We just relax and converse and eat food, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

I'm Haylie Robinson, and I'm a former fair green full of wanderlust.

I explore arts, culture, community, heritage, history and more.

One festival at a time.

I invite you to join me in finding festivals.

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Toledo.

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Haylie: In Northeast Ohio is the city of Cleveland, which is home to the prettiest grocery store performing arts, the West Side market in over 120 ethnic groups.

What brings us to the city is the largest Indian classical music festival outside the country, India.

The THIAGARAJAN is an annual event that celebrates the classical works in performing arts, artists and competitors from around the globe flock to this festival before diving into South Asian culture.

I wanted a better understanding of Cleveland's heritage.

Angie from the Cleveland History Center is here to fill me in.

Angie Lowrie: We're standing in the Hay McKinney mansion, and the house is open for guided tours.

So this house was built in 1911.

The Western Reserve Historical Society started in 1867, right after the Civil War.

Over 150 years old.

We started actually downtown in downtown Cleveland.

And then we moved closer to what we are in today.

The neighborhood we're in today called the University Circle.

And we were first a library, but then we started collecting things.

And as we collected more things, we needed more room.

So we purchased this house.

The museum purchased this house in 1935.

So to think it was built in 1911, we bought it in 1935.

We've lived here longer than any family, but it was meant as a family home.

So today we have an eight acre complex that includes a library, which is the third largest for genealogy research repository in the country.

Significant for history research, genealogy research.

We have our Crawford Attaway, the aviation museum, with two floors of collection of airplanes, cars, motorcycles, boats.

Then we have the Beach Park Grand Carousel that you can ride.

And it was built in 1910.

Haylie: You can ride it then.

Angie Lowrie: You can ride it.

I'm going to make sure you ride today.

Absolutely.

Haylie: Okay.

Angie Lowrie: Over 100 year old carousel.

All original.

Think about how many bats have been on those horses.

But you can ride it today.

Anyone that was born and raised in Cleveland before 1969, they will come back and say.

I remember riding this as a child.

Haylie: And really encompassing all of Cleveland history, which is no small feat.

Angie Lowrie: Right.

It's hard.

And we can't do it all in one space and we can't do it all at the same time.

So we're constantly changing our exhibits and showing it, showcasing different voices.

And one of the questions we ask when we're interpreting Cleveland history is, Who's Cleveland.

Haylie: In your eyes?

Who is Cleveland?

Angie Lowrie: Oh, it depends on who you ask.

Cleveland.

Cleveland really does.

In caps or the American experience.

It is a snapshot of, I think in many I here in our team talk about that.

We are a reflection of the nation.

We are such a diverse community.

There's over 120 different ethnic groups living in Cleveland.

Wow.

Yeah.

Haylie: I'll say this.

I think just Midwest in general, people don't know that that kind.

Of cultural Diversity lives here.

But that's just in Cleveland.

Angie Lowrie: Just in Cleveland.

Haylie: Oh, my goodness.

So what kind of what does that look like?

Angie Lowrie: Each community, when you have immigrants, migrants who come, they tend to live together.

They have shared experiences and they start to create a neighborhood.

Asia town is where many of the early immigrants from Asia came and they started businesses and services to support each other, shared languages and they lived together.

And so they created this neighborhood.

The neighborhood certainly has diversified with other businesses, but if you want to go somewhere to get the best Asian food, you go to town.

Haylie: You've shared I mean, it sounds like you could almost, you know, travel the world without a passport in the comfort of your car and just taste your way through the different cultures here in Cleveland.

Angie Lowrie: Yes.

Yes.

Haylie: With a little more background on Cleveland and an empty stomach.

I'm heading to Asia Town to get some sweet bites.

While in the neighborhood, I met with locals Karis and Deepa to chat about the community and cultural events.

Karis Tzeng: So Asia Town itself is a very diverse neighborhood on the highest concentration of Asian residents, over 30 to 40% within the neighborhood, as well as a high proportion of Latinx residents, black residents and white residents.

