Episodes
Title | First Broadcast | Comments |
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Hari Sivanesan | 20110326 | Lucy Duran and World Routes Academy protege Hari Vrndavn Sivanesan unpick the roots of South Indian classical music. As the 2011 World Routes Academy shifts its focus to South India, Lucy Duran is joined by young British veena player Hari Sivanesan and his Guru Smt. Sivasakthi Sivanesan to discuss what makes Carnatic music unique. Using recordings from the BBC archive they discuss the rich traditions of classical music in South India and Northern Sri Lanka, and its religious and social contexts. Features an extended performance in the studio by World Routes Academy protege, veena player Hari Vrndavn Sivanesan. Lucy Duran discusses South Indian music with World Routes Academy protege Hari Sivanesan. Programme exploring music from around the world |
Hari Sivanesan In Jaffna | 20110723 | For the 2011 World Routes Academy, London born veena player Hari Sivanesan, retraces his family's roots in the Northern Sri Lankan province of Jaffna, and discovers how music is faring now that the civil war is over. Making the tricky journey to Northen Sri Lanka, along the bumpy A9 highway flanked by military checkpoints and gun posts, Lucy Duran and Hari Sivanesan head to the lively town of Jaffna, where Hari lived briefly as a baby before spending the rest of his life in London. They visit a riotous Temple Chariot Festival as the country celebrates New Year, and Hari meets and plays with one of the foremost performers in the Carnatic tradition, violinist Radakrishnan. They watch a performance by a troupe of Vasanthan Koothu dancers, who have not been able to return to their village because of the strict military control over certain High Security Zones, and are now the sole custodians of this rural song and dance tradition. As night draws in, Hari and Lucy meet with a group of women who sing a disappearing lullaby tradition, and who also sing mourning songs. The painful reality is that each of the women has lost a husband or a son in the civil conflict that tore the country apart, and as they talk they perform these heart rending laments bringing Sri Lankas recent past into sharp focus. The World Routes Academy is a BBC Radio 3 initiative which aims to support and inspire young UK based world music artists by bringing them together with an internationally renowned artist in the same field and belonging to the same tradition. World Routes Academy protege Hari Sivanesan heads to the Sri Lankan province of Jaffna. |
Hari Sivanesan In Tamil Nadu | 20110716 | As part of the 2011 World Routes Academy, British born veena player Hari Sivanesan travels around Tamil Nadu in South India, to learn more about the classical music of South India that he has grown up playing. Together with his mentor, acclaimed South Indian vocalist Aruna Sairam, and presenter Lucy Duran, they embark on a journey of musical and emotional discovery. Around the ancient city of Thanjavur, known as the land of temples, they visit the the shrine of Saint Thyagaraja, the venerated South Indian composer, and perform an intimate session in the confines of the shrine. They attend a Sampradaya Bhajan session of devotional singing by a Brahmin community in Aruna Sairam's ancestral village, and eat a traditional South Indian meal from a banana leaf on the floor. They discover folk music from the other end of the social scale at a village temple deep in the countryside, performed by a troupe of folk drummers and dancers, and Hari makes a pilgrimage to the world's only temple devoted to the Hindu Goddess of knowledge, music and the arts, Saraswati, to pay tribute to his late teacher, Smt Kalpakkam Swaminathan. The World Routes Academy is a BBC Radio 3 initiative which aims to support and inspire young UK based world music artists by bringing them together with an internationally renowned artist in the same field and belonging to the same tradition. World Routes Academy protege Hari Sivanesan discovers the roots of Carnatic music. |
Part 2 | 20110430 | This year's World Routes Academy prot退g退 Hari Sivanesan travels to the Indian city of Chennai for his first meeting with his mentor, the singer Aruna Sairam. He explores the roots of South Indian music at a temple festival, and talks to fellow veena player Rajesh Vaidya, who draws inspiration in his playing from Michael Jackson. He also looks at the contemporary music scene in Chennai with a visit to the city's own Radio One, and meets star film playback singer Srinivas. World Routes Academy protege Hari Sivanesan travels to the Indian city of Chennai. Programme exploring music from around the world |
Part 3 | 20110611 | World Routes Academy mentee Hari Sivanesan takes Lucy Duran on a trip around London to discover how the Tamil Sri Lankan diaspora keeps their culture and language alive in the UK. With visits to the Sivan Kovil Temple in Lewisham, one of London's vibrant Tamil Hindu temples and home to a Tamil Language School, they also take a walk down East Ham high street to try and find the best South Indian lunch in town. World Routes Academy mentee veena player Hari Sivanesan is also joined in concert by North Indian sarod player Soumik Datta for a one-off collaboration at the Bhavan Centre, Hari's former school in West Kensington, London. Lucy Duran and musician Hari Sivanesan visit the Tamil community in London. Programme exploring music from around the world |