Welcome to the new season. We trust you have had a happy holiday season. We hope you are enjoying the unusually fine weather at this time of the year. Many things have happened since the last time our newsletter went out. We have 4 members completing their terms at the end of 2000. Three members opted to not return to the Board.

We thank the retiring members, Ram Subramanian, Vidyadhar Kulkarni and T.K. Balachandran for their outstanding and tireless service for the organization. We wish them well and we are sure they will continue to be involved with ICMDS in one way or another. One member, Lakshman Ramamurthy resigned from the board in August; Sudhindra Rao was nominated to fill in for the remaining period. We thank Lakshman for his contributions.

All 4 Board Director positions were filled through a process of nomination and election wherein they were elected unopposed. Anji Tadepalli was returned from the previous board, and Suri Desai who had been in the ICMDS board during 1997-1999 was also elected unopposed. Sudhindra Rao, who substituted for Lakshman last year, will continue through 2001. Please give a warm welcome to the 2 freshmen members, Mamta Soni, Santanu Dutta who were also elected unopposed. Soni is a very well known name in the local Indian cultural activities, and has been very active in the Triangle Gujarat Association and the Hindu Society of North Carolina. She is a talented Bharathanatyam dancer who has performed her Arangetram. ICMDS members and audiences are familiar with Sudhindra who has performed in a few of our programs. An accomplished and all-round percussionist, Sudhindra specializes in the Mridangam and Kanjira used in the Carnatic music. Santanu Dutta will provide guidance for the Hindustani programs.

The new board met in January and completed the process of assignments of tasks and selection of spring programs. Anji Tadepalli was selected as the president and Mamta Soni was selected as Vice-president and will also serve as the Treasurer. Sripriya Chitamoor continues her role as Programs Director for Dance, along with Sudhindra and Santanu as Program Directors for Carnatic and Hindustani, respectively. Rangarao will be the Marketing Director, and Suri Desai, as the Communications Director, will be handling this newsletter and web page updates.

The domain www.icmds.org is working now; you can also access our web site through www.geocities.com/icmds. If you still have difficulties, please give us a call or send emails to icmds@icmds.org

We now have 4 programs confirmed for the first half of the year. We start the year with an outstanding Carnatic vocal concert by Mrs. M.S. Sheela, on Sunday March 11. An Odissi dance recital (after nearly 5 years) follows on Saturday Apr. 7 by Ms. Sreyashi Dey. Please read the background information on these artists. On Sunday, May 20, saxophone maestro, Kadri Gopalnath will perform with Kanyakumari on violin, and we have a Hindistani instrumental Jugalbandi by Pandit Ramesh Misra (Sarangi) and Ali Ahmed Khan (Shehnai) on Saturday June 23.

The trend of healthy growth that started in 1998 continued last year and for the first time the membership roster topped 300 in year 2000. The early trends look promising and we are very optimistic this year.

We deeply appreciate the support members have shown for the membership fee increases. As we have stated before and you know with simple arithmetic, it is still a bargain for the number of programs and the quality of programs we get to watch. The increased fee will help us to meet the increased costs of hall rentals, postal expenses and above all artist fees, which is directly impacted by the rise in fuel and travel expenses.

There is also a new category of membership called Patrons, which allows an automatic upgrade to VIP category whenever it is offered.

We thank our grants organization, NC arts council, United Arts council of Raleigh and Wake County whose continued support is valued as is the very fruitful partnership with Duke Institute of Arts and its director, Kathy Silbiger. We look forward to seeing you at the first concert on March 11. In the meantime please don't let that stop you from mailing in your membership checks and application forms.

M S Sheela is a top notch Carnatic Vocalist who performs regularly on All India Radio and Doordarshan. Disciple of Sangeetha Kalanidhi R K Srikantan, Sheela has a Postgraduate degree in Music from Bangalore University.

Sheela has toured all over USA, Middle East and other countries giving concerts at various prestigious institutions. Madras Music Academy, in 1997, adjudged Sheela as an "Outstanding Senior Female Vocalist" , Karnataka state has honored Sheela by giving "Rajyotsava Award", Karnataka State Film Chambers has given an award to Sheela as, " Best Female Play Back Singer " for the year 97-98. During the Annual Music festival of Karnataka Ganakala Parishat for the year 2000, Sheela has been adjudged as best Musician of the Conference and has been awarded "Ananya Puraskar", an Award Instituted by A N A N Y A G M L Cultural Academy Bangalore. Sheela has a number of Cassettes and Discs to her credit. Sheela was the member of Karnataka Sangeetha and Nritya Academy.

