seem to have met before"! They said, "Ya, we live in Cleveland. We have attended your concerts in Toronto, Pittsburgh and now to Chicago to listen to you! We plan to attend atleast a couple more". Some perseverance! Good for our morale though!

Universities in America
I wanted to become a student all over again...vending machines selling food and drinks at affordable prices to students. Several notices on the notice boards, following which you could buy old computers, furniture, old cars. Life is made so affordable for students and one can work and earn one's keep. Life here really teaches you to be self sufficient... Libraries are open all thro' the night with high speed free computer with Net connection and endless number of computers all over the place... It screams at you " Make the most of this".

The people I met, who are putting up concerts have to work very hard, but they find their identity, they have created a space for themselves in their chosen land of adoption and are leaving a mark there. Carnatic music, as in India too, fulfills not only the artistic aspirations of people but also offers a cultural anchor point and provides Indian Americans a raison d'etre for life. For living!

My thanks to my tour sponsor, all the wonderful people I met at each city who organized the concerts, (I request them to please excuse me for not having space to mention each one of them), the hosts who extended us wonderful hospitality, the journalists who were generous with their compliments in print and my accompanists who did a great job. Thank you.

Did you like this column? Mail your feedback to editor@kutcheribuzz.com.
You can also write to the vocalist-writer at arunasairam@arunasairam.net

Readers response
Dear Editor, The article of Aruna Sairam on her US tour was very inspiring. It gives a lot of insight into how 'our' Carnatic Music is welcomed world over and how organisers go way out, despite their busy schedule there, in organising these music concerts. As an organiser of music concerts in Noida (outskirts of Delhi), I know how much one has to toil to make a concert a sucess. Hats off to these organisers in US for doing yeoman service to Carnatic music.

Last but not the least, Aruna Sairam has proved that performing artists are capable of not only enlighting (read blowing their own trumpet) the rasikas about their performances abroad, but also lift the spirits of the local organisers through their 'writing capacity'. She has given a fitting reply to the critics who say that performing artists, generally perform abroad and come back only to perform again within the country.

- V. Srikanth,
Noida (Uttar Pradesh), Sector 51, Noida. Pin: 201 307
Email : srik_ambi@yahoo.com