There's a history of Eastern European folks in this neighborhood, too, and Euclid Avenue, which runs right through the midtown neighborhood, which actually the former trading ramps for Native American tribes.

So there are a lot of histories here.

And these neighborhoods that we work to uplift, celebrate and to help people to feel connected, ultimately, and to create a space that feels more like home for anybody who desires to live, work or spend time here.

Haylie: It sounds like it's a lot of different ethnicities have walked within this neighborhood.

And you had mentioned you celebrate.

Karis Tzeng: So in Asia time, there's a special event annually that people can attend.

Yes.

So one of the hallmark events in Asia town is the Cleveland Asian Festival is a celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, which which celebrates Pan Asian cultures.

Deepa Vedavyas: Talking to Karis about it, like, you know, my daughter, what connected to her was when I was just recollecting when she was seven years old, I believe, and she came over, there were people who were playing traditional games that we play in our country.

And what it reminded me of the games that I grew up playing, but even though I didn't know this particular Asian game that they were playing, but then my daughter learned it and she wouldn't move from the place.

So it kind of it was a very nostalgic kind of, you know, just having those kind of similar experiences.

Haylie: Your daughter is performing in the festival?

Deepa Vedavyas: Yeah, she's performing in the Thyagaraja Adena.

That's the annual festival is actually the largest outside of India.

It's a very culturally relevant festival, especially connect our children, our next generation.

Being first generation immigrant myself, this was the only window of opportunity that my daughter had when she was a four year old to connect to those, you know, cultural talents from India.

So that motivated her actually to become a classical dancer of her own.

Haylie: So because of this one experience, that really is your opportunity to get kind of dive in culturally.

She was inspired so much so to take it upon herself and learn the dancing.

Yeah, I would say.

Deepa Vedavyas: Cleveland is rich in that sense.

We have like multiple Asian, like kind of festivals, but this one was specifically towards a classical piano, you know.

So I would say she's a classical.

Dancer because of that.

Deepa Vedavyas: But Thyagaraja rather than a definitely has really groomed her to become a dancer.

I think Cleveland is rich in culture.

These annual festivals really cheers us up.

I look forward to those.

And there is we make sure we work our travel plans around that so we don't miss it.

Haylie: Dance is the one artform that moves my soul.

Tradition is embedded in every movement, and.

Sujatha Srinivasan: The name of the artform is Bharatanatyam.

It is an Indian classical artform.

It is about almost 2000 years old, and I'm the torch bearer of this tradition being handed down from my teachers and from my gurus.

It goes back a long way and I train students.

My family's in law.

My daughter's events are Sundays, and percussion is so extreme it runs in the family.

But I have also trained so many young dancers in the next generation who have been also interested and take the initiative to take it further in their pursuit.

Haylie: And what makes this particular style different or unique compared to the other traditional styles?

Deepa Vedavyas: Today you saw a dance that they were just dancing with the sticks.

That's a very showcase of dance that's done before a festival like this, just to bring the crowd in.

And this is usually performed on the streets, like in a procession, like in a parade where people would be all along the dance on the streets and everybody would come out of their homes and join it and then come to the venue where the actual performance of business.

So this type of dance is very typical of any festival, any religious festival, any parades, just absolute celebration by the community.

Haylie: I was noticing even the ladies were moving their head ever so slightly, but it was it was always on rhythm and I was astounded by that.

And like, I don't think I would be able to count well enough to do that.

Deepa Vedavyas: But I just think that they are trying to recreate a dance that really happens from where this whole festival started in a place called the Riviera, where on the streets people would dance this and then the first image stuck.

So they are trying to create the same atmosphere and the same aura here.

Haylie: The festival has officially kicked off and spanned over two weeks.

I can only imagine how many people it takes to organize this event.

Co-Founder V.V.

filled me in on all that goes in to the annual Thiagarajan Festival.

V.V.

Sundaram: But 100 volunteers, more than 100 volunteers.

Every one of us identify ourselves one day as a volunteer.

There is no hierarchy here, absolutely no hierarchy.

I may happen to be the person you talk to because I'm the face of the festival.

