StringFEST - aavaam - we two
Event Information
About this Event
THE CONCERT
Aavaam | we two
A violin - mridangam duet by Shreya Devnath and Praveen Sparsh
Shreya Devnath and Praveen Sparsh bring you songs of traditional Indian Music, a journey
through classical and folk cultures. Songs of freedom, love, joy and self belief presented
in a seamless blend of composed and improvised music. The pieces will draw from the
diverse cultural background that India is blessed with, exploring the lyrical and musical
ideas of composers from across the country, each of whom had their own journey, but
found ultimately, liberation through their music and faith.
Shreya and Praveen will explore these pieces with different emotional and musical
intensities, interpreting them through the violin, vocals, multi-percussion and spoken
word. As a primarily instrumental concert, the musicality of these compositions will be
brought forth through the simple and pure magic of melody, rhythm and aesthetics.
THE ARTISTES
Shreya Devnath
Shreya Devnath is a student of the legendary Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman and strives to be a
worthy representative of this prestigious school of music. She is a well-established solo
violinist, who has earned much appreciation for her distinctive music. She also performs
regularly alongside prominent artistes like Sri. Vijay Siva, Sri. Sikkil Gurucharan, Sri.
Neyveli Santhanagopalan, Smt. Gayathri Venkatraghavan, Smt. S Mahathi, Sri B Kannan
(veena) and many others.
In addition, Shreya presents diverse instrumental duets. Her recent collaborative ventures
include Violin-Nadaswaram duets, Violin-Chitravina duets, Violin-Flute duets, Violin-Sitar
duets and a collaboration with Tabla Virtuoso Ms. Anuradha Pal in the prestigious
Chakradhar Samaroh Festival in Raigarh. Shreya also curates, performs and tours with “A
Carnatic Quartet”, an Carnatic instrumental ensemble, as also “An Experiment with
Sound and Music”, a duet with percussionist Praveen Sparsh.
She also recently ideated and presented “A Carnatic Quartet - alternate dimensions” - a
coming together of classical, folk and electronic music, as well as “Villupaatu cutcheri” - a
collaboration of artistes from Villupaatu, Tamilnadu’s traditional folk art form and Carnatic
music.
A capable vocalist, and committed teacher, Shreya handles students from different parts
of the world. She was most recently invited as Violin Faculty of the prestigious Summer
School Program (Violin) of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, London.
Shreya has toured the US and UK extensively, as also Australia, Singapore, Malaysia,
Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Dubai for concerts and workshops. She has also toured
widely with the productions of noted writer, playwright and musician Dr. Gowri
Ramnarayan, including “MS Subbulakshmi: Born to Sing”, “DK Pattamal: Her music Her
life” and “Songs of Peace - A tribute to the Mahatma”. She also scored and performed
the music for Dr Ramnarayan’s play “Kurukshetra: When Things Fall Apart”, staged at the
prestigious Madras Music Academy.
Shreya is the architect of two outreach programmes: 'The Special Project for the Armed
Forces', is dedicated to taking music to the base camps of the Armed Forces, wherever
they may be stationed. The second is a Music Appreciation Program for underprivileged
children, taking them on a journey from sound, to music, to classical music. The intent
behind both these initiatives, is to spread and share the joy that music brings us far, wide
and deep.
Recognition has also come in the form of awards and titles like the ‘Bharat Ratna Dr. MS
Subbulakshmi Fellowship’, ‘Parur Sundaram Iyer Award’, ‘Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer
Award for Youth Excellence’, ’Yuva Kala Bharathi’, ‘Nada Ratna’, ‘Visesha Pratibha
Puraskaram’ ‘RMKV Award of Excellence’, ‘Best Performer Award’, ‘Yuva Shakthi Youth
Achiever Award’, ‘Best Violinist’, ‘Best Instrumental Artiste’, ‘Outstanding Woman
Achiever’, ‘Ministry of Culture Scholarship for Young Artistes' amongst others.
Shreya holds a Masters Degree in Economics. She is a gold medalist with a brilliant
academic record. She is also a talented painter, poet and a short story writer. She was
awarded the RK Narayan Award for Creative Talent and her work of fiction was chosen by
famed author Ruskin Bond, for publication in a collection of short stories. However, her
interest in other art forms aside, she remains deeply passionate about music. Her music is
characterised by substance and freshness with paramount importance given to aesthetics.
It is music for the mind and soul, a journey for the artiste and the audience.
Praveen Sparsh
Praveen Sparsh is a multi percussionist and a music producer who started learning the art
of Mridangam playing at the age of 5 from Mridangam Maestro Guruvayur Sri Dorai. He is
the grandson of Mridangam exponent Tanjore Sri Upendran and great grandson of Tavil
exponent Valangaiman Sri Shanmugasundaram Pillai.
Praveen is one of the most sought after Mridangam exponents in the field of Carnatic
music, and performs regularly with stalwarts like Sri TM Krishna, Smt. Aruna Sairam, Smt.
Bombay Jayshree, Smt. Sowmya, Sri. Sikkil Gurucharan, amongst others. He has toured
the United States extensively, as also, countries like Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium,
Amsterdam, Singapore, Malaysia, Jakarta, Sydney, Melbourne, Israel and Palestine.
Praveen has most recently, released his solo percussion album, ‘UNRESERVED’, a
mridangam centric album that explores the sounds of everyday life. The album has since
received critical acclaim from the music and entertainment fraternity at large.
As a music producer, Praveen has scored and performed music for the play ‘Kurukshetra -
When things fall apart’, directed by noted playwright Dr. Gowri Ramnarayan where he
single handedly played instruments like the Mridangam, Kanjira, Guitar, Cajon, Darbuka
along with Konnakol (Vocal Percussion) and and other ambient percussion instruments. He
has also scored music for short films and ad jingles, and has worked with famed director
Rajeev Menon.
Prestigious awards and titles from revered institutions in the field of Carnatic Music have
also added to the recognition he has earned. These include “Laya Ratna”, “Palani
Subramania Pillai Memorial Award”, “Bharat Ratna Dr.M.S. Subbulakshmi Fellowship in
Music”, “Yuva Kala Bharati”, “Best Performer Award”, “Palghat Mani Iyer's Endownment
Award”, “Central Govt Scholarship for Mridangam”, “Best Mridangam Artiste” and “The
carnatic idol”, amongst others.
Praveen has collaborated and toured with world music bands like, “House of Waters”,
“Sid Sriram live”, “Sean Roldan and Friends”, “Aditya Prakash Ensemble”,“Poorvaa” and
many others. He has performed in various independent music festivals like the NH7
Weekender, Frostbite Festival, Riff Festival, Covelong Surf Festival, DAM Festival and
MAD festival. He curated and led a percussion ensemble with Parai artistes (traditional
folk percussion) at the Urur Olcot Music Festival. At the same festival, he also presented a
performance with a group of students from Avvai Home, a school for underprivileged girl
children, that he trained for upto 3 months prior to the performance.