Musicians honor their Hindu faith

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Monday, April 28th, 2003 15:40 PDT

Musicians honor their Hindu faith

 

This story was published Sunday, April 27th, 2003

 

By Dori O'Neal Herald staff writer

 

A mountain of shoes lie piled next to the entrance of the club house

Saturday at The Timbers Apartments in Richland.

 

Inside, a bounty of brilliantly colored saris and bindis adorned the

women, while most of the men wore more sedate clothing.

 

But it was the music that kept the audience captivated for nearly

three hours as a handful of musicians performed the mystical music of

the great East Indian composer Tyagaraja Shishyaparmpara, or more

commonly known as Saint Tyagaraja.

 

The barefoot music lovers -- members of the India Association of Tri-

Cities -- were taking part in the 16th annual Thyagaraja Music

Festival, which continues today with a concert at the Battelle

Auditorium.

 

Many of the saris were hand made, and the bindis varied in color,

some outlined with sparkling stones. The bindi is a holy dot, usually

red, worn on the forehead of women. Traditionally, it is a sign of

marriage. But in today's society it's also become an adornment worn

as makeup by single girls and women, said Sriram Somasundaram.

 

About a dozen musicians sat on blankets on the floor in the club

house singing and playing the music of Saint Tyagaraja.

 

Indu Shuthanandan accompanied the singers on violin and Ragi Rao

thumped out the music on a ceramic drum. Indian drums are mostly made

from pottery and leather, and some wood.

 

"There is lots of ornamentation in East Indian music" said Shas

Mattigod of Richland. "The music we perform here today is from

southern India. Northern India has a much different sound because of

its Islamic influence."

 

For nearly 150 years, Hindus around the world have celebrated Saint

Tyagaraja's life and music. The holy man is India's most prolific

composer. He wrote more than 900 complete compositions during his

lifetime from 1767 to 1847.

 

"Tyagaraja created all forms of music, from love songs to

spirituals," Mattigod said. "Like Mozart, he was clearly a genius."

 

Many of Tyagaraja's classical compositions were written to honor his

faith and dealt with the three Hindu deities, Brahma, the creator of

life, Vishnu, the protector of all life forms, and Shiva, the

destroyer. He also wrote uplifting love songs.

 

Today's concert, featuring the violin duo of Ganish and Kumaresh, is

at 4 p.m. at the Battelle Auditorium, off George Washington Way in

Richland. Admission is $10 at the door.

 

Ganish and Kumaresh are brothers who learned to play violin from

their father Guru Shri T.S. Rajagopalan, a noted musician.

 

The siblings, who are currently touring North America, were both

child prodigies and earned a following among Hindu music lovers all

over the world.

 

The concert includes a selection of Saint Tyagaraja's spiritual

compositions.