MNFK

06/11/2024

பாடவா என் பாடலை🎙🎙

Dear friends, families and supporters of our MNFK

By now you are all aware that we are partnering with Twin Cities Tamil Association (TCTA) and Minnesota Malayalee Association (MMA) in bringing you the veteran singer P. Unnikrishnan yet another time live in our Twin Cities of MN along with his daughter Uttara for an enterprising live concert on Sunday June 30th.

For those of you who have passion to sing and explore their skills on a stage in front of the artistes our MNFK is very excited and pleased to provide you all with an opportunity to do so!!!

YES THIS IS TRUE!!! Immediately a day after the concert we are organizing a MEET AND GREET with the artistes on Monday July 1st. As part of this our MNFK has been offered the opportunity to present a karaoke show during the get together to show case the local talents - yes pinch yourself as something of this kind is being tried in our Twin Cities for the first time where local talents would get a chance to hand shake with the artistes while exposing their talents and making a MARK!!!

வாய்ப்பை தவற விடாதீர்கள்👍👍

All you have to do to book your slot is to reach out to the following TCTA / MNFK organizers to book your tickets for the Meet And Greet on July 1st:

Madankumar Rajendran - 312-804-7040 - [email protected]

Shan Kuthalingam - 224-595-1171 - [email protected]

Senthil K*maran - 763-242-1330 - [email protected]

Shankar Krishnan - 651-964-9576 - [email protected]

As is the practice for all such opportunities remember the tagline:

HURRY!!! SPOTS ARE LIMITED!!!

Tail Note: You can send the song you would like to lead along with an MP3 version of the karaoke track to the following cultural leads in advance:

Shankar Krishnan - [email protected]

Purush - [email protected]

02/25/2024

Good Evening everyone!! It had been a wonderful Saturday filled with our Divine Classical Carnatic music presentations from our own Twin Cities, MN’s highly talented YUVA KALAKARS (young artists)! 😊😇 We were in AWE with each and every performance that was being exhibited on the MNFK- Yuva Sangeeth Mela (YSM) stage. Beginning with the Saraswathi Veena Duo short concert, followed by the vocal Duo short concert, and then the Mridangam Ensemble, Lecture Demo on RTP aspect and finally concluding with the main vocal concert of the day! The program was a great success today🥳😇🙏

We would like to thank all the eminent Gurus including Vidushi. Smt. Nirmala Rajasekar, Vidwan Shri. Sriram Natarajan and Vidwan Shri. Srinivasan for their unwavering support for the YSM program. We were humbled to see many other Gurus in the twin cities coming to watch this program to encourage the KIds 😀
Thank to Greg for a phenomenal Sound system setup,
A special shout out to Jeyeshree-Satish and the organizing team of friends who helped with all other Logistics. Our special heartfelt thanks to Kamalakar Kanajam assisting with Sound logistics, Partha Narasimman, Suresh Parthasarathy, Hari Padmanabhan, Banu and Vidya for helping us to set up of the event stage and wrap up. 🙏🙏🎶

We at the MNFK are grateful for everyone for the help and support in making the MNFK-YSM event a resounding success🙏🎶😇🥳

02/24/2024

02/24/2024

Looking forward to see you all there to be inspired by our YUVA KAlakara today. Please don’t miss the event. All are welcome!!!

02/23/2024

Finally bringing in the Yuva Kalakar : Praseed Balaji, the most sought out young mridangam player (percussionist) from the Twin cities, MN, We are looking forward for his Lecture Demo on the aspects of Ragam Taanam Pallavi (RTP) in a Carnatic concert, for the YSM program. Please come watch, support and enjoy. 😊🙏🎶

