Caravan of silk and jade

Not being in India, we miss our loved ones...we also miss the honking cars, the morning rush, yummy cusines and the crowded streets.But in December, we miss the chennai-music season the most.
So when we heard about the World beat concert organised by The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, we jumped with joy.
Inspired by the legendary Silk route, it is(was) a presentation of Ouds from Iraq and Iran blended with ragas and thillanas from our very own South India. We were not let down ( oh no, not totally :)...
The program started with a soulful " oud and string quartet" presentation by Rahim Al Haj followed by a not so musical "Blue as the Turquoise Night of Neyshabur". The lowest point in the whole concert was after the intermission when Palukavademira in devamanohari and Mokshamu in saramati were mercilessly murdered. It was totally played out of tune and in an effort to westernise Indian music, they had completely diluted the compositions which only left an insipid taste in the listener's ears and charmed no one.It took us gargantuan effort to stay there even after such a poor display of skills but it paid to be patient. Nirmala Rajasekar, well known veena player here with her accompanying artists Shriniasan Venkatakrishnan on mridangam and Pavan Allalaghatta on tabla lifted our spirits and gave Carnatic music the honor it rightly desreves on a world stage. Her rendition of Rasikapriya and Mandu were the undoubtedly the best pieces of the day.
I can only add one thing here...Carnatic music-You either love it or leave it. Please do not adultrate it.
Oh yes, I do love the way carnatic music is adapted into many tamil film songs, esp. by Illayaraja and there are hundreds of his song that I could give as examples but one of my favorites would be "idazhil kadhai" from Unnal mudiyum thambi" in raaga lalitha...but I guess that takes talent :)
The end was pretty dramatic with a piece from "Mother India" performed by all artists. On the whole it was a good experience. Will I go once again? Maybe not.