Samhita - An artist in the making !!

Lotus, is a Bay Area organization that promotes Indian Classical Music. This organization provides a stage for artists to perform in front of a live audience through their monthly events. On November 21st 2009 , I had the privilege of listening to a young Bay Area artist, Samhita Kadiyala, who performed her solo debut short concert at the Sanathana Dharma Kendra (SDK)temple. SDK temple hosts such events throughout the year and special thanks to Joshiji who manages this temple and offers the premises to promote Indian classical music.

Now the artist intro. Hold your breath ...
Samhita is ten years old. She is studying in 5th grade at the West Valley Elementary School, Sunnyvale and is the Vice President of the Student Council. She is a recipient of the Johns Hopkins Youth Talent Search award for academic achievement.
Samhita started learning Carnatic Vocal music at the age of five years from Guru, Smt. Jayashree Varadarajan, Founder and Director of Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandir School of Fine Arts, Sunnyvale.
She plays Western Classical Flute in her school band. She has learnt Western Classical Violin and participated in the Suzuki play-ins at Stanford University.
Samhita is also learning Bharatanatyam.
Samhita has been attending Chinmaya Mission Bala Vihar since Kindergarten and has won a prize in the Gita Chanting Competition last year. She is an active volunteer for Sankara Eye Foundation. Her hobbies include Biking, Tennis, Reading, Sewing, Jewelry Making and Gardening.
Release your breath. All this packaged into one small 10 year old .

Samhita started the concert with a varnam in Ragam Vasantha. The pace was set, and the throat was warmed up nicely when she ended this piece. This set the stage for 3 melakarta raga keertana’s to follow. Following the tradition, the next piece was on lord Vinayaka , Siddhivinayakam in Shanmugapriya. This was followed by a krithi in Mayamalava Gowlai, Thulasi dalamulache in a slow pace rendered very well with perfection. It was amazing to see a 10 year old child living in the US delivering this piece with perfect pronunciation. Next came the stunning raga alapana in Keeravani. It is hard to believe someone at this tender age, who is performing for the first time selected a raga like Keeravani as the main piece . Normally more popular ragas like Kalyani, Sankarabharanam, Mohanam, Hamsadhwani etc are selected by artists as there are many songs in these ragas that make them more easier to render. Selection of Keeravani shows a teacher’s faith in the student and in turn the student’s ability to take up such a challenge. Alapana was very apt for the short concert and it brought out the essence of the raga, more importantly the brigas, gamakams that she deployed clearly showed Samhita’s voice culture. She rendered her Guru's own composition Sarasavani. Kalpana swara that followed the song was perfect to bring the crowd to its feet. Manodharma in this rendering demonstrated what we can expect from her in future. The concert came to an end with a Purandara dasa composition Venkatachala Nilayam in Sindhu Bhairavi. This school is known for rendering Purandara dasa keerthanas. It is no surprise that the teacher selected this song popularized by MLV for this occasion. There was definitely a “wow” factor in the overall presentation and that did show up through audience applause in a packed hall.

Rangashree Varadharajan on Violin & Ravindrabharathi on Mrudhangam provided able accompaniment to the concert. It is very encouraging to see a senior artist like Ravindrabharathi promote young and upcoming artists. Hats off to him.

I will do injustice if I don’t mention the contribution from Samhita’s Guru Smt . Jaishree who is a 25 year old veteran in teaching. Her school just completed the celebrations this year. The way the whole concert was structured and her student’s stage appearance and execution clearly showed the mastery of the knowledge she has imparted to her students.

Some parents are gifted to have such a child and a teacher who can bring the child to this level . Credit should go to the parents in organizing this event where the hall was full. This shows the commitment patrons show to the school, friends, family & community support in the bay area. Very rarely do we see such commitment from the community for a debut performance.

I can assure you that Samhita will reach great heights in future and her concerts will be well attended without multiple evites and reminders from parents !! Carnatic music enthusiasts will definitely mark their calendars next time she performs!!