Praseed Balaji is a senior at Thomas Jefferson High school. He has been learning Mridangam under the tutelage of Kalaimamani Shree Thanjavur Murugaboopathi since the age of 5 and is mentored by his father Ghatam Vidhwan Shri Balaji Chandran. He has also been learning Carnatic vocal under the tutelage of Vidushi Smt Leela Ramanathan since the age of 7. Praseed has won prizes in the Carnatic star, Sangeeth Samart and Cleveland thyagaraja aradhana competitions. He has performed in concerts throughout U.S and India. He has had the opportunity to accompany some of the stalwarts of the current generation such as the Carnatica brothers and Vidhwan Shri V.K. Manimaran. In addition to Carnatic music concerts Praseed also plays for dance performances Radha Kalyanams and Namasankeerthanams. He has also ventured in to the world of collaborative music through the multi media show Parivaar curated by Vidushi Shruthi Rajasekar. Some of Praseed’s ventures outside of performing Carnatic music are playing his school’s varsity chess team, interning at the Hindu Society of Minnesota in the Youth initiatives committee, and composing ragam thanam pallavis.

02/22/2024

Our next Yuva Kalakar: Prateeksha Narasimman, a strong young and enthusiastic Carnatic vocalist from our very own Twin Cities, MN. Please come, support and encourage our Yuva Kalakars of this esteemed and age old Divine art form at our MNFK- YSM event.😊🙏

Prateeksha Narasimman is a Senior at Wayzata High School. She has been learning vocal Carnatic music for the past 10 plus years at Naadharasa School for music under the able guidance of Vidushi Kalaimamani Smt. Nirmala Rajasekar. Prateeksha has performed and taken part in several competitions asuch as Naadotsavam by SV Temple, Hindu Mandir of MN and has been the lead singer at her Gurus Veena Ensemble titled Veena Gaanam at the Cleveland Aradhana Festival, USA. Besides this she is also an established Bharathnatyam dancer, under the tutelage of Vidushi Amrithavalli Candala in MN. At school, she does theatre and is the drama club president.

02/22/2024

Here comes the Yuva Kalakar: K*m. Varsha Prasanna, a Carnatic vocalist from Plymouth, MN. She is performing a dual vocal concert for our YSM series on Feb 24th, Saturday. Please check the flyer for more information.
We look forward in seeing you all to listen, enjoy and support the young artist.

Varsha Prasanna, is currently a Senior at Wayzata High School. She has been learning vocal Carnatic Music for 13 years, and has been a student at Naadha Rasa Center for Music for 10 years, under the tutelage of Vidushi Smt. Nirmala Rajasekar . She is also involved in many other art forms such as choir, theatre, and piano. Next year, she will be pursuing a computer science degree in college.

02/22/2024

Here comes our next Yuva Kalakar : Vidya Gopalan, a young upcoming Vainika from our own Twin cities, MN. We are looking forward to watch her playing the saraswathi Veena on our YSM event, coming Feb 24th.

Vidhya, a 10th grader at Maple Grove Senior High, has been learning the veena for 8 years now from Vidushi. Kalaimamani Smt. Nirmala Rajasekar. She has preformed and competed in SV temple’s Nadotsavam, preformed in the Cleveland Aradana Festival’s Veena Ganam and at numerous events for the Hindu Temple of Minnesota. In school, Vidhya is a member of Multicultural Club, the Girls Swim and Dive team and the Track team. She enjoys listening to music, art and baking.

02/21/2024

We are so glad to introduce the raising Yuva Kalakar: Mrithika Suresh, a Vainika from our very own Twin cities, MN.

Mrithika, a senior at Wayzata High School, has been learning Carnatic music vocal and Veena from world renowned Vainika Gayika, Vidushi Kalaimamani Smt. Nirmala Rajasekar at Naadharasa Center for music for over 10 years. She has competed and won in Nadotsavam competition conducted by SV temple. She has performed at various cultural events in Hindu Mandir, SV temple and music events conducted by Swaravedika and MNFK’s Yuva Sangeeth Mela.
Mrithika has been one among the Lead veena plyers in the Veena Ganam at the esteemed Cleveland Aradhana festival. She has also performed in India at the Thirupathi temple along with her guru. Recently she has been applauded for her presentation at the Next Chapter Book stores’ Literary bridges poetry reading event.
Mrithika is also a member of the Hindu Youth of MN board. In school she participates in clubs like Business Professionals of America and Redcross. In her free time Mrithika enjoys reading, playing with her dog, engaging in physical activity, and hanging out with friends.

