The Indian Music Society of Minnesota (IMSOM) is proud to present the first
performance of our Summer/Fall 2006 Concert Series: a thrilling Carnatic
instrumental concert by the renowned Electric Guitarist, PRASANNA! Accompanying
Prasanna will be the dynamic Mridangam artist, Lakshman Mahadevan. You won't
want to miss this exciting Summer concert!

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~ REVIEWS ~

"...Prasanna takes the listener through an exotic journey through a mystical
middle-
land, which captures the practised precision of Carnatic music..." ~ The Hindu,
Bangalore, India May 10, 2006

"I was left with the distinct feeling that I had seen a master at work"
~ Tejas Ewing, The Hindu, India

"Prasanna is a wondrous wake-up call for tired aural neurons"
~ John Patterson, eermusic.com
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Indian Music Society of Minnesota (IMSOM)
proudly presents a Carnatic instrumental concert by

PRASANNA (ELECTRIC GUITAR)

with
LAKSHMAN MAHADEVAN (MRIDANGAM)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 2006
7:00 PM

VENUE:
HHH Cowles Auditorium
309 19th ave. S.
University of Minnesota, West Bank Campus
Minneapolis

DIRECTIONS AND PARKING:
The Cowles Auditorium is in the Hubert H. Humphrey Center in the
West-Bank Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota. The parking ramp
closest to the venue is the 19th Ave. ramp.

For further details, or to view a map, please visit:
http://www.imsom.org/events/20060610.html

TICKETS:
Advance: $10 (Student/Senior/Member), $15 (General)
Gate: $12 (Student/Senior/Member), $17 (General)

TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW!
To purchase advance tickets, please visit:
http://www.imsom.org/html_files/online/adv_tkt_20060826.jsp
IMSOM MEMBER PASSES MAY BE USED FOR THIS EVENT.

SAVE $s! Become a Member of IMSOM today and get FREE passes and
discounted tickets for this concert and others for 2006! To become a member,
please visit:
http://www.imsom.org/html_files/membership.html

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

PRASANNA:
'How can you play Carnatic music on a guitar'? was a question that was on
everyone's
mind when Prasanna daringly took to one of the world's most ancient musical
forms
on one of the world's most modern instruments - the electric guitar! 20 years
on, the
question is still asked by everyone but now in disbelief at how Prasanna brings
out
the subtlest of microtones on a standard electric guitar and goes even further
by
extending his signature style to Jazz, Blues, Rock, Classical music and
everything that
he feeds in as a contemporary musician of today.


In a world studded with brilliant guitarists, 'Prasanna plays like nobody on the
planet'
according to one Jazz critic. As a guitarist and composer, Prasanna's prolific
body or
work is as diverse as it is integrated. This includes over eleven Carnatic
albums, the
just released Carnatic/Rock Jimi Hendrix tribute album `Electric Ganesha Land',
a
highly acclaimed Jazz Fusion album 'Be the Change' featuring several Grammy
Award
winning artists from the Jazz world, an eclectic solo guitar album 'Peaceful', a
special
triple guitar project 'Guitars' with the Belgian band Aka Moon, an original
score for
contemporary dance theater adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Tempest' with a premiere
in
Sydney, Australia, a work for Contemporary and Fusion dance 'Sanaatana'
premiered
at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, yet another work for contemporary dance
'Soliloquy', numerous sessions work on multi-platinum Indian film soundtracks
for
such top composers as A.R. Rahman, Illayaraja and many more.
His orchestration and arranging credits include the title score for the Oscar
nominated Bollywood film 'Lagaan'. Prasanna's acclaimed guitar instructional DVD
'Ragamorphism', gives an in-depth look at how he stretches the boundaries of
improvisation.


The North Sea Jazz Festival, Middelheim Jazz Festival, Festival Guitares Du
Monde, La
Fete de la Musique, Les Orientales De St. Florent Le Vieil, Festival Jazz En
Artois,
PanaFest, Lotus world music festival are some of the top international festivals
Prasanna has performed at. He has performed/recorded with legendary names in the
Jazz/ Fusion world including Joe Lovano, Larry Coryell, Victor Wooten, Airto
Moreira,
Alphonso Johnson, Steve Smith, Kenwood Dennard, Jeff Coffin, David Gilmore, Aka
Moon, Kai Eckhardt and from the Indian music world such as A.R.Rahman, Hari
Prasad
Chaurasia, Illayaraja, Dr. L. Subramaniam, Umayalpuram Sivaraman, Trichy
Sankaran
and several others.


With an engineering degree in Naval Architecture from the prestigious Indian
Institute
of Technology, Madras, he went on to pursue his passion for music and graduated
Magna-Cum-Laude with an honors degree from the famed Berklee College of Music
in Boston. His multi-faceted musical personality has been recognized with such
diverse awards as the 'Lifetime Achievement Award for Carnatic music for 2003'
from
H.H. Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, India's most revered spiritual leader and
'Acharya' of the
Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, 'The Berklee College of Music Guitar Achievement Award'
(for outstanding work as a Student Jazz guitarist'), 'The Berklee College of
Music-
Composition Achievement Award' (for outstanding work as a Student Classical
composer) and many others.

As a true artist, Prasanna is both a traditionalist and modernist and everything
in
between.


LAKSHMAN MAHADEVAN studied mridangam with Sri T.R. Rajamani, son of the
legendary Palghat Mani Iyer. Under his guru's guidance for the last twenty
years,
Lakshman has blossomed to be one of the most promising mridangam players of the
younger generation, having imbued the authentic carnatic tradition in both
accompaniment and solo playing.

In the last few years, Lakshman has had the fortune of performing with top
musicians
like Dr. L. Subramaniam, Prasanna, Prof.T.R.Subramaniam and others. Lakshman is
one of the most sought after carnatic percussionists in the US. He has
accompanied
Prasanna on major tours in the US, Europe and India. He is a graded artist of
All India
Radio and has also performed at many top venues in India.

Lakshman presently works for Federal Express in Memphis, USA and continues to
accompany several top artists from the Indian classical carnatic world.


For further information, please visit:
www.imsom.org

or contact:
Shivanthi Sathanandan: shivanthi@..., 651-698-0774

We hope to see you at the concert!

Shivanthi Sathanandan
Public Relations Representative
Indian Music Society of Minnesota (IMSOM)
shivanthi@...
651-698-0774

* * * IMSOM celebrates bringing the best in Indian classical music to Minnesota
for 26
years! * * *