Saturday, July 19, 2008
Datta Yoga Raga Sagara, Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, New York, USA – 19th July, 2008
Music for Meditation & Healing
A historic “Meditation and Healing”, concert was conducted by His Holiness Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Swamiji on July 19, 2008 at the Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City, where an audience of around 2000 people was spellbound for over two-hours. This was Sri Swamiji’s first performance at the world famous Lincoln Center, and he was quite pleased with the entire experience.
This is a historic concert and the people who are present here today are very lucky. The kind of energy and vibrations flowing out of me are very different and rare and can be experienced only on special occasions, Sri Swamiji told the gathering. Sri Swamiji has conducted hundreds of concerts around the globe over the years and is famous for His mystical powers to heal people through music. The concert, attended by devotees and guests from different parts of the world, was started with K G Praveen Kumar, Consul, Consulate General of India in New York offering a garland to Sri Swamiji.
Internationally renowned violinist, composer and conductor Nada Chakravarty, Dr. L. Subramaniam was the guest artist in this special music concert. His soulful and virtuoso playing enriched the musical session.
The musical troupe, accompanying Sri Swamiji, consisted of Jaitra Varanasi (Violin), Shankar Ramesh (Mridangam), and Sumitra (Violin). The concert was performed on the day of Shravana Nakshataram, the ruling astrological star of the day, the star of Lord Vishnu (god of healing).
Pujya Sri Swamiji began the concert with Raga Rushyaketupriya, offering prayer to Lord Ganesh, followed by a vocal recital in Raga Gaanamoorti, “Aghanashana Anaghapriya”, asking Lord Dattatreya to bestow His power to kindle compassion in everybody. The first two compositions were followed by a series of five ragas, namely Anagha (new raga composed by Sri Swamiji with four notes), Vaasanti (ancient raga with five notes), Kokilam (a very rare raga – with no popularly known composition – with six notes), Naaganandini (another rare raga composed by Sri Swamiji on Mother Goddess Sakala Hrudeeshwari Sri Mataha with seven notes) and Simhendra Madhyamam (popular and powerful healing raga with seven notes, relating to the five elements of nature such as water, fire, soil, space and air). Later, Sri Swamiji performed Shankarabharanam, an ancient dancing and relaxation tune and ended the concert with the beautiful and soothing Saama Raga.
The gathering enjoyed the concert immensely and put their hands together to the tune of Sri Swamiji’s music and gave a grand applause with a number of standing ovations that witnessed reverberations at Avery Fisher Hall. Yogini Kali Ray was the Master of Ceremonies for the concert, and introduced Sri Swamiji and his musical troupe. The vote of thanks was given by Selvam Dasarathan. Prior to the concert, Sri Swamiji addressed a press conference at the Lincoln Center and explained to a group of journalists about the nature of the concert and its effectiveness. He also stated that, music therapy is powerful because it is combined with ayurveda, psychology, gemenotherapy, mantra, and astrology.
The concert was jointly organized by Yoga Sangeeta, New Jersey, and Datta Yoga Centre (USA), Chicago chapter.