02/20/2024

We are excited to present the Mridangam ensemble this year in the YSM’s third Chapter - the Winter Series, 2024.

We are honored to present this performnce by the students of our dear Mridangam Vidwan Sri. V.Srinivasan.

Please come to enjoy and get inspired. Looking forward to seeing you all.

Event link: https://facebook.com/events/s/yuva-sangeeth-mela-ysm-2024-wi/1027953111642130/

02/20/2024

Event LINK: https://facebook.com/events/s/yuva-sangeeth-mela-ysm-2024-wi/1027953111642130/

Our Next Yuva Kalakar: Sreyas Bhattathiripad, Mridangam player ( percussionist)

Sreyas Bhattathiripad is a freshman from Eagan High school. He started learning mridangam under the tutelage of sri. Sriram Natarajan from MN in 2016. He is currently a disciple of both Kalaimamani Vid.Sri.Thanjavoor Muruga Bhoopathi and Sri.Sriram Natarajan. He has won several prizes in both State and national level music competitions such as the Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival and SV Temple in Minneapolis. He has also performed in events including Veenaganam,Layasaram events,Melharmony Festival and Amruthavarshini's online concert series. He plays Trumpet for Eagan high School Concert band. Sreyas also learns Carnatic music under the tutelage of Smt. Nalini Sreekumar from Kerala.

02/20/2024

Event link: https://facebook.com/events/s/yuva-sangeeth-mela-ysm-2024-wi/1027953111642130/

Continuing to introduce our next Yuva Kalakar - Rishabh Bhattacharya, Mridangam (percussion) artist.

Currently a junior at Minnesota State University, Mankato, Rishabh has been learning mridangam under the tutelage of Sriram Natarajan. Under his teachings, Rishabh has gotten the opportunity to perform at Cleveland Aradhana, Hindu Mandir, Sangeet Samrat and many other local events. As a Balavihar student, he was also a member of the Swaranjali orchestra for Chinmaya Mission Twin Cities. Rishabh has been blessed with the opportunity to take advanced lessons under Kalaimamani Vidwan Sri Thanjavur K. Murugaboopathi. These lessons have helped hone his craft and refine his playing skills. He also pursued his love for the art form as a percussionist in middle and high school, performing as first chair in the Eagan High School Wind Ensemble. Rishabh has participated in and won competitions, like Carnatic Star and Taal, in mridangam and vocal categories. His vocal training has been guided by his Guru Sri Vinod Krishnan.

02/19/2024

We are excited for the upcoming MNFK’s Yuva Sangeeth Mela ~ YSM’s winter chapter of 2024, a celebration of South Indian Carnatic music tradition.
Event Link: https://facebook.com/events/s/yuva-sangeeth-mela-ysm-2024-wi/1027953111642130/

As part of this celebration, we would like to introduce our very own Twin cities Yuva Kalakars(young artists).

To begin with, we now proudly introduce, Trisha Shankar, a 15 year old, sophomore from Wayzata High schools, who is a promising young Carnatic vocalist from MN. She began her training under Dr Ganesh Raman (nephew & disciple of Bhargavi Balasubramanian) in 2015 and then continued her vocal training under Vidushi Bhargavi Balasubramanian from 2017. With the blessings & guidance of her Guru, Trisha has honed her skills as a budding vocalist. She has won several prizes in both State and national level music competitions such as the Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival, Dhvani - India Performing Arts Society of Central Ohio, and SV Temple in Minneapolis. Trisha has also had the great opportunity & blessing of directly learning from and interacting with Sangeet Samrat Shri Chitravina N Ravikiran through many summer camps and workshops. She has also performed in many events including the 2018 & 2019 Melharmony Festival, Acharyanet Sabha’s Rama Navami festival & Amruthavarshini's online concert series. She just did her Arangetram last August 2023.

Looking forward to see you all in support and to encourage, the young talents of MN and join in the celebration of this Divine musical art form.

08/05/2023

Here we continue with the second section of MNFK- YSM (Yuva Sangeeth Mela’s) Carnatic Vocal Concert for this Summer Afternoon.

