Dear Dheemtanites

Baithak 11, a truly novel baithak, as Pramod Korwar the MC for the evening said, had 5 participants from 5 different music schools across the California Bay Area, and for the first time Dheemtana went out of the Dheemtanites home to a public venue, Los Altos Library Hall.

We started off light showers on the outside and Gayatri Sabne's rendition of Raag Brindavani Saarang. A wonderful start by this budding artist, a student of Smt. Ashwini Khaparde, she started off with a wonderful rendition of the well know Sarawathi Vandana to be followed by the vilambit and druth of Brindavani Saarang. We saw a new artist in Dheemtana with Sri. Rajagopalan Iyer on tabla accompanying Gayatri. Anand Karve on harmonium supported Gayatri ably as usual.

She was followed by a fresh singer to Dheemtana, Miss. Manjima Sarkar, a student of Smt. Gopa Raha of Sangeetaanjali Music School. Manjima beautifully rendered Raag Durga with her father Sri. Pradosh Sarkar on tabla.

It was Shouvik Neogi's wonderful rendition of Raag Yaman which followed Manjima. Shouvik, a student of Sri. Nachiketa Sharma's Rajguru Sangeet Vidyaniketan exquisitely delivered the madhyalay and druth in Yaman, with the patented fast paced taans and with Amit Rao providing excellent tabla for his great layakaris. Ameya Rao provided harmonium support for Shouvik.

He was followed by yet another new artist, Rochit Gupta a student of Smt. Shubangi Sakhalkar. He appropriately sang Raag Miya Malhar, with the rain getting stronger on the outside. The warmth of the rendition made the outside cold weather a non entity. He was accompanied by the Vikas Yendluri, who was spectacular as usual. It is our good fortune that we will not loose Vikas to the usual under-grad college system, since he will be local attending Stanford University starting next year. Shishir Neelakant accompanied them on harmonium.

Lo and behold, it was time to wrap the baithak and Pragati Guruprasath a student of Smt. Sangeetha Swaminathan accomplished it with a flourish. Her captivating performance of Raaga Naatai and the Purandaradasa Bhajan in a Raagmala was a perfect finale for the perfect storm that was brewing outside. She was accompanied by Chinmay on mridangam.

All in all the baithak was another successful outing of Dheemtana. The web site http://www.dheemtana.org has been updated with Baithak11. Please let us know your feedback and ways to improve by sending us a mail.

Co-Ordinators
Dheemtana