Shruthi Rajasekar, 12, plays the piece of music she wrote to win the youth category in the Eric Stokes Song Contest in her Plymouth home. Shruthi’s mom Nirmala (background) is a teacher and musician. PHOTO: MARK TROCKMAN
Upcoming performances
Shruthi Rajasekar's winning composition will be performed by the Zeitgeist quartet.
Feb. 1 at 2 p.m. Studio Z, 275 E. Fourth St., St. Paul. Casual, open rehearsal. Suggested $5 donation.
Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m. Grace University Lutheran Church, 324 Harvard St. S.E., Minneapolis. Formal performance. Suggested $10 donation.
Feb. 13 and 14 at 7:30 p.m. Studio Z, 275 E. Fourth St., St. Paul. Formal performance. Suggested $10 donation.
A seventh grader at Wayzata West Middle School recently learned that she won a song writing contest.
The student, 12-year-old Shruthi Rajasekar of Plymouth, won the youth category of the Eric Stokes Song Contest. Roughly 30 compositions were submitted in this category. Two adult winners were also named.
This was the 14th year the contest had been held. It is named for a man who was a long-time supporter of a musical quartet called Zeitgeist.
The quartet is based in St. Paul and has been active for more than 30 years. Over the years, Zeitgeist's musicians have changed but the instruments they perform, however, have not. The quartet is always composed of two percussionists, one woodwind player and one pianist.
Rajasekar's winning piece was composed on the piano and it will be performed by Zeitgeist at four upcoming events.
The song is about three minutes and is a purely instrumental number that is arranged in three movements.
"The song is dedicated to my grandma, who passed away," Rajasekar explained. "The first movement represents mourning, my grieving for my grandma."
"The second movement is happier. It represents remembering my grandma and the happy times we had," she said.
"The third movement is bittersweet. I recognize that even though my grandma is gone, she has gone to a better place and I know that I will treasure my memories," Rajasekar said.
This was Rajasekar's second attempt at composing a song. She started the process last spring and worked on it intermittently over the summer. When asked how much time she spent on the composition all together, she guessed just a couple of days.
Her easy success, perhaps, can be attributed to her DNA. Her mother Nirmala Rajasekar is an accomplished and world-touring musician who plays the veena, a string instrument of South Indian origin that is plucked and strummed like a guitar.
Shruthi also plays the veena. For her, though, the veena is a more recent occurrence. She just started to play it a few months ago.
On the other hand, Shruthi has been playing the piano since first grade when her parents enrolled her in private lessons.
She also sings. At school, she is a choir student and a member of the touring choir, for which tryouts are required.
"I've been singing since I was four," Shruthi said. "I study South Indian classical music."
"In South Indian classical music, there are a lot of nuances in the voice. The voice is trilly and curvy sometimes and other times it goes straight to a note. There are a lot of different inflections and the instruments try to mimic the voice," she explained.
That said, Shruthi claims her winning piano piece is decidedly Western.
"Overall, I think the feeling of the song is bittersweet. It has a sad sound, but it has some happy parts. The sound is more deep than light," she said. "The dynamic is deep."
Shruthi admits that her mother is a respected musician and she also admits it was her mom who first told her about the song competition.
Quick to claim her own work, however, Shruthi said she composed most of her song over a period when her mother was away touring in India.
"I grew up in a musical family," Shruthi shrugged. "Music has always surrounded me and I've always been more familiar with music outside of what we learn in school."
"I've always thought of music as something I will do on the side," Rajasekar said, noting her musician mother also holds down a career in computer technology.
Up until recently, Shruthi had thought she might want to be a doctor some day. Now, though, she's not so sure.
"I've always played around with songs and writing, but I was surprised, really shocked, when I won," she said. "It's exciting. Maybe this will be an important part of my life."
Winning the song-writing contest isn't the only good news Rajasekar has recently received.
She has also been awarded a part in an upcoming production at The Children's Theatre Company.
Rajasekar will play the role of the narrator in "Iqbal", which will hold its world premiere here in the Twin Cities in March.
The play is based on the real-life story of Iqbal Masih, a boy who worked in Pakistani carpet factory and struggled for child labor laws.
Rajasekar hasn't started learning her lines yet. As narrator, though, she knows she has her work cut out for her. And she knows it will be a challenge to balance school with what looks to be a budding entertainment career.
How does she explain all her recent success? "I guess 2009 is my lucky year," she said.