K*m. Sai Samyuktha Shankar’s - Vocal
Chi. Srinath Hariharan on Violin
Chi. Praseed Balaji on Mridangam.

Sound engineered by Saishreya Shankar!!!

08/05/2023

MNFK’s YSM, always focuses on supporting the upcoming young talented kids and upcoming young artists!! As part of this, Chi. Sankar Subramaniyan (“Aditya”) performed a short presentation of his Viola, supported by Chi. Praseed Balaji on Mridangam….

08/05/2023

It was a wonderful Saturday of Aug 5th for Minnesota Friends Karaoke’s (MNFK) Youth division presenting their mzing musical talent of the age old traditional Carnatic classical music. The Yuva Sangeeth Mela (YSM) began its Greeshma (Summer) chapter with the Carnatic music Vocal presentation by…

K*m. Sahana Vasudevan on Vocal
Chi. Srinath Hariharan on Violin
Chi. Saipranav Manikandan on Mridangam,,,

08/02/2023

Continuing our feature on YSM (Yuva Sangeet Mela) - now presenting the young Viola artist - Sankar Subramaniyan - a junior at high School. He has been learning Viola from Padmashri. Vid. Dr. Gayathri Sankaran for many years now. He also plays western Viola for his High School Orchestra. Sankaran will be performing at 1.pm CST for about 15minutes for the YSM 2023 Greeshma Chapter, this Saturday - Aug 5th at Pamela Park, 4303 West 58th Street, Edina MN 55424.
All are Welcome!!

08/02/2023

Yuva Kalakar - Mridangam (percussion) artist Praseed Balaji. Undoubtedly our most sought out young mridangam player from Twin Cities of MN - Praseed Balaji is a senior at Jefferson High School. He started learning the mridangam under the tutelage of Kalaimamani Vid. Sri. Thanjavur Murugaboopathi Anna, from a very young age of 5. Praseed has performed recently at the esteemed Cleveland Aradhana in Cleveland Ohio. He was one of the lead percussionist for Vid. Smt. Nirmala Rajasekar's Veena Gaanam ensemble at the Aradhana Festival. He also plays for dance arangetrams. In addition to his classical percussion trainings for the mridangam, Praseed also learns carnatic vocal under the tutelage of Vid. Smt. Leela Ramanathan. He enjoys creating Rap songs!!
We proudly welcome back Praseed to our MNFK- YSM's Greeshma (Summer) chapter !!!

08/02/2023

Yuva Kalakar - Mridangam (Percussion) artist SaiPranav Manikandan. We would like to proudly introduce our own Twin Cities' young and upcoming percussionist - Saipranav Manikandan, a Junior, pursuing Neuroscience at University of Minnesota. Since the young age of two, Saipranav has exuberated passion to sing Bhajans while playing khanjira (Tambourine) amazing all the bhajan groups at that time. Seeing this passion in him, he was placed under the able guidance & tutelage of Kalaimamani Vid. Smt. Nirmala Rajasekar for carnatic vocal music lessons. Further, he began his formal mridangam training at the age of 9, under the tutelage of Vid. Sri.V.Srinivasan. We proudly welcome Saipranav to our MNFK - YSM's Greeshma (Summer) chapter!!

08/01/2023

08/01/2023

Yuva Kalakar - Vocal: K*m. SaiSamyuktha Shankar is currently a Senior at University of MN, pursuing Human Physiology major. She has been learning from the very young age of 6 from her Guru, Kalaimamani Vid. Smt. Nirmala Rajasekar - both veena and vocal. Samyu has performed recently at the prestigious Cleveland Aradhana Festival, April 2023 and was one of the leads for her Guru, Vid.Smt. Nirmala Rajasekar's Veena Gaanam ensemble.
Looking forward in seeing you all at Pamela Park, Edina MN to enjoy, inspire, encourage and bless the Yuva Kalakars on Saturday - Aug 5th, at 12 to 3.15pm CST.