I get on the podium, I hear the teachers come across, etc., etc.

But it doesn't take away the importance of other people who are working with us.

I happen to be the public face of the festival.

Haylie: Okay, well, you wear the job well.

V.V.

Sundaram: Thank you.

Thank you very much.

The festival started in 1978, the basement of a church in Richmond Heights.

They had less than 75 people.

We had one program at that time.

From there it has been growing.

And in 2009, down from 70 different people, a group of 5000 people, there was not a single auditorium here that could hold that many people.

So we took the old steam center, which is a basketball stadium.

Well, at night we built the stage on that.

We accommodated the people in that from one program in 1978.

Today, we put together more than 100 programs, people coming from Australia.

I tell them that India is closer to you.

Why did you go to India?

Why do you fly all the way to the United States?

No, this is something very unique.

This is why we want to be.

Haylie: Out of anywhere in the country.

To your point.

V.V.

Sundaram: Right Haylie: You not only made this festival, it's grown and people from all over still choose to come.

Yes.

And make it part of their annual event.

Yes.

V.V.

Sundaram: More than 100 artists who are coming to the Cleveland got their these are famous got it stamp so that they could essentially travel in time for the festival.

Haylie: I'm just I'm just kind of mind blown by what you said you said over 100 artists internationally come in and.

V.V.

Sundaram: You are alone 110 this year.

Wow.

I love the people who have come here and the interaction they have is under the rubric.

Okay, there is a shared sense of purpose and joy, a sense of camaraderie, some a lot of bonding that takes place.

Haylie; We've learned that this this event has kind of made its home here at Cleveland State University.

Heather Russell: It's a wonderful opportunity for the entire university.

But certainly this school of music for our students to be.

Able to experience.

All of the culture and music, that's that's quite different than.

What most of them experience.

Haylie: What is your favorite part of this annual event?

Rajkumar Ramamurthy: I think there is this aspect of like this has been in my home and and family.

Like, you know, for me for my whole life.

And there's this brand that we've built and it's not something which you can just watch somewhere and say, okay, here's the thing which you watch and it's just dance and music.

When you come here, like there's like an atmosphere, usually at a show, you go.

There.

And then like, you know, you have your seat and you watch it and the people kind of leave and go.

But here, like, you know, in the audience, is a bunch of artists, too.

And it's not just like any artists like these are like the best like, like the best in the field.

And they're all here, like, experiencing the exact same thing with you.

Haylie: Really puts everyone on the same playing level.

Rajkumar Ramamurthy: Yes, exactly.

Haylie: In addition to professional performances.

But Thiagarajan also serves as a competition for young performing artists.

Radhika Balasubramanian: So in every room there are a minimum of two judges, and they particularly are specializing in that form of the music.

So they are able to judge and they not only judge, they also provide feedback to the children when they are taking part so that they can improve their musical knowledge.

Haylie: Wow.

So it's really an opportunity not only to present what you've learned, but also get better from the process.

Radhika Balasubramanian: Exactly.

Ganga Balasubramanian: The the look on the kid's faces when they actually know that they've won the competition.

You know, it is not easy to win a competition in the festival because it's highly competitive.

Haylie: Indian classical music is distinctly rhythmic compared to Western compositions, which got me wondering why.

Sonia from the Cleveland Museum of Art shared a couple ideas that may be the inspiration behind the music.

Sonja Rhie Mace: Well, music plays a very foregrounded role in almost every religious and devotional context in all of historical India.

But Shiva does hold this drum as one of his major attributes, and so he is the percussionist, I would say, and he is he beats the rhythm of time.

And he also famously dances to the rhythm of time, the idea being that time is relentless.

It is always going forward.

And so time is embodied in this drum and he, as the creator of the world and the destroyer of all things that are created, he holds the power of time itself.

Wow.

Haylie: I hope he doesn't stop beating that drum.

Sonja Rhie Mace: As Lord of dance.

He dances to the rhythm of his own drum.

Yeah.

And.

And then one of his hands he holds the drum, and then the other hand, he holds that the flame of destruction.

