Kalaimamani Rajesh Vaidhya Music Festival – NTA CHITHIRAI THIRUVIZHA 2019

NTA produced one of the best fusion music bonanzas on 12th May 2019 at Stockport plaza.

Mr Rajesh Vaidhya (RV) delivered his scintillating performance accompanied by “Rainbow Raagas”, UK’s popular music band. This band comprises exceptionally talented musicians, gave their shoulders to make this event a successful event. Charles, the leader of this band, made very good effort in picking up the tunes in short notice and rendered very well.

When the president of NTA suggested inviting Mr. Rajesh Vaidhya (RV) team for 2019 chithirai thiruvizha, the whole committee was dumbstruck for three reasons a) opportunity to meet the world-renowned musician on stage b) opportunity to listen to young good singers’ melodious voice and c) opportunity to listen to unique fusion music concert. Everyone was thrilled and geared towards promoting the event.

Ticket promotion was very challenging. As Veena is a traditional Carnatic instrument, people struggled to visualise this fusion music we were hoping to bring in. The NTA team used traditional promotion via regional NTA representatives. NTA utilised the digital innovation and also did  the social media promotion. Tamil radio station from Yorkshire helped NTA by promoting via their show.

The whole NTA team under the inspiring leadership of Dr Nachiappan, we call him fondly as “thalai”, planned everything accurately from beginning to end. Considering minute details to the core while planning can be well learned under his able guidance. Extremely thorough in everything and always aim to deliver results every time. Mr Siva Balachandran and other executive members of NTA, worked tirelessly with Nachi in bringing up this concert to this level.

On May 11, the team started rehearsing. After viewing their rehearsal, we realised it is going to be a grand success, and people who miss the concert will definitely regret.

On 12th May, Concert started off with a nice introduction of the team by our compering team Mr Ram Mohan and Dr Vannamalar, along with our NTA prodigy Dr SenthilKumar Muthu. The compering team made tremendous effort in collecting information of everyone and presented them well in between the compositions and medleys. In fact, audience enjoyed the humorous chemistry between Mr Anand (male singer) and Dr Vannamalar.

Mr RV with his enormous stage presence unleashed 3 hours of mesmerising music. Mr RV’s veena resembled a rock guitar. The way he strummed the veena, at some point in time we thought it is going to break.

Mr RV started off with his own fusion music and slowly moved on to the cine songs. First one hour, the hall was in complete silence, everyone engrossed to his composition, with standing ovation by the audience for every medley. The drummer Mr Kumaran, keyboard player Mr. Marshall and drum pad player Mr. Bharani were well received by the audience.

After almost an hour of musical rain, Mr R V took a break and generously handed over the stage to the super singers. Mr Anand Aravindakshan, Miss Lakshmi Pradeep and Miss Malavika Rajhesh carried out the energy initiated by Mr RV.

Mr Anand re-ignited the musical fire with his melodious voice and rendered popular compositions like “Kadhal Sadugudu”, “Maruvaarthai”. In fact, the song “Maruvaarthai” was well rendered by him and he literally brought “Sid Sriram” on to the stage.

Miss Malavika rendered her favourite “Konjam Nilavu” and captured every person with her nice dance movements. She is the daughter of Mr RV and it was no surprise they combined extremely well in conducting he show.

Miss Lakshmi surprised the whole audience with her “Mayya Mayya” song. Such a difficult song, she rendered effortlessly, fluently and robbed everyone’s heart.

Mr RV again presented his next level of talent with nice compositions from Hindi movies and Maestro movies.

Dr Vani Ashwin, the star of the “Rainbow Raagas” band, rendered a very difficult composition “Mannavan Vandhanadi”. She was well accompanied by Dr Kathir on Mirudhangam and the whole “Rainbow Raagas” team.

The interesting part of this concert is 3/4 musical compositions. Sixteen Songs presented to the audience with a line from each, which falls under 3/4 category and accompanied by Mr RV. The three singers did an amazing job by nicely picking the tunes.

Mr RV’s interaction and engagement with the audience was superb. His ‘Neyar Viruppam’ -audience’s wishes for songs was a big hit! He showed why he is a genius. He brought out all song requests from the audience with his Veena

The unique part of this concert is the Grand Finale. 12 minutes of non-stop music, started off with solo drums, “madai thirandhu”, “megam kottatum”,“engeyum eppodhum”,”Hari Giri Nandini” and finished the concert in style. Almost for two minutes, the audience clapped and gave a standing ovation to this musical genius.

Overall, the audience were completely dumbstruck with this concert and everyone realised this is the one of the great performances they have seen recently.

Dr Madan Thirugnanam incoming president of NTA gave the vote of thanks, he thanked the patrons,  the core team Mr Siva Balachandran, Dr Stewart Durairaj, Dr Ram Vinayagam, Mr Narayanan and Mr Hari Sairam, he also thanked the extended NTA family.

Dr Madan also thanked the Audio Visual team – Jas live digital, ked by Mr Sreenath Vijayan, Volunteers and team at Stockport Plaza

We thank the sponsors of the event Sai Spice, Freedom Circle, KTS Legal, Kajam Silks, Deivasigamani Guruswamy, Shubho Kundu and Yupp TV

We thank our media partners Sivaraj – Siva Media, Thiruvarur.

We all thank everyone who bought the ticket, supported this event and made this a grand success. NTA will provide more such events in future with all of your support.

Tamil New Year 2018 was celebrated in a grand style on 31st April 2018 at Stockport. The NTA in tradition with past years celebrated the Tamil New Year in a grand style this year with an overwhelming response from the entire Tamil community in the UK. Dr.Senthil Kumar Muthu – President of the NTA, presented the welcome note. He thanked the hard work put in by the Team NTA and in particular the core team which had worked hard over the past few months to make this Tamil New Year Celebrations a Grand one. He spoke about the organisation and praised how the organization has grown from strength to strength in the last 30 years. The function was preceded over and graced by Minister of Coordination Mr Rajan IPS from the High Commission of India, UK. Mr Rajan stressed the importance of promoting and preserving our Indian Culture in general and Tamil Culture in particular and appreciated the NTA for its tireless work for the Tamil community of UK. The function started off with Tamil Thai Vazhthu by Uma Velupandian, Muthu Nachiappan & Priya Narayanan. The programme started on time with a fabulous dance by Santosh Menon and his team from Kalasangham, Bradford. The star attraction this year was the Musical Concert by the legendary Padmashri Chithra & her co singers along with their Band from India. They entertained the audience with their lovely songs including some old favourites. Nearly 900 people attended the show and enjoyed the event. Smt Chithra performed for nearly 3 hrs on seeing the great enthusiasm from the audience. The hall had very good acoustics. The hall being strategically located attracted huge audience. The Hall was packed with a huge crowd and it was a fantastic sight to see all the ladies in colourful sarees, children playing casually and the men having a great time with their friends and families. Dr Senthil Kumar Muthu & Dr Kavitha kept the audience well engaged with their compering throughout the programme. The food stall by Sai Spice was a huge hit among audience and as they served delicious food. Dr Nachiappan – Vice President of the NTA proposed a vote of thanks to complete the celebrations. Our special thanks are due to the following Sponsors: 1. ANANYAS Nana Nani Homes – Coimbatore
  1. Sai Spice – UK
  2. Asset India
  3. HDFC – London,
  4. Lebara Play
NTA is proud to announce that donations were made to the following Charities:
  1. Ekam Foundation – UK
  2. Anbagam Orphanage for HIV infected children – India
Finally, we would like to thank the committee members, NTA members, volunteers and guests – who really have supported the Association in all its endeavours last year. Please visit www.northerntamilassociation.org.uk for more details about the association and future events. Review written by Dr Asokan Krishnaier, Editor NTA website & Advisor NTA UK

Diwali Cultural programme 2018 was celebrated in a grand style on 27th October 2018 at Wythenshawe forum Hall in Manchester

Dr Madan Thirugnanam, Vice President of Northern Tamil Association welcomed everyone. In his welcome address, he went through the hard work NTA committee members and their family had done over the past few months to make this Diwali cultural celebration a Grand one. The NTA committee worked as a ‘Kudumbam’ to make this Diwali a great celebration.

Mr.Umer Khan, Superintendent of Police graced the function. Mr.Umer Khan is leading ‘We stand together campaign’ and Board member ‘ Our Manchester Forum’. He mentioned Manchester is most culturally diverse city only next to London. He gave an excellent speech and mentioned Multi cultural events like this would be beneficial in bringing the best talents in youngsters. He highlighted the benefits of ethnic diversity and the economic and cultural benefits it brought along with it.

The function started off with Tamil Thai Vazhthu followed by two minutes silence for world peace.

A new look, user-friendly Website was launched by Mr.Siva Balachandran, Mr. Hariharan Sairam and Dr Asokan Krishnaier. Mr. Siva went through how the new website works and its various user-friendly features. Dr. Asokan mentioned how the website evolved in the last ten years from a humble beginning.

The NTA Magazine ‘Thendral’ successfully released this year by Dr Saravanan Prakasam & Dr Ashok Elayaperumal. The NTA Magazine gives a huge platform to all Tamil people in UK to bring their talents in non performing arts.

The star attraction this year was the jam-packed Performing Arts programs by various groups’ people all over the North of England.

There were fifty- five programs to keep the audience entertained for nearly six hours.

The judges for our event were Mr. Andrew Thomas, Mrs.Nrithya Rammohan & Mrs.Abhinandana. The judges had tough time deciding the best performing team. The standard of the entertainment was very high and the audience thoroughly enjoyed each and every programme. All the participants and all the teams provided exceptional performances. The Winners Trophy won by East Midlands – Derby & Nottingham and Runners Trophy won by Wirral.

The stage was filled with LED screens which gave a modern look. The hall had a good Music system. The Hall was packed with more than 700 people and it was a fantastic sight to see all the ladies in colourful sarees, children playing casually and the men having a good time with their friends.

Sai Spice did catering for the programme from Manchester. Everyone praised the quality of the food and the variety of Indian food sold was a huge hit among audience.

Dr.M.Nachiappan, President of NTA, proposed a vote of thanks to complete the celebrations. He went through the hard work NTA committee members and their family had done over the past few months to make this Diwali cultural celebration a Grand one. He appreciated how the organization has grown from strength to strength over the last 30 years.

Mr. Kalyan organized raffle and the children did a great job. The team would like to express thanks to the children and other volunteers who helped in the raffle ticket sale.

Our special thanks are due to the following Sponsors:

  1. Sai Spice, Manchester
  2. HDFC Bank, Manchester
  3. Lyca TV
  4. St James Place
  5. Nachu Finance
  6. General & Medical Accounts Ltd
  7. Mount Hospitals
  8. Lakshmi Stores
  9. Life Line Protect
  10. Gan Mahadea
  11. British Tamil Radio
  12. 12.Devanathan Financial Advisor

NTA introduced Bursaries for the Tamil Schools in UK for the first time. As always, this time also we are proud to support and donate the following Charities:

1.Vanavil School, supporting underprivileged children in Tsunami affected areas.

2.Olirum Vazhvu, Supporting the under privileged in Srilanka.

3.Five Tamil schools received Bursaries in UK

The NTA Tamil Deepavali cultural programme 2018 would not have been a success without the support of our members, participants, guests and our supporters. On behalf of our association, we would like to say a huge thank you for your support in our entire endeavour.

We once again look forward to seeing you all in our Tamil Chithirai Thiruvizha’ musical concert by Rajhesh Vaidhya Live in UK Concert in Stockport Plaza on 12th May 2019.

Always log on to www.northerntamilassociation.org.uk to get latest updates and tickets for events.

Review written by Dr Asokan Krishnaier, Editor NTA website Advisor NTA UK

Diwali Cultural programme 2017 was celebrated in a grand style on 07th October 2017 at Ellesmereport Civic Hall, Civic way, Wllesmere Port in Cheshire.

Mrs Kavitha Sethumadhavan, Secretary of Northern Tamil Association welcomed everyone. In her welcome address, She went through the hard work NTA committee members and their family had done over the past few months to make this Diwali cultural celebration a Grand one.

The Mayor of Ellesmereport, Mrs. Nicole Meardon graced the function. She gave an excellent speech on Multi cultural events that would be beneficial in bringing the best talents in youngsters. She highlighted the benefits of ethnic diversity and the economic and cultural benefits it brought along with it. She was very impressed with colourful costumes of Ladies, Children and Men who were all in tremendous Diwali Festival spirits.

The function started off with Tamil Thai Vazhthu followed by two minutes silence for world peace. The NTA Magazine successfully released this year by Mrs. Kavitha Sethumadhavan and Dr Senthil Kumar Muthu. The NTA Magazine gives a huge platform to all Tamil people in UK to bring their talents in non performing arts. The star attraction this year was the jam-packed talented programs by various groups’ people all over the North of England. There were fifty-eight programs to keep the audience entertained. It was decided to have Professional Judges this year too.

The judges for our event were Mrs. Ramya Tangirala, Mrs.Rinee Bhattacharya & Mr.Kiran Joseph. The judges had tough time deciding the best performing team. The standard of the entertainment was very high and the audience thoroughly enjoyed each and every programme. All the participants and all the teams provided exceptional performances. The Winners Trophy won by East Midlands – Derby & Nottingham and Runners Trophy won by West Midlands & Stoke.

The hall had a good Music system. The Hall was packed with more 600 people and it was a fantastic sight to see all the ladies in colourful sarees, children playing casually and the men having a good time with their friends.

Sai Spice did catering for the programme from Manchester. Everyone praised the quality of the food and the variety of Indian food sold was a huge hit among audience.

Dr.Senthil Kumar Muthu, President of NTA, proposed a vote of thanks to complete the celebrations. He went through the hard work NTA committee members and their family had done over the past few months to make this Diwali cultural celebration a Grand one. He appreciated how the organization has grown from strength to strength over the last 30 years.

Mr. Kalyan organized raffle and the children did a great job. The team would like to express thanks to the children and other volunteers who helped in the raffle ticket sale.

Our special thanks are due to the following Sponsors:

  1. Sai Spice, Manchester
  2. HDFC Bank, Manchester
  3. Lebara Play
  4. Asset India
  5. Queens Catering
  6. Subjayas Ltd
  7. Mauve fashions

As always, this time also we are proud to support and donate the following Charities: Anbagam Orphanage for HIV infected children, Dindigul Samarthanam trust for disabled Butterwick Hospice, Stockton on Tees

The NTA Tamil Deepavali cultural programme 2017 would not have been a success without the support of our members, participants, guests and our supporters. On behalf of our association, we would like to say a huge thank you for your support in our entire endeavour.

We once again look forward to seeing you all in our Tamil New Year musical concert by K.S. CHITHRA Live in UK Concert in Stoke on Trent on 31st March 2018 between 3 to 7 PM. Always log on to www.northerntamilassociation.org.uk to get latest updates and tickets for events.