08/01/2023

Yuva Kalakar - K*m. Sahaana Vasudevan, is in Second year at University of MN, pursuing Bio Medical Engineering. She has been learning Carnatic Vocal music since the age of 6. She is now under the guidance of Guru's Vid. Dr. Mohana Sharma and Vid. Dr. Chertallai Renganatha Sharma.

07/27/2023

We are excited to introduce our very own Twin Cities of MN's young performing artists of the great wonderful Carnatic music art form. These artists are performing as part of MNFK's - YSM's(Yuva Sangeeth Mela) Greeshma (Summer) chapter on Aug 5th 2023.

We now proudly introduce Chi. Srinath Hariharan - violinist, who has most recently joined our YSM team to support both the Carnatic vocal artists on the violin.
Srinath Hariharan is a Freshman this year and has adjusted his busy schedule to join us for this event. He has been learning Carnatic vocal / violin under the great Gurus - Sangeet Samrat Vid. Chitra vina N. Ravi Kiran's and Vidushi Bhargavi Balasubramanian's tutelage for over a decade now. Welcome to MNFK - YSM series Srinath!!!

Here's a glimpse of Srinath's' performance...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10OokK6nYxh_hFnpx_IW08X8JPyw6sW-L/view?usp=drivesdk

01/10/2023

Live concerts from day 2 - Sunday, Jan 8, 2023

01/10/2023

Dear friends and families,

Thanks to all your continued support and loyalty our Minnesota Friends Karaoke (lovingly referred to as MNFK by all of you) successfully completed its first big event of their Yuva Sangeeth Mela concert series - the Margazhi Aradhana chapter for January 2023 - last weekend on Saturday, the Jan 7th and Sunday, the Jan 8th in Maple Grove, MN.

We express our heartfelt gratitude and thanks to all those families, friends, well wishers and supporters who put their hands and helped us either directly or behind the scenes to make our dream come true which we have been planning for years and months in the past since our organizations inception since 2012.

Just to quickly recap here is the dates, timings and location of our first event:

Place: Satish & Jayshree's Home in Maple Grove @ 7423, Merrimac Lane N, Maple Grove, MN - 55311

Dates: Saturday, Jan 7th and Sunday, Jan 8th 2023

Time: 2.30 to 5.30 p.m.

Here is a shout to all those who contributed for this event to be a success - though NOT in any particular order:

1. First and foremost thanks to the hosts - Satish & Jayshree - who readily opened their home without any hesitation for 2 days of the weekend during prime time despite their hectic work schedule during the week days.

2. Next comes a note of gratitude to all the young artists who not only called in to confirm their availability but also ensured that they practiced constantly and followed up with the event organizers through messages and phone calls to check with event updates while also being well before time during both event days to ease the logistics in setting up stage, sound checks etc.

3. Thirdly to the family members and families of the participating artists who accommodated the young performers in their homes for combined practice sessions.

4. Fourth and most important are gurus - Kalaimamani Smt. Nirmala Rajashekar, Kalaimamani Shri. Thanjavur Murugabhoopathy, Vidwan Shri. Srinivasan, Vidushi Smt. Pooja Goswami and Vidwan Shri. Pavan A - of each of the young performers who constantly blessed, guided and provided inputs not just to their students but also getting in constant touch with the organizers to help the event conducted with confidence.

5. A special mention to our audio engineer - Greg Kennedy - who not only ensured that he walked in very early on day 1 to set up the audio equipment cleanly so that the program would start on time but also made sure that he explained the settings to one of our volunteers - Shreya Shankar - who doubled up as the acting sound engineer in addition to being one of the participant herself on day 2.

6. Our gratitude to the event sponsors - Dash uncle from Dr. Dash Foundation, Vijay Ramanathan and Leela Aunty and Titan Data Group.

7. Last but not the least - our special thanks to families that helped in bringing food, snacks, beverages etc. and setting up those for one or both the event days - and for all those who silently lent a helping hand in other event logistics. Also our gratitude to all those who donated / pledged their support for this event - so that we could bring more such entertaining events to the community over and over again.