And with his other two hands, he shows you how he is going to save you from all the inevitable destruction that comes with time.

Haylie: When did that piece get acquired by the museum?

Sonja Rhie Mace: Very early on in 1925.

Wow.

Haylie: And how does that piece date back to?

Sonja Rhie Mace: Oh, it's from the tola period.

So right around the turn of the first millennium.

So right around 1000 CE of the Common era.

Yeah.

And you can find out a lot about it at the morgue because all of the images are and even 3D images are online and they're free and they're open access and downloadable.

And also you can come and see it for free in the galleries.

Haylie: Oh wait, you can come for free and experience all of this culture.

Sonja Rhie Mace: Yes, yes.

It's always figured out it was set up that way by our founders here in Cleveland.

Haylie: That's miraculous.

And this is this I mean, this isn't a small museum.

I mean, as we said, just this portion is three rooms.

Right?

Right.

Going through the gallery.

There was another piece that you had mentioned that was kind of a whole little symphony.

Sonja Rhie Mace: Yes, yes, yes.

And oh, I love that that tripartite.

There's a stair risers, actually, that were part of an ancient Buddhist mortuary complex that was sacred with the sacred stupa in the center where the Buddha would have been venerated 2000 years ago, in which present day, Pakistan.

And that's the time when there was a tremendous amount of contact with the Mediterranean world and the Roman Empire and merchants were coming through.

And so these Buddhist sites were ornamented in ways that associated with with people from other countries.

And so we see these multiethnic musicians bringing different kinds of instruments and all processing together and dancing together in this procession, coming to this Buddhist site.

So you see stringed instruments, cymbals, people clapping, different kinds of drums, flutes being played.

And it really is speaking of festivals, it is such a joyous procession.

Haylie: That music plays such an integral part.

India has a national instrument seduced by the sound of this string.

I'm surrounded by Vienna musicians who take pride in their instrument and culture.

Nirmala Rajasekar: I think in India when we grow up, our tradition is such that we expose the children to the arts.

So when I was very little, we would take them to concerts and my parents and family introduced me to music.

Something drew me to this instrument and I started learning.

And I was six years old when I began learning just a few years ago.

So now it's been 20 tuneful.

Haylie: I mean, what kind of makes this string instrument different from any other that we may have seen?

Nirmala Rajasekar: Okay, there's many, many things I can tell you.

First and foremost, the seven strings of the Veena used to be animal gut before.

So now we have strings.

So that is an evolution of this instrument.

And I'm going to tell you about this fretboard.

I'm not going to ask you, what do you think it is, but I don't think you would think it's beeswax.

That's what this is made of.

Haylie: Really?

Nirmala Rajasekar: Yeah, this is beeswax.

And this is what gives it the most unique fretboard and the tonal quality.

Everything about this instrument is organic.

It's wood.

Okay?

And it was animal got, of course, now metallurgy and strings.

This used to be an actual pumpkin.

Really?

In fact, this is an instrument that we just discovered from 1863.

How often do you get 160 year old instrument in a performance?

So and so the seven strings, the beeswax, the dragon head used to be pumpkins, now fiberglass and papier maché.

This instrument has evolved, so the sound of the instrument comes from here.

It's hollow inside and it's been scooped out.

Jacquard and available in plenty in tropical countries, which is why it is Jacquard.

And the Beeswax Fretboard makes it one of the most unique instruments.

I'm proud to say it is the national instrument of India.

That is something that nobody else has no other instruments that honor, even though we'd love to share it.

We're not going to.

We are the national instrument of India.

But around and around me, you see members of my school members of my community who are friends, who practice the same instrument.

So there are many people in this room who are here just to present this focused concert of the Veena, the set of Swati Veena, the national instrument of India, along with vocal singing and the kingdom, which is another instrument.

The drum part is as old as the Veena and both of them.

I like 2000 years old.

We are all here to play a concert called Veena Ghanem.

I will be directing the ensemble along with tangible and workable for the one of India's most well-known players is directing the drum ensemble.

They all have brought their students from seven different states in the US.

