Colourful ragamalika

Ragamalika, as the title implies, is a garland of ragas. Choice of the ragas are based on aesthetic considerations. Decorative patterns in their highly artistic forms are seen both in the 'dhatu' (musical setting) and 'maatu' (Sahitya) of 'ragamalikas'.

Lyrics of 'ragamalika' are usually themed devotional , and sometimes, love or praise of a patron, which will be followed by an appropriate chitte swara, usually. From the standpoint of 'bhava' and 'rasa', there should be naturalness in the sequence of ragas and it should comprise minimum of four ragas. Raga mudra, vaggeyakara mudra, prabhanda mudra and raja mudra are incorporated, suitably. There are 'ragamalikas' belonging to 'Kalpita Sangita' and the sphere of 'Manodharma Sangita'.

Vidushi Manasi Prasad elaborated on 'ragamalikas', at the music festival organised by the M A Narasimhachar Music Foundation. Vocal, musical discourse, instrumental trio - were held at the 11th annual music festival and violinist H K Venkatram was honoured with the title 'Gaana Varidhi' on the occasion.

Manasi Prasad presented a number of 'ragamalikas' - from 'varna' to 'laalee' - which was proof of her hard work and repertoire.

'Ranjanimala' of Tanjore Shankara Iyer is a familiar composition. 'Sri Viswanatham Bhajeham', the 'Chaturdasha ragamalike' of Dikshitar, is a well-knit, dignified composition. In contrast, 'Sananda Kamala Manohari' of Swathi Tirunal, in four ragas, is a rare at the concert.

Manasi Prasad also sang a 'Dwiraga Pallavi' in 'amrithavarshini' and 'anandabhairavi', set to 'Khanda Mattya Thala'. In 'Virutham' and 'Ragamala', each line was in different ragas, and it was followed by a 'Thillana' of Dandayudha Pani. She concluded with an appropriate 'lalee' on Lord Sri Rama. She was very well supported by Nalina Mohan on violin, C Cheluvaraj on Mridanga and Sukanya Ramgopal on Ghata.

Promising dancer

Madhuri Nagesh, who presented Bharathanatya at the Indian Institute of World Culture last week, is the daughter of senior dancers Suma Nagesh and R Nagesh. After initial training from Suma Nagesh (Natya Shree), she is receiving training from Prof M R Krishnamurthy (Kalakshithi), and has passed the senior examination also.

A first rank holder and gold medalist in MSc (Botany), Madhuri performed her 'Ranga Pravesha' in 2007. She has taken the lead roles in several dance dramas and has performed in a few Sabhas.

The piece de resistant of her recital was the well known 'varna' of Papanasham Shivan "Swamy nee" in the raga 'Sriranjini'. With good 'thattu-mettu' and expression, she performed the "Virahoth Khanditha Nayika" in a pleasing manner.

She also performed -Alaripu, Astapadi (Radhe Hari - Todi raga) and Jawadi (Kamach) with impactful 'abhinaya'. A well known devaranama (Venkatachala Nilayam) and Thillana (Hindola) and Mangala (on Srirama) - were the concluding items. A promising Madhuri Nagesh can improve her laya with further training.

Raag rang
The Bangalore Lalitha Kala Parishat presented a unique music programme, "Raag Rang Samay Yatra", on Friday. The musical event is based on the 'raag-time' concept of Hindustani music. The troupe explained the moods created by different notes in a raga - how, as the Sun traverses from dawn to dusk and back to dawn, ragas create different moods of the time of day.

The event unfolded with a 'Shiva stuthi' in the 'drupad' style to suit the dawn in the raga 'bhairav'. It was followed by a 'khyal' to suit the first 'prahar', in the raga 'allaya bilawal', which was followed by 'gurjari todi' and 'komal rishab asaveri'. Later began 'Purvang Pradhan' and 'Bhim Palas' with a lovely lilt and the Bhajan 'Hari Ke Charan' and 'yaman kalyan', the king of ragas. 'Ada chowtal bandish' and 'gowda malhar' was sung with gay abandon. A few monsoon melodies also pleased the gathering. It concluded with the 'Payaliya Baaje' in 'bhairavi'.

Eighteen ragas in chorus, duets and solo, highlighted the beauty of the 'raagdhari' system. Direction and commentary by musician Lalith J Rao were successful in showcasing the nuances and shades of a few ragas of Hindustani music. Nine vocalists, aged between 14 and 70, sang 'dhrupad', 'khayal', 'tarana', 'dadra' and 'kajri', set in different taals. It was melodious, interesting and informative. Of course, it was the result of Lalitha Rao's talent, experience and disciplined training. They were accompanied on Harmonium by Vyasamurthy Katti, on thabala by Gurumurthy Vaidya and Shashibhushan Gurjar.

Karnatic music in Harmonica

On Friday, connoisseurs witnessed a different kind of concert at Dr H N Kalakshetra, Jayanagar. Of course, it was announced as 'Karnatic classical music'! But the instrument was of foreign origin! Harmonica or the mouth organ is not a new instrument for music connoisseurs! But classical music in mouth organ - and that too for 2 hours?! - is unusual!

Sai Tejas Chandrasekar, who played the mouth organ, is an MCom graduate and a disciple of Vidushi Roopa Sridhar. He is a scholarship recipient from the Karnataka Sangeetha Nritya Academy and a practitioner of classical vocal, sugama sangeetha and tabla, too. He has won a few prizes and has worked as an RJ for Radio Shruthi, (Worldspace).

Sai Tejas opened with 'Raghu Nayaka' (Hamsadhwani), which gave him a flying start, and was followed by few familiar compositions of Saint Tyagaraja.

