Nadopasana - Worship Through Music
Carnatic Classical Vocal Concert by Malavika Brijesh
A Fundraiser for Ladybug House
“Music has the power to heal souls”
Malavika Brijesh presents Nadopasana, a Carnatic classical vocal concert conducted to raise funds to support children in need of medical assistance and care.
One of Care & Share’s aims is providing to kids and families respite from life-limiting and critical illness. We support various organizations in the US and India. We are ecstatic to be part of Malavika’s desire to use her gifted talent to raise funds for Ladybug House, a Seattle-based nonprofit working to build Washington’s first freestanding, family-centered palliative care home and hospice for children.
100% of your donations will go towards the cause. All the expenses of the event are borne by Malavika's parents.
“There are so many children in this world suffering from illnesses that are unable to withstand the difficulties of dealing with their hardships. As a child myself, I want to lend out a helping hand to those families in need. This is why I chose Ladybug House. During the holiday season, I had the amazing opportunity to make dreams come true by wrapping gifts from the patients’ wish lists for Christmas. It was such a rejuvenating experience. I want to contribute to Ladybug House’s mission of supporting children, adolescents, young adults, and their families through their strenuous journey”
Malavika Brijesh is a junior at Liberty High School. She began learning music at the age of 3 and a half from Smt. Sailaja Nimagadda. Later she continued her vocal training from Smt. Shubadhra Achalla, who helped her build a strong foundation for her singing. For the past 7 years, she has been receiving rigorous and advanced training from Sri Raman Iyer, a renowned artist in the greater Seattle area.
Malavika has sung various genres of music in multiple events throughout her childhood. Some of these venues include school musicals, temple concerts, fundraiser events, talent shows, bands, and many more. She also won the first runner-up Singing Sensation award for the Flowers TV Sing N Win Season 1 reality show, conducted across USA and Canada.
Besides singing, Malavika also loves dancing and acting. She has been learning Bharatanatyam, an Indian classical form of dance, since she was 5 years old. She has also participated in multiple musicals, and was fortunate enough to land lead roles, one of them including Princess Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Malavika also currently holds the position of an ASB director for her high school as well as a Patriot Crew Leader and a National Honor Society member.
Malavika lives in Renton with her brother Rajdeep, mom Sabitha, and dad Brijesh. Aside from her busy schedule, her hobbies include reading, binge-watching her favorite tv series, cuddling her puppy, and spending time with friends and family.
Raman Iyer - Guru
Raman Iyer, born and raised in Kochi, India comes from a musical household and showed a keen interest in violin from an early age. His first training on the instrument was under Sri. Nedumangad Shivanandan when he was just six years old. This discipleship lasted for a decade and was supplemented by the music that permeated his home. His parents Smt. Valli and Shri Mahadeva Iyer were deeply influential in young Raman's life and taught him much about the vocal repertoire of Carnatic music. For a short while, Raman also studied the art of vocal music under Shri Ochira Balakrishnan.
In the early nineties, Raman briefly learnt under the legendary violin maestro Dr. L. Subramaniam. In addition, Raman has been closely associated with another accomplished musician, Vainika Sreevidhya Chandramouli.
In the Seattle area, Raman is known as a patient, thoughtful and encouraging teacher of (vocal and violin) music and has many students who have benefitted from his guidance.
VVS Murari - Violin
Born into a family of musicians with rich lineage and steeped in pedigree music, Maestro VVS Murari represents the fourth generation of music practitioners in his family. Murari has been groomed under the guidance of his father and guru the legend ‘Nadayogi’ VV Subrahmanyam and later from the doyen of Carnatic music ‘Padma Vibhushan’ Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. Murari was initiated into classical carnatic music by his paternal grandfather and musician Vadakkencheri Veeraraghava Iyer, and mentored by his mother Janaki VVS who hails from a family of great connoisseurs of music and arts in Kozhikode. Murari's maternal grandfather Shankaranarayanan Iyer was a noted teacher and a passionate flautist from Kozhikode, Kerala.
Murari today not only bears the torch of the VVS tradition but has also evolved as a sensitive and emotive musician, giving a distinct style of his own. Not only an acclaimed musician, Murari is also an art entrepreneur, donning the hats of founder director for VVS Foundation, India and Founder & Chief Operating officer of SaMaa Arts LLC, USA. Through these organizations he has been doing great service to the art industry by encouraging and featuring young musicians of Carnatic music on various platforms worldwide. He has also been the catalyst in taking raw talents, mentoring them, and putting them on the world map by touring them across the United States and Canada. He has also been involved in several unique projects combining classical Indian music and western classical to jazz music thus bringing the world together.
In line with many of his unique projects, “Dakshinotsavam” (implying the festival of the south) was a project he came up in December 2020 to identify and feature lesser-known musicians affected by the Covid pandemic resulting in a financial lurch.
Vinod Seetharaman - Mridangam
Vinod Seetharaman is among the most accomplished and sought after first generation Carnatic percussionists in the United States. His Mridangam performances have won him wide appreciation from audiences. His training in Mridangam started at the age of seven from Shri. Ardhanareeswaran, and he continues his advanced training from Bangalore Shri. Arjun Kumar and Shri. Umayalpuram Sivaraman.
The purity and sophistication of Vinod’s mridangam training has enabled him to not only accompany an astonishing variety of musicians, but also given him the freedom to innovate and create meaningfully. Vinod has shared the stage with at least four generations of Carnatic musicians that include, but not limited to Dr. M Balamuralikrishna, T N Seshagopalan, Dr. N Ramani, TM Krishna, Bombay Jayashri, Chitravina Ravikiran, Neyveli Santhanagopalan and Abhishek Raghuram.
Vinod is passionate about keeping up the purity of his traditional legacy even in collaborative ventures. He has composed and arranged the rhythm for many percussion ensembles. He is a popular teacher, and his students are regular features in music festivals and competitions. His vision is to work with a variety of musicians and propagate Indian percussion to diverse audiences across the globe.
Balaji Chandran – Ghatam
Balaji Chandran started his Carnatic percussion studies in Mridangam under Sri. Kovai Mani and Sri. Kadayanallur Narayana Iyer. He is a disciple of Sri. Ghatam V.Suresh from whom he learns Ghatam. He brings with him an energetic style of playing the Ghatam bestowed upon him by his guru. He has provided his percussive support to many artists in America, Canada and in India. He has performed in prestigious venues like Music Academy - Chennai, Naradha Ghana Sabha, and other illustrious venues. He considers himself very fortunate to have had the opportunity to lend support to stalwarts and stars of the current generation. He has been part of the Cleveland Aradhana festivities and Thyagaraja Aradhana celebrations in Minnesota, USA for the past 14 years. He has been featured in TPT Television and KFAI Radio. He has collaborated with St.Olaf College Jazz band and BrassKings, an American BlueGrass Jazz band. He is also adept in playing the Kanjira and Morsing. He has also lent percussive support to many Bharathanatyam Arengetrams and dance productions.
Double your Impact using company match
Companies usually match donations. When an employee makes a donation, they can request a matching from their employer. Company matching means that if you donate $10, your company will also donate $10 towards the cause. Companies usually match donations at a 1:1 ratio, but some will match at a 2:1, 3:1, or even a 4:1 ratio.
Step 1: Login to your employer matching website such as Benevity.
Step 2: Search for the non profit, "Care and Share". Please check to make sure it matches EIN 36-3708966 before making your donation
Step 3: Mention “Nadopasana” in the comment section if it allows.