My own school is based in Minnesota, but we have students from all around the country and I just feel very blessed to be in this community where they value the arts as a connector, not only has our level of performance grown, but our folks have understood the value of excellence, and we are always striving towards excellence, which is a moving target anyway.

So this material you have to remember so much.

I would rather, you know, because there is no music in front of them.

You can see I will see.

Haylie: So this is all played by members of.

Indian classical music?

Nirmala Rajasekar: Yes, indeed.

Classical music is all internalized and performed without any music in front of you.

So that is the beauty of Indian music.

Haylie: As a performer myself, this give me a heart attack because I need my notes and I need my cheat sheet.

So.

But this is all my memory.

Nirmala Rajasekar: Yes, each form of genre of music has its own way of functioning.

Indian classical requires you to internalize, memorize, and then perform and.

Haylie: Before leaving the city, there is one more place I have to visit.

Lori Ashyk: The first garden was established in 1916.

It was actually established as a celebration of William Shakespeare.

It was dedicated to William Shakespeare.

And then the city of Cleveland decided that Why don't we honor all sorts of cultures from that are represented here in Cleveland?

And so that's how the culture gardens were formed.

They were officially formed in the 1920s and grew from there.

Haylie: How many gardens in total that are represented here in the two mile radius?

Lori Ashyk: There are 35 gardens that are built and we have 11 more in development.

Haylie: 11 So this is this is going to be a sight to see and a great way to get your steps in, right?

Lori Ashyk: A very good way to get your steps in today.

Haylie: There are many cultures that are represented by those over 120 ethnicities in the city of Cleveland.

So there's a lot of thought and creation that goes into it.

Lori Ashyk: Yes.

And the gardens are dedicated to a vision of peace and mutual understanding.

That is our motto of peace through mutual understanding.

We try to help people who are not familiar with those cultures gain an understanding of those cultures through these gardens.

Haylie: Right now we're actually in the garden that is dedicated to India.

Lori Ashyk: Yes, this is the India Cultural Garden.

It's sponsored by the Indian community here in Cleveland.

And this, of course, is Mahatma Gandhi.

This garden was dedicated in 2005, and it was the first garden that had been built in about 20 years.

Prior to that, Mahatma Gandhi's grandson was here for the dedication.

Oh, my goodness.

Yes.

And these pillars that you see represent different aspects of Indian culture.

Haylie: Okay.

I was noticing that the description that.

Lori Ashyk: They wanted to represent both, you know, the contributions that Indian people have made to the United States and to the world, but also their contribution, you know, in the arts, technology, statesmanship, peacemaking just in the south Cleveland community, northeast Ohio, United States in the world.

Haylie: That's all just to say within this part of the cultural gardens as a whole, right?

Yes.

Lori Ashyk: Yes.

Haylie: That's incredible.

There's one more performance I have to experience.

This event welcomes all attendees who know the garage as my greatest compositions to join on stage and perform together.

Remember, this music is all performed by memory, and these songs are staples in the Indian classical music genre, and Cleveland is a destination full of diversity, art and soul.

I will be carrying these beautiful memories in my heart throughout my travels, and I look forward to the next festival.

We find you can visit finding festivals dot com to learn more about the series, get updates through the digital newsletter and connect with me on social media where you can access more content on festival fun.

And I'm the George P Bickford, curator of Indian and Southeast Asian Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

I thought that's a long title.

Is your business card extra long?

Because it's pretty full out.

That's true.

Girl.

You deserve every consider it like work it.

Well, I don't know I tend to think I'm going to try mango mochi so stuff like that but.

Oh, Oh, this one's pretty good over here.

Right here.

You can't see my hair.

I don't know what it looks like.

It doesn't look good.

Yeah, I'll try to walk perfectly.

So we only have to do it once.

I picked this one because it was green.

Finding festivals is brought to you in part by Find some Lake Erie Love?

It's a SHORE thing!

Learn how at SHORESandISLANDS.com and start an adventure today.

Toledo.

More than you ever imagined.

Learn more at visittoledo.org.