This outstanding vocalist from Bangalore will be accompanied by an impressive orchestra that is made up of a violinist and three percussion players - Mridangam, Kanjira and Ghattam.

Radhika Mani Violinist has given concerts all over the world including India, USA and Australia. She has accompanied well-known musicians like Flute N. Ramani, Tanjavur S. Kalyanaraman, M. S. Sheela and many others. She has also given Violin Solo concerts at various prestigious institutions. She is a regular feature in the Madras Music Academy and other leading organizations every year.

Anoor Dattatreya Sharma who plays the Mridangam hails from a family of musicians, his father being the well known violinist Late Anoor. S. Ramakrishna. He is currently the principal of the Music School Ayyanar College of Music. He has accompanied well known musicians in Karnatic Music in addition to the famous Percussion Ensemble "Laya Lahari".

A. V. Kashinath playing the Kanjira was initiated into music at a very early age, making his debut at the age of 10. From then on he has not looked back in his musical career and has established a good repertoire in the musical world in his own way. He has accompanied almost all the leading musicians in Karnatic Music.

Rudrapatnam Sathyakumar, the well known Ghatam player has been on the staff of Ayyanar College of Music and has performed at various prestigious events including at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan.

Sreyashi Dey trained in Odissi with renowned Gurus Mayadhar Raut and Harekrishna Behera. Sreyashi has performed in most prestigious dance festivals all over India and in the US, including institutions such as Sahitya Kala Parishad and Sangeet Natak Akademi and on Doordarshan (Indian TV). Her solo performance at the prestigious India Habitat Center, New Delhi, in March 1999 was a major landmark, highly praised by critics as well as dance lovers.

She has established many creative links with the broader artistic community in Pittsburgh and is active in facilitating understanding of classical dances of India in their broader cultural context through workshops and lecture/demonstration programs. Sreyashi is also a learned Bharathanatyam dancer.

Besides her dedication to preserving the rigorous classical style of Odissi, Sreyashi is constantly expanding her creative horizons and experiences with new collaborations and choreographies. She has collaborated with video artiste Prajna Parasher in a multi-media presentation to interpret Mahashweta Devi's short story, "The Hunt". She recently worked with Sylvia Nanyonga-Tamasuza, performer (dancer, musician and drummer) from Uganda, Africa and poet Andrea Read to creatively explore the many identities a woman assumes in her life and the significance of rhythm in the two cultures.

Sreyashi’s recent Works include "Shakti Sanatani: Primordial Female Enrgy in the Cosmic Cycle" A choreography in classical Odissi style that that frames the female divinities of Gayatri (Sun), Ganga (the holy river) and Kali (the terrible form of Goddess Durga) in the cosmic cycle of Creation- Preservation-Dissolution. Premiered: February 6, 2000. "Our World: One People, Many Faces" a three-way collaboration between the Mary Miller modern dance company and UMOJA African Arts Ensemble. This Millenium Peace Project was premiered on April 14 and 15, 2000. She also choreographed a dance theater composition of Kalidasa's ancient Sanskrit play Meghadutam. Meghadutam will be one of the features at the Odissi dance presentation by Sreyashi and colleagues on April 7.

A few Press Reviews-

Sreyashi Dey’s rendition of Yahi Madhava in the Odissi style was impressive--Times of India

Sreyashi gave a recital, which must be considered as one of the best in Sahitya Kala Parishad’s Yuva Mahotsava..--The Hindu

Dharma Chandra (Vocal)… (336) 352-7583

Madhumita Saha (Vocal)… (919) 873-9218

Babita Srivastava (Tabla) … (919) 969-8210

Deepak Shenoy (Tabla) (919) 380-0016

Manjula Ramesh

(Vocal & Veena) (919) 460-3981

Mythili Srinivasan (Vocal)… (919) 481-3022

Supriya Desai ……... (919) 854-9989

Hasitha Oza. …………. (919) 846-6410

Anindata Sen…………….. (919) 468-2588

Mekhala Devi Natavar (919)-477-676