Sangeetha Sabha e.V. - die Vina ist in Frankfurt angekommen

Am 17. Juni hatte ich die einmalige Chance als Ehrengast beim ersten Konzert des neu gegründeten Vereins Frankfurt Sangeetha Sabha e.V. dabei zu sein und erstmals bewusst der so genannten karnatischen Musik zu lauschen. Bei "Strings Attached" spielten Kumaresh Rajagopalan und Jayanthi Kumaresh Geige und Vina, begleitet von Trommeln - den südindischen Doppeltrommeln Mridangam und Tabla. Ich war wirklich beeindruckt - ein umwerfendes Konzert auf höchstem Niveau mit farbenprächtigem Rahmenprogramm- dafür bin ich gerne in den Saalbau nach Fechenheim geradelt. In der Folge kamen bei mir ein paar Fragen auf - dankenswerterweise haben mir die Präsidentin von Sangeetha Sabha und Leiterin der indischen Musikakademie Frankfurt Sudha Kommuri (SK)sowie die Generalsekretärin und leidenschaftliche Vina-Spielerin Varsha Vasudevan (VV) in einem Interview Rede und Antwort gestanden.

Strings attached - live in Concert in Frankfurt!
(Foto: Kalyan Kommoju)

Vor kurzem habt ihr Euer erstes Event mit „Strings Attached“ veranstaltet. Wie kam es zur Gründung des Vereins Sangeetha Sabha - eines Vereins für indische Musik in Deutschland?

SK For the past 5 years, I have been dreaming to start a non-profit association for South Indian classical or “Carnatic” music. With time, I found the right team, and subsequently, we founded the association in November 2016 and are perhaps the first non-profit association in Germany dedicated for Carnatic classical music. Our tightly-knit team consists of four dedicated members. Before we knew it, we were contacted to organize this beautiful concert, “Strings Attached” featuring first-line musicians.

VV Sudha’s Indian Music Academy Frankfurt, a voluntary initiative to teach Carnatic music to residents in Frankfurt, has been in existence since the summer of 2011. Since its beginning, I have been her student, and so when she expressed her desire to establish an official platform to promote Carnatic music and its students in Germany to an international audience, I was excited to be. Both of us are very passionate about music, and so we found it only natural that after so many years, we take Carnatic music to the next level in Germany.

Maestro Dr. Jayanthi Kumaresh an der Saraswathi Vina
(Foto: Kalyan Kommoju)

Varsha, Du spielst die Vina, ein sehr altes, indisches Saiteninstrument, das mindestens seit 4000 Jahren in der indischen klassischen Musik gespielt wird. Schon in den Veden ist diese Instrument als Liebling der hinduistischen Göttin der Weisheit Sarasvati vermerkt. Ist die musikalische Prägung Familientradition oder woher kam bei Euch das Interesse für dieses Instrument und seine Musik?

VV In Indian families, it is usually a tradition to learn an art form from a young age. Thus, I began vocal training in Carnatic music at the age of 6, which was interrupted after two years, when we moved to Germany. My mother’s love for playing the Veena when I was younger induced me to learn the art myself at the later age of 11 years when we moved back to India. Since moving to Frankfurt, however, I have had the luck of learning vocal Carnatic music from Sudha, and for the past year, continuing Veena classes under my uncle’s guidance, too!

SK I am a vocalist hailing from a musical family and I was introduced to Carnatic music at the tender age of 5 by my mother who is also a singer. Alongside school, I ardently attended music classes nearly everyday, and practiced for at least 2 hours every day. Eventually, I pursued music academically, by doing my Bachelors and Masters of Arts in Indian Classical music. For the past years, I have been teaching Carnatic classical music as a hobby, balancing music, business and family.

Strings Attached and friends (vlnr):  Jayachandra Kulur Rao, Pramath Kiran, Kumaresh Rajagopalan, Jayanthi Kumaresh, Sudha Kommuri, Varsha Vasudevan, Vijayalakshmi Ramakrishnan, Padmanabhan Ananthanarayanan und Vasudevan Raghavan (Foto: Kalyan Kommoju)

Welche Veranstaltungen habt ihr für die Zukunft geplant? Warum sollten auch Deutsche und Europäische Ohren Euren Konzerten lauschen?

SK We have plans to organize vocal and instrumental concerts by inviting leading professional classical musicians from India. To integrate music students into Indian classical music, we are also planning to organize lecture demonstrations, workshops and musical festivals with local and visiting musicians. The initiation of such events here would offer Germans and Europeans a great opportunity to understand and appreciate the beauty, similarities and differences of carnatic classical music in comparison to European classical music. It would facilitate integration between the Indian and German communities. In fact, during the small inauguration event of the association, we did invite a German violinist, Ms. Gisela Ziegler, to accompany us with some Carnatic classical performances and this was greatly appreciated.

VV At the moment, when the European audience hears the word “Indian classical music”, usually they think of the instruments Sitar, Tabla and Harmonium. All three are wonderful instruments used in Hindustani classical music, a genre parallel to Carnatic music. However, Hindustani music differs largely from Carnatic music in its rendition and style of singing. Hence, the idea is to establish Carnatic music in Germany, so that people also become familiarized with Carnatic classical instruments like Veena, Mridangam, Ganjira and Morching. The German audience, especially, shows great appreciation for classical music, regardless of its subtype. We hope to take advantage of this preference, and show them the unique beauty of Carnatic music.

Wenn Ihr das nächste Konzert nicht verpassen wollt, liked Sangeetha Sabha auf Facebook und dann sehen wir uns dort! Danke an Sudha und Varsha für das Interview - das übrigens hier auf Englisch notiert ist, um es einem größeren Publikum zugänglich zu machen. Habt ihr noch Fragen? Postet Sie gerne in den Kommentaren!