ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
![]() | Traditional Skill/Art Craft: Vina performer/builder Years Awarded: 2018, 2022 Contact Information: Phone: (503)828-2001 Email: vidya_mouli@karaikudivoyage.us Website: https://www.karaikudivoyage.us/ |
Sreevidhya is a tenth-generation descendent from the illustrious Karaikudi Vina Tradition of South India. She moved to the United States in the late 1980s with her husband Chandramouli Narayanan, a ninth-generation descendent, when her husband came to Portland for employment. She embarked on the study of ethnomusicology at the University of Washington.
In the last three decades, she has contributed to the musical tapestry in Oregon through universities and private teaching. Based on students' involvement, she undertakes to teach the Vina in the local school setting for independent study. She often selects students to reside with her to learn the art in depth. Many of the students learn to perform and teach as they advance their careers in various fields. Through her own solo and group performances with her family, she brings the grandeur of the tradition to her community.
Sreevidhya has served as artist-in-residence at the University of Washington and University of Oregon and briefly served as adjunct faculty at the University of Oregon. She has been teaching in the Pacific Northwest for more than three decades preserving the subtle aesthetics and purity of the Karaikudi Vina tradition. With the support of her family, she conducts summer camps in music and Integrative Learning music, yoga, poetry, story narration, math, and writing for children of different age groups in her home setting.
Besides music, she teaches Vina building and maintenance. Her students explore the poetry in musical compositions, language, and meaning to develop the cultural context to the relevance of the practice. She is a founding member of the non-profit organization Dhvani (http://www.dhvani.org/) dedicated to the education, preservation, and dissemination of art forms of India. For more about Sreevidhya and her tradition: http://www.karaikudivoyage.us/
APPRENTICE BIOGRAPHY - Nidhi Yadalam 2022
Nidhi Yadalam is an Indian American musician of South-Indian heritage. She is keen on connecting with her cultural traditions through exploring various styles of Carnatic music and other art forms as well as learning about languages, mythology, and folk narratives. Nidhi has been a student of Sreevidhya Chandramouli for five years and they have been working together to further her knowledge on improvisational, lyrical, rhythmic, and emotive elements of Carnatic music.
Nidhi wishes to ultimately be able to assist her teacher in classes, and mentor her juniors. She believes that being part of imparting this art is important to keeping the tradition alive and evolving for generations to come.
APPRENTICE BIOGRAPHY - Dilisha Patil 2018
Dilisha Patil was just a 13-year-old Indian-American girl when she apprenticed with Sreevidhya in 2018. She was born to first-generation Indian immigrants who introduced her to the Carnatic traditional music where she began with vocal Carnatic music at age four and then began learning the Vina. Vina is a seven-stringed Indian musical instrument and she learned the Karaikudi Vina Tradition that Sreevidhya’s family has been a part of for generations. Patil is very interested in improvision called Tanam where she hopes to create her own after years of training. After this apprenticeship, she wishes to continue her training in Carnatic music, be involved with the community, and keep the tradition alive by spreading awareness.
Q&A WITH THE MENTOR ARTIST
Describe your traditional art.
Body
I will be teaching South Indian Vina and voice in the Karaikudi Vina tradition from Southern India. Karaikudi Vina tradition has a long lineage of Vina players spanning ten generations with my sons (born and brought up in Portland, OR) as the eleventh generation vainikas (Vina players). The uniqueness of the Karaikudi Vina tradition is in the distinctive fingering technique and the fascinating way of employing gamakas passed on through generations. The tradition emphasizes that the fundamental exercises learned to need to be practiced life-long to acquire mastery of the art.
Some of the features of the tradition are: the use of stopping technique with the right-hand, the choice methods in the way of plucking, the use of tala strings to indicate rhythm, the strumming of main strings for effect, the use of individual strings as an expression of inwardly felt pulsations, the techniques employed for faster variations. The tradition is known for the purity of compositional rendition as well as rendering the improvisatory forms ragam, tanam and kalpana-svaras.
Learning and practicing music in this tradition is an integral part of everyday life. It is practiced at homes and performed in several venues based on the individual's interest. Vina is primarily a solo instrument. It is also used to accompany vocals and dance performances. Vina music is performed in devotional events, weddings, and births.
How did you come to learn this tradition?
Why is this cultural tradition important to your community?
Experience/ Honors
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