Om Shri Gurubhyo Namaha I bow to my Guru and seek his blessings and wisdom, so that I may walk the path of Dharma under his guidance.
As narrated by Sakambari Balakrishnan to Samvidha Srinath
The popular Chinese proverb says: “A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step”. My first step was not a step in a literal sense, but rather a gentle nudge from my Gurus and the global pandemic that all of us were facing at that time.
It was December, the month of Margazhi, where all the famous artists – vocalists, instrumentalists & dancers – would gather in South India to perform for huge audiences. My family and I wanted to go, but we couldn’t. Flights got cancelled and lockdown was in full swing. People were stuck at home and there was nowhere for them to go for cultural entertainment. In that moment, an idea sparked in my mind, which had been there for quite some time, even before the pandemic had started, waiting to be released into the world. The idea was to create a platform online, where I could give both new & young as well as seasoned artists in Switzerland and India an opportunity to showcase their craft and talent.
I then spoke about this matter to my family and a few close friends like Smt. Purnima Venkatesh and her husband Dr. Venkatesh Sivasubramaniam, Sri Seshadri Amarapuram, Smt. Sita Narayanan, Smt. Uma Kumar and a few others who were extremely thrilled by the idea, and that gave me the energy and initiative I needed to start. I then created a YouTube channel, where many local artists and artists from India performed classical dance and music. And thus, I was able to organize and host the Swiss online Margazhi concert which was hosted by Smt. Sita Narayanan, Smt. Gayathri Muthukrishnan, Smt. Suganthi Narayanan, Sri Seshadri Amarapuram, and shot by Dr. Venkatesh-ji.
The Margazhi concert was a huge success. The audience’s great reception sparked another idea: to continue the concerts on the monthly basis. During the festive season, instrumental, vocal and dance performances were going on in full swing. Thanks to everyone’s collective effort, I was able to put together a variety of videos online such as performances, cooking specials, educational videos about Indian culture and traditions, and much more.
Within a year, over a hundred artists, both professionals as well as youngsters, showcased their art and talents on this platform. Seeing the progress, my son suggested that I formalize the platform and turn it into an official organization. After many interesting discussions with Mr. Kumar Ramamoorthy-ji and valuable inputs from Mr. Seshadri Amarapuram-ji and Dr. Venkatesh-ji, the Swiss Indian Fine Arts Association, or SIFAA, was born on the 25th November 2021. Thanks to my son’s experience, the organization was quickly formalized. I then formed an executive committee with my son, Mrs. Priya Apte-ji, Mrs. Brindarica Bose-ji, Dr. Chidamabaram Narayanan-ji, Kumar-ji, Dr. Venkatesh-ji, and Seshadri-ji.
After everything was formalized, I organized the launch event where many prominent local artists performed. A few months later, SIFAA held its first big event, where over a hundred people attended the Lalgudi siblings concert. The organization slowly but surely started gaining momentum by organizing several events such as the Dr. Mysore Manjunath Sir & Co. concert with SPIC MACAY, the “Indian Night in Adliswil”, as well as by supporting other local events such as the Vasantotsav organized by Mrs. Priya-ji or the ‘Divya’ event, performed by Bharathanatyam dancers Smt. Vijaya Rao, Smt. Sharmila Rao and her students.
Looking back, so much has happened within a year. What started off as a wish to attend the Margazhi season in Chennai December 2020, turned into me creating my own YouTube channel and providing a platform for all kinds of artists, which then grew even bigger to become a huge organization with a fully functioning executive committee sporting more than 10 events within its first year.
SIFAA has become a place where Indian culture can be experienced and enjoyed in its full splendour. A platform where all artists can thrive and proudly showcase their art and where people from all over the country with different backgrounds can meet. Seeing the growth of the platform, I can only say this: the words of my Guru Sri Kanchipuram Shankaracharya made me create this wonderful space for everyone. I consider myself as an instrument that acts according to my Guru’s wishes. I don’t think that the creation of SIFAA and the journey that we have undertaken and are undertaking would have been possible without the support of my Guru. Most importantly, SIFAA wouldn’t have been able to grow the way it has without the support of the SIFAA members and the audience who have been coming to our events on a regular basis. For that I’d like to express my deepest gratitude to all of you who have transformed the platform to what it is today.
I hope to be able to continue in the same manner, develop the organization even more and host as many cultural events and concerts as possible. I once again thank each and every one of you for attending and heartily supporting the platform.
Credits (in alphabetical order)
Aalisha Seth
Aarthi Venkat
Abhinav
Abhinav Kasturi
Advait
Ahana Agarwal
Akshara Gurran
Anindhitha Sridhar
Aniruddhan Balakrishnan
Anisha Pradeep
Ankita Balakrishnan
Anuja Swaminathan
Anusha
Anvita Pandey
Araby
Archisha
Arun Pabari
Arun Sriram
Arya Madhu
Ashima
Ashima-ji
Asmi Tripathi,
Athreya Iyer
Ayana Lakshmi Robindran
Ayushma
Balaji
Brindarica Bose
Chaithali Deshpande
Chidambaram-ji
Dharithree Joshi
Dr. Nandakumar
Gayathri Muthukrishnan
Girija Ravishankar
Harini
Isha Sen Ranjan
Jahnavi Chamarthi
Jolafin
Kiran
Kirtana
Krithika Natarajan
Kumar Ramamoorthy
Kumari Pooja and Supraja
Lakshmi Natarajan
Lavanya and Vasudha
M.S. Deepak
Madhoolika
Madhunath Maheshwaran
Malathi
Malavika
Manaswini Priya
Manoj Padmanabhan
Medha Madamanchi
Mukund Balakrishnan
Naina Rajan
Nandini Iyer Belawat
Narayana Deshamanagalam
Narayanan
New Jersey Seami Athan
Padmaja Reddy
Pravasya Bolisetty
Preetha
Priya Apte
Priya Gundavajala
Priya Soni
Purnima Venkatesh
Rahul
Raji
Raji
Rajini
Rama
Raunak Upadhyay
Ritika Vasanth
Ruhi Kamath
Sabu
Saharika
Sahasra Saikrishna
Sahithya Swaminathan
Sai Charan
Sai Chintan
Sai Harinni
Sai Sahithi
Saketh Korapolu
Samanvay
Samvidha Srinath
Sangeetha Pullely
Selvi Nishreya Baralakshmi
Seshadri
Shakambari Balakrishnan
Shreyas Joglekar
Shri Achyuta Awadhani
Shri H V Raghuram
Shri M. Chandrasekhar,
Shri Trichur Ganesh
Shri Vishnu Guruji
Siddhiksha
Sindhuja-ji
Sita Narayanan
Smt Janaki
Smt Lakshmi Jagadish
Smt Lalitha Swaminathan
Smt Rukmini
Smt Sudha Krishnan
Somdipa
Sowgandhika Krishnan
Srilatha Nikshith
Srinidhi Balaraman
Srinidhi Koushik
Srishti
Students of Purnima Dance Culture
Suganthi Narayanan
Sukhanya Ramgopal
Sunita Mishra
Swara Krishnan
Swetha Bala
Tanvi Nagendra
Trayi
Trisha Pal
Uma Kumar
Uthara Sankaran
Valli
Venkatesh
Vijaya Srinath
Yamila Martinez
And the biggest thank you goes to our audience and members for walking each and every step along with us.