Raga 'Bindu Malini' at once attracts even a layman. Thus 'Entha Muddo Entha Sogaso' was evocative. It was followed by Andolika and Huseni. The 'Nalinakanthi raga' was elaborated for 'Manavyalara.'

Touching the pivotal 'swaras,' Sai Tejas gave a colourful picture of the 'raga.' The percussionists - Ranjani Siddanti and B Bhagyalakshmi played 'Tani,' with understanding, though it was slightly overstretched!

'Devaranama' (Jagadoddarana), Saama (Maanasa Sancharare) and western note - were rendered in the post-interval session. J K Sridhar gave good support throughout and especially his 'Nalina Kanthi' was sparkling.

With some more training and stage experience, Sai Tejas Chandrasekhar can reach great heights.

Colourful dance festival

The Sai Arts International conducted the annual dance festival at the Seva Sadana. In the 5-day dance festival, dancers from different states performed Mohini Attam, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Kathak and Sattriya Nritya, apart from Bharathanatya recital.

On Wednesday, a Bharathanatya recital by young dancing couple - Chetan and Chandra Prabha - set in motion the event. The artists are being trained under Suparna Venkatesh and Manjula Paramesh. Pushpanjali and Ganesha Stuti ('Mahaganapathim Manasa Smarami') - gave them a fine start, followed by 'Shringapuradheeswari.'

'Shankara Sri Girinatha,' the devine cosmo dance was quiet attractive and the Kannada Jawadi ('Sariye Ea Reethy'). The performances revealed a good grounding but they have to improve their 'abhinaya.'

Atulya Rakesh, disciple of Vinutha Nedungadi, began her Mohini Attam with a Ganesha stuti and Shiva stuti. Her neck movements (peacock) were also attractive during the performance.

Sahana Balasubramanyam, student of Saroja Vaidyanathan, chose verses from Adi Shankaracharya (Rag Megh), followed by a 'Ganga stotram' (Jaijai Gange).
There was a flowing grace in her 'angikas,' sparkled in well knit Adavus and sleek expressiveness. There was one more Mohiniattam performance by M B Swarna, disciple of Gopika Varma. Opening with 'Ganapathi Stuti' (Aarabhi), she continued with 'Jathiswara.' 'Hari Hareswaran' on Ayyappa was rather theatrical.

Madhulita Mohapatra, senior Odissi dancer, along with two members of the Nrityantar - Anjali Raj Urs and Madhura Sarcar, presented Pallavi in the 'Saveri raga' with grace and charm. The love affair of Radha and Krishna has become the talk of the town.
People on the streets, bazaar of Braja, etc, are talking about the love between Radha and Krishna. This was presented in the 'Bajuchhi Sahi Bajare.' The curtains came down with 'Sakhi bo.' The 'Vasika Sajika Nayika' was well portrayed. The organisers must provide atleast 100 minutes to each dancer, if not they cannot do justice.

It may not be a discovery that ordinary objects of importance and long-term handling drawn from around intimate as well as public spaces become somewhat invested with sensations, intuitions and emotions that people consciously associate only with the aims such objects serve.

Throughout time, yet, this situation assumes somewhat new manifestations, and the current, increasingly technology-based circumstances inevitably bring in specific results.

Between a rudimentary mechanism of utility and robots or computers imitating human behaviour, the boundary of the live or organic and the engineered tends to become hazy, while constant active use of animated gadgetry is bound to generate instinctive, even if unrealised, uncertainty as to how far the occurrences within one side influence those within the other.

Pors & Rao, or the Bangalore-based, Danish-Indian artist couple of Soren Pors and Aparna Rao, in their exhibition at Galleryske (December 1 to January 12) are fine-tuned to it all like some seismograph come almost alive.

As though reflecting the phenomenon, they always work and show together as a team while stressing, on the one hand, the process behind their technically having re-done the pieces and, on the other, their open-ended expectation from both the
exhibits and the visitor to interact dynamically towards a never quite defined but mutual impact that can be individually picked up and interpreted.

Thus, the title itself - 'Applied Fiction (Reworked)' - also adequately suggests an adjustable yet elusive relationship between the real and the fantasised, in particular between sentient human beings and mechanically or electrically driven objects that appear to act on their own and respond to people, their proximity generating never quite clear, verge states of animation and intention.

A wonderful quality of the actual display is that all such complexities came through simultaneously simple and layered images whose immersion in normal life triggered basic recognitions as well as unconscious, unexpected responses and mostly aspirational emotions.

On entering, one nearly stumbles on the "Sun Shadow" just above and on the floor opposite the glass door, its ray-tentacle body of an ink splash in low rubber relief looks flat like a drawing from the natural star and at the same time animalistic in its dormant plasticity with the softly jerky stir that seems to have its inner pulse and
respond to the viewer's presence.

This partly true and partly illusory condition of moving towards animated things to stimulate them and let them influence one's experience intensifies with a suitable sharpness and near-lucidity in the two part "Split Knife" emerging from and sinking into high-polished wooden pedestals. The Chaplin-like, three-dimensional cartoon figure trying to retain its balance upside down on a "Heavy Hat" entices one, rather than try to help it, to compare with or maybe test, its valiant vulnerability on oneself.

"The Uncle Phone" was a shiny red apparatus, immensely elongated as though with painful gentleness, allowed the spectator to empathise with the ordinary wish to connect through distance.

The playful humour there that reveals sensitivity has found a culmination in "Teddy Universe," its bear shape under the ceiling translating a child's cuddly comfort into the more adult feeling of secure awe on being enