Maanudam Parai Team Virtual Concert

Join us and the Maanudam Parai Team for our third and final virtual concert on September 24 at 7:00PM! Chat with fellow concert-goers during the YouTube Concert Premiere at: https://youtu.be/cgQi66-RhWM.

The country of India is home to many rich regional cultures, ethnicities, and languages. Tamil language and culture have ancient roots in India’s state of Tamil Nadu as well as neighboring Sri Lanka. We are fortunate to have a vibrant Tamil community here in Connecticut. Spread across the state, this cultural community keeps ties with teachers in Tamil Nadu and the United States. They work together to invigorate their cultural heritage art forms, including Bharathaanaatiyam classical dance, Villupaattu storytelling, and Tamil folk dance like Kummi, Kaavadi, and Karagam. One of the most important art forms is playing parai, a frame drum played with two sticks.

This third virtual concert features the Maanudam Parai Team (maanudam means “humanity”), along with performers from within Connecticut’s Tamil community. They also share the generous contributions of teachers and scholars who richly contextualize the history of parai drumming and the political position they take by embracing and promoting parai at this moment in time.

This concert series is made possible with generous funding from the Evelyn W. Preston Memorial Trust Fund, Bank of America N.A., Trustee. Additional program support comes from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Connecticut Office of the Arts/DECD, and the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History.

To learn more about Maanudam Parai, see: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010615869906