Music festival to honour Tata, Gandhi and Sisulu
AN INAUGURAL South Indian Music Festival, commemorating the values and legacies of Gandhi, Mandela and Sisulu, will be held on Sunday at the Sirdar Road Temple Hall in Clairwood.
The festival, hosted by the Clairwood Shree Siva Soobramoniar Temple in association with local musicians, will feature an array of South African and Indian music exponents and is part of a series of programmes hosted under the theme, Be the Legacy.
It is aimed at commemorating the centenary birth anniversaries of Tata Madiba and Albertina Sisulu and 125 years after Mahatma Gandhi was thrown off a train’s first-class compartment at the Pietermaritzburg railway station for refusing to give up his seat during apartheid.
The incident led him to develop his Satyagraha principles of peaceful resistance and mobilise people in South Africa and in India against the discriminatory rules of the British.
It is hoped the strong foundations laid by the three will empower the new generation to surge ahead to make society a better place to live.
The programme, Ten Appirikka Sangeetham Vizha (South African Music Festival), will feature compositions by renowned South Indian composers.
The principal artist is Abilash Giri Prasad, a young carnatic vocalist from Chennai, who has performed extensively in India and countries including South Africa, Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius and the US.
Also sharing the stage is Othuvar Sargurunathan of Coimbatore, who is currently based in oThongathi. He recites poetry from ancient texts and will perform hymns from the Thevaram and and Thiruppugazh.
Advocate Pruthvi Karpoormath, formerly from Bangalore, will perform a repertoire of carnatic and devotional hymns.
Mridangam players Manikkudi S Chandrasekaran, of Chennai, Jayandran Moodley, who is preparing for his arrangetram (graduation) in Chennai in September, will also perform. So too are local musicians Lenny Pillay and Vasu Ramen.
Festival spokesperson Preshen Naidoo said a number of workshops and chamber concerts have been planned and there were moves to make the festival an annual event.
The concert takes place at 1.30pm on Sunday. For enquiries, call Preshen Naidoo on 072 626 3562.