10th Veena Festival  & Conference May 13 2017 at SVS Temple

Sri Annamacharya Project of North America(SAPNA) celebrates  10^th Veena Festival and Conference

Making a difference :

SAPNA Chicago has been immensely contributing to the world of Indian classical arts and their evolution in North America. Over their 30-year tenure, Drs. Sriram & Sarada Purna Sonty  have brought life to Annamacharya's works in the USA through research work, scholarly publications, and supported artistes from India and North America, pioneered tradition with innovation through targeted programs, workshops and collaborations with artistes from different genres, nurtured young talent both in music and dance.

Sri Annamacharya Project of North America(SAPNA) initiated the celebration of Music Festivals on Veena ,India’s  National Instrument in 2009 with  Five Veena Music schools with five different Veena Traditions – “ Sampradaya”  of  greater  Chicago Land area . India Classical Music Society (ICMS) was a continuous partner in conducting these festivals.  RAMA advanced Music Academy of Guru Rama Gurupalli ,  Rajaveena School of Music of Guru  ‘ Srikala Purna’ Rajeswari Pariti,  ‘ ‘ Ensemble of Ragas of ‘ Veena Vaadana Vani’ Saraswathi Ranganathan ,  Pallavi Music Academy of Veena Vidvan   Dr Jaishree Prasad , & Pallavi Gana Academy of  Guru ‘Veena Vidvan’ Mrs Vasanthi Iyer has been consistent supporters, and performers  in propagating Veena .

The school showcases that have now become a staple of the Veena festival along with offering a platform for up and coming Veena artistes - is looked forward to by the Chicago Land music schools with great spirit and fervor.  SAPNA Chicago organized their flagship Veena Festival for the tenth year in a row on May 13, 2017 in Chicago. The festival was attended by enthusiastic artistes, poets, writers, students, art-lovers and patrons across the USA. 
The highlight of the Tenth Veena Festival was a special performance by Chicagoland's most versatile Veena artiste and cross cultural ambassador Saraswathi Ranganathan with Chennai's  “ Damaru ” Percussion ensemble led by Ragavan Sai and guest artiste Indranil Mallick. The other members included Ghatam by Krishna Sriram, Tabla by Aditya MT Srinivasan, and  Flute by Neelakandan Ramachandran.
The exhilarating Veena recital with the dancing drums was reflective of a true collaborative effort between the diverse musical approaches of Chennai and Chicago. The 2-hour ecstatic experience offered the audience an insight into interlacing spontaneous yet compact melody and rhythm patterns beautifully in a concert. 

Each year SAPNA chooses an artiste of eminence who has contributed significantly in their field of artistry, for the organization's prestigious award "SriKalaPurna". This year SAPNA honored Veena artiste Saraswathi Ranganathan with the coveted title "SriKalaPurna" : for her creative innovative long-standing contributions, relentless efforts to bring sounds of the Veena to a cross cultural global audience;  for being the first ever Veena artiste to be selected in the Disney musical play Jungle Book,  which ran to packed houses in Chicago and Boston; 
for being the first Veena artiste to be selected to partner with the City of Chicago three years in a row to bring in Veena to art- restricted neighborhoods of Chicago
for her Veena workshops and 'improvisational techniques in performance' presentations at leading universities, public and private schools, museums, art galleries, libraries ; for bringing forth the relevance of Veena today as classically melodious yet adaptable to the ever-changing dynamic international music scene
for Saraswathi's collaborative approach to Veena concerts at several City of Chicago music and humanities festivals, and work with outstanding Hindustani, Carnatic, Jazz, Flamenco, Turkish, West Senegalese, Folk, Blues and Western Classical artistes  presenting original works that have won acclaim in the US/Canada, not just for the quality of presentations  but also for bringing together artistes and audience irrespective of their cultural background, race, religion or color. SAPNA Veena Ravali  continued by Solo presentations by Satvik Gurupalli, Sai Prasanna Ravichandran, Amritha Priya, Neela Amaravadi, Bhavya Behata, Shanthi Prasad , Natya Ravali presentations by Guru Poonam Mahesh Saswade, Jashua George , Guru Maha Varadhan, Guru Srivani Vokkarane & School show cases . Annamacharya Sahitya ravali Included lecture on “ Sanathan Dharma as depicted by the Vaaggeyakaaras” by Mr Prasad. Nookala.