Finally for those who missed the notifications on this event and could not be in person we are sharing the You Tube live stream links for both days - for you to watch and share your feedback with messages to encourage the young performers so that they become inspired to perform and entertain you again and again:

Day 1 - Saturday - Jan 7, 2023

1. Veena solo by Saisamyuktha Shankar accompanied by Saipranav Manikandan on the mridangam
2. Veena duet by Mrithika Sureshkumar & Chitra Wudali accompanied by Saipranav Manikandan on the mridangam
3. Carnatic solo by Saisamyuktha Shankar accompanied by Praseed Balaji on the mridangam

YouTube Live Stream Link: https://youtu.be/OQhD9mvnEdg

Day 2 - Sunday - Jan 8, 2023

1. Tabla duet by Amar Vaela and Arjun Acharya
2. Hindustani solo by Saishreya Shankar
3. Carnatic solo by Saipranav Manikandan accompanied by Praseed Balaji on the mridangam
4. Carnatic solo by Yuktha Sureshkumar accompanied by Saipranav Manikandan on the mridangam

YouTube Live Stream Link: https://youtu.be/IKc3IbLMiws

Live concerts from day 2 - Sunday, Jan 8, 2023

12/27/2022

Dear MNFK patrons and supporting friends / families,

Our Minnesota Friends Karaoke is pleased to start this upcoming new year 2023 by kicking off our first house concerts in our Yuva Sangeeth Mela series which will be our season's Margazhi Aradhana Chapter.

As the name suggests our Yuva Sangeeth Mela series is an initiative to identify and show cause the talents of young artists in our community in the music fraternity to provide a platform to bring them to limelight and make strides in their musical journey.

If you are in town and in the neighborhood please come to this event and support us in this initiative as you have always been supporting us so far while also encouraging the young artists who need your well wishes and blessings👏👏🙏🙏

See you all at the venue on Jan 7th and 8th
Minnesota Friends Karaoke

Here is the link to watch the event live on YouTube:

Day 1 - Jan 7, 2023
https://youtu.be/OQhD9mvnEdg

Day 2 - Jan 8, 2023
https://youtu.be/IKc3IbLMiws

06/04/2022

Dear MNFK patrons, families and friends

We know that you have all been waiting with excitement to listen to the voices of Chinna Kuyil Chitra and Satyaprakash and bask in the happiness of evening with soulful music to your ears and hearts.

However it is rather unfortunate and we regret to announce that this event has now been canceled / called off. Late afternoon on Friday while we were waiting to proceed to the airport to receive the legendary singer & Satya - we were made aware that several members on the orchestra band have tested POSITIVE for COVID. Unfortunately, this is a situation where there is no way to proceed with the event as planned considering the possibility of infection and overall health of the community.

With overwhelming sense of gratitude we thank each one of you for the patience that you have shown in us in the wait to grace the occasion.

We humbly request you all to continue to express the same loyalty and extended patience as we keep working on the event cancellation logistics and the process in returning the money incurred by each one of you for the event tickets / private dinner meet-and-greet / sponsorships - as applicable.

A BIG THANK YOU TO ONE AND ALL🙏🙏

05/31/2022

Friends, families and patrons,
Last few days left to book your seats to a Grand Light Music Evening hosted my Minnesota Friends Karaoke Inc (MNFK) in partnering with Twin Cities Tamil Association (TCTA) - featuring the nightingale from South Indian cinema - the one and only Chinna Kuyil K S Chitra - along with Satyaprakash Dharmar - this Saturday, June 4, 2022 in our very own Twin Cities at the Maple Grove Senior High School auditorium.
After finishing their show at the Tamil Nadu Foundation Convention in Dallas, TX for the Memorial Day weekend - this pair is coming to enlighten hearts with their soulful singing accompanied by scintillating orchestra from High Octavez band while also performing in Raleigh, NC enroute their journey to our Twin Cities!!!
HURRY UP!!! DO NOT SIT BACK AND RELAX AS TICKETS ARE SELLING VERY FAST!!! VERY FEW TICKETS LEFT

Ticket Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/tcta-and-mnfk-presents-grand-music-event-with-ks-chitra-and-sathyaprakash-tickets-319917189927