As part of Wesleyan’s 30th annual Navaratri celebration, Carnatic vocalist Sudha Ragunathan performed at Crowell Concert Hall on Saturday, Oct. 7, to an audience of students and visitors.
Carnatic music is a form of classical South Indian music, usually performed by a vocalist with string and percussion accompaniment. Most songs are religious and open to improvisation by the vocalist. Raghunathan’s technical skill and powerful, passionate voice dazzled the audience throughout the performance’s three-hour running time.
“Her vocal range was excellent,” said Rishabh Phukan ’10. “The people she played with were very good performers, [but] there were parts where she was improvising where she just lost them. Her voice was central to everything.”
Others who had less experience with Carnatic music felt that their appreciation was limited.
“It’s all really enjoyable and beautiful,” said Olivia Postell ’10 “[But] after awhile I wasn’t getting more out of it…because my ears weren’t trained.”
Other festival events on Saturday included a Bhojanam meal, a feast accompanied by the music of Arun Ranganathan; workshops in understanding North Indian music and Bharata Natyam dance; and a concert by sitar-tabla duo Partha Bose and Ray Spiegel.
The duo impressed Phukan, who attended their show earlier in the day at the World Music Hall.
“Bose and Spiegel was amazing,” Phukan said. “During the ‘romantic raga’ [a friend and I] just lost each other in the sitar and tabla. I was in a meditative trance for twenty minutes, literally.”
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