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Letter from SIFA President
Dear Sponsors and Patrons of SIFA,
The dawn of New Year also marks the dawn of a new committee and brings to a close my term as President of SIFA. Thyagaraja Aradhana is to be held on Feb 7, 2010 and a new team will be elected by you to manage SIFA during 2010. At this juncture I would like to thank you all for entrusting me with SIFA's leadership during 2009.
The year 2009 was the thirtieth anniversary year for SIFA. It was marked by a two day celebration with concerts by local and visiting artists. The year started off with a concert by an upcoming artist Nisha Rajagopal, followed by Shri. Shashank's flute concert and the two day music festival to mark the 30th anniversary. In all, during 2009 we presented a total of 22 concerts that are listed below
- Ms. Nisha Rajagopal - Vocal
- Sri. Shashank - Flute
- SIFA 30th Anniversary Spring Festival Concerts comprising of
o Devi Mahatmyam by Sri. Paramesh Gopi - HariKatha
o Smt. Suguna Varadachari - Vocal
o Sri. M.S.Gopalakrishnan - Violin
o Smt. Gayathri Venkataraghavan - Vocal
o Nandanar Charitram - Geetha Nrithyam
- Sri. T. M. Krishna - Vocal
- Sri. Sikkil Gurucharan - Vocal
- Marghazi Ragam - Movie Premier & Screening
- Double Header
o Sri. Srikanth Chary - Veena
o Sri. Neyveli Santhanagopalan - Vocal
- Double Header
o Sri. V. V. Subrahmanyam & V. V. S. - Violin Duo
o Smt. S. Sowmya - Vocal
- Lalitha Prabhavam - Dance Drama
Choreography: Kalaimamani Ranganayaki Jayaraman
- Sri.GJR Krishnan & Smt. Vijayalakshmi - Violin Duo
- Sri. T.V. Sankaranarayan - Vocal
- Smt. Jayanthi Kumaresh & Sri. Gaurav Mazumdar - Jugalbandhi
- Dr. Kadri Gopalnath - Saxaphone
- Sri. Sanjay Subramaniam - Vocal
- Hyderabad Brothers - Vocal
- Gokula Nirgamana - Dance Drama
Screening of Maarghazhi Ragam, a movie featuring carnatic music concert, Gokhula Nirgamana, a dance drama in Kannada and Lalitha Prabhavam by Smt. Ranganayaki Jayaraman's students were some of the exciting visual and musical events during 2009. It was a very successful and satisfying year, befitting the 30th anniversary.
This success would not have been possible but for the generous support from our donors and you the patrons of SIFA! I would like to acknowledge the generous donation from Mr. & Mrs. Prabhakar, Mr. & Mrs. Goel and an anonymous donor who made the two day music festival a grand success.
As the number of events increase, so does the demand on our volunteer community. I would like to thank our community volunteers who helped SIFA by hosting visiting artists. These families ensured that the visiting artists had a comfortable stay and enjoyed good food, thus preparing them for a wonderful concert. Their hospitality was so great that even the most travel weary artists gave their best concert in San Jose.
There is yet another group of community volunteers who made each and every concert a success through their involvement. This group helped SIFA by taking care of the artists. needs during and after the concert by providing refreshments and dinner. They have helped with ushering and other errands and activities during each event.
I would like to thank both these groups for their help during 2009. Without their support, it would have been impossible to have hosted this many concerts in 2009. I did not make mention of individual names for fear of omission and embarrassment.
I would like to thank our National Sponsors namely Cleveland Aradhana Committee, Smt. Bhargavi Sundararajan, Smt. Krishni Anadarajan, CMANA, Smt. Chitra Bhaskar, Smt. Nanditha Mazumdar, Smt. Kala Iyer and SankritiLaya for supporting SIFA and providing artists during 2009. Applying visas for visiting artists and arranging concert tours are very arduous and time consuming tasks. Their expertise in this area helps not only SIFA but also similar organizations in other cities of USA.
It takes a few communities to make a village and a few villages to make a town. It takes several towns to make a city. In this task of building SIFA as a large city, I am greatly indebted to the support given by members of 2009 Executive committee, Planning Committee and their families. These people have been an integral part of all events during 2009 and their success. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my Executive committee members for their dedication and support. The Planning committee members were also supportive of various events and activities. I would like to acknowledge their contribution at this stage.
Above all, SIFA is a member supported community organization. My sincere thanks to each and every one of you, our sponsors and patrons, who have always had kind words of encouragement for our undertaking. It is this small but immensely invigorating gesture that drives SIFA committee members to strive hard for the growth of this organization.
SIFA sponsors have the responsibility to elect committee members every year and entrust the task of managing SIFA's affairs to the newly elected committee. I thank you for providing this wonderful opportunity to me and my team members in 2009. Elections for 2010 will be held on Thyagaraja Aradhana day, Feb 7, 2010 This will prepare the future generation to take up the affairs of SIFA and lead this organization to its Golden Jubilee in the years ahead!
Sincerely
Geetha Vaidyanathan
(President 2009)
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