香蕉福利直播: Home to Largest Indian Classical Music Festival Outside India

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Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival
First celebrated in 1978, 'robust jubilee' draws thousands to Cleveland, 香蕉福利直播 every year

Did you know that for nearly two weeks around Easter every year, 香蕉福利直播 becomes home to the largest Indian classical music festival outside of India? That鈥檚 right, you read that correctly.

The festival draws fans, competitors and performers (as well as their friends and family) from all around the world and has been central to Cleveland鈥檚 "vibrant cultural scene" and musical identity for decades.  

This year鈥檚  will take place April 5 鈥 16, 2023 on the 香蕉福利直播 campus at Waetjen Auditorium in the Music and Communication Building. The 12-day festival event is something of a transportation device (like traveling 8,000 miles away to India without leaving the city limits!) and supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County, through public grant funding from . 

First celebrated in 1978, Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival has grown into a robust jubilee 鈥攃ancelled pandemic years 2020 and 2021 notwithstanding. The festival, which trains its primary focus on Indian classical music and dance, has been held on Easter weekend since 1987 with the aim to make it easier for local schools to attend and participate.

鈥淭he festival regularly invites star musicians and dancers from India to participate and includes a music competition, dancing and dance workshops,鈥 said Leo Coach, resident Ethnomusicologist at the School of Music at 香蕉福利直播. 鈥淵ou have to go back decades to get a flavor for this festival鈥檚 humble beginnings.鈥 

Some 45 years ago, to be exact.  

Ramanathan Iyer

Thyagaraja and the 香蕉福利直播 Connection 

In the fall of 1978, faculty member and Fulbright Scholar  after attending a lecture of his at the Niagara chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology.

They began collaborating on a series of projects which resulted in the very first festival, held in the rented hall of Faith United Church of Christ in Richmond Heights on April 8, 1978. The event included a group performance of the Pancharathna krithis and individual singing of Tyagaraja鈥檚 krithis鈥攃apped by an evening concert by Saroja Balasubramaniam鈥攖o 75 people. 

 to accommodate and attract larger audiences. The following year, 香蕉福利直播 became the venue for the events and has been ever since鈥攄rawing musicians from India and beyond to perform and, in turn, larger audiences from around the world.  Thyagaraja has been here ever since. 

鈥淏ack in the Day鈥 and the First Festival 

The 1970s was a decade marked by Watergate, post-war drama, world financial upheaval, hostage crises, growing civil-, women鈥檚- and gay rights, and the environmental movement. In Cleveland, the 1970s presented a host of adjacent issues鈥攖he river, city, even the mayor鈥檚 hair were all on fire鈥攁nd we were the .  

On the upside, we had growing immigrant populations from around the world, including an informal group of Indian immigrants and their families, known as the 鈥淐leveland Bhajan Group.鈥 

When Ramnad Raghavan, the noted mridangam artist from India moved to Cleveland in 1977, he discovered that many members of the group had learned music as children and wanted to start some activities to revive their interest in music.  

He suggested forming a Tyagaraja Aradhana in Cleveland, offering to train the group to sing Tyagaraja鈥檚 compositions, as is done in the original Tyagaraja Aradhana held in Tiruvaiyyar. 

First celebrated in 1978, Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival has grown into a robust jubilee

Who (or what) is a Thyagaraja

Answer: a 鈥渨ho鈥 that became a 鈥渨hat.鈥  

Thyagaraja, also known as Thy膩gayya and in full as Kakarla Thyagabrahmam, was a composer and vocalist of Carnatic music鈥攚hich is a form of Indian classical music. Tyagaraja and his contemporaries, Shyama Shastri and Muthuswami Dikshitar, are regarded as the 鈥淭rinity of Carnatic鈥 music. 

Tyagaraja regarded music 鈥渁s a way to experience God鈥檚 love,鈥 with his compositions focused on expression rather than on technicalities of classical music. He also showed a flair for composing music and, in his teens, composed his first song, 鈥淣amo Namo Raghavayya,鈥 in the Desika Todi ragam and then inscribed it on the walls of the house.  

His compositions are mainly devotional (bhakti) or philosophical in nature and feature an appeal to his deity of worship (primarily the Avatar Rama), in musings, narratives, or messages to the public.

Photos courtesy of Ramanathan Iyer and Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival