Post covid era, even the angels of music have begun to remove their face shields. Miss. PREETHA SHIVANI RAJA (15) , Darling daughter of G. Raja and Mrs. Mahalakshmi, performed Carnatic vocal music at Smart Indian School Kuwait On Friday 23.09.2022 as her debut performance.
Ms. Preetha Shivani Raja has been learning Carnatic Sangeet formally for the past 10 years from Mr. Rajesh Thiruvalla in Kuwait and Mr. Velmurugan from Pondicherry, India. As a result of her 10 years of musical training, this day she reached her first milestone of performing.
Tamil Nadu Music and Fine Arts. Vice-Chancellor of the University. Dr. S. Sowmya who flew from India exclusively for this program was the special guest for the debut performance of Preetha. Along with her, owners of Hotel Saravanaa bhavan- Kuwait, Mr. Natarajan and Mrs. Anandi Natarajan, and Mrs. Eya Benz from the Embassy of France and Mrs. Anbal Al Awadhi from Kuwait University were also present as special guests.
The ceremony started auspiciously with a traditional puja to Devi Saraswati and Tamil greetings. First, a short film was screened about Preetha Shivani reminiscing her journey through music from her childhood. After which, the concert began
Without any fear in front of Sangeetha Kalanidhi, she started the concert by singing the varna "Valachi Vachi" in Ragamalika. followed by "Siddhi Vinayakam" in the ragam Shanmugapriya. Set in rupakam tala of one of the trinities of music - Muthuswamy Dikshidar. The kriti sung by preetha with swaram caught the attention of the concert-goers and received a standing ovation.She continued to sing famous tamil, telugu, kannada and malayalam kritis written by various legends of carnatic music and in a variety of ragas, which was very well received by the audience.
Tamil Nadu University of Music and Fine Arts Vice-Chancellor Mrs. Dr. Sowmiya in her felicitation speech said, "Preetha sang without fear on the stage with her fellow artistes without missing a beat."He appreciated Preetha's talent and praised Preetha's voice which is very suitable for Carnatic music. She wished Preetha to perform many more Carnatic music concerts in the future and become a great Carnatic music singer.
Special guests, Mr. Natarajan and Mrs. Ananthi Natarajan also praised Preetha's talent and praised her excellence in Carnatic music as well as Preetha's academic excellence. They also praised her parents Mr. Raja and Mrs. Mahalakshmi for spotting Preetha's talents and encouraging her to learn music from an early age.
At the end Preetha's vote of thanks was appreciated by all. The concert was concluded with the National Anthem.
After the event, all those who came were treated to delicious vegetarian food, dosa, jalebi etc. from Hotel Saravanaa Bhavan's live kitchen. Around 500 friends and their families, who had attended, congratulated Preetha saying that the show was wonderful and a feast for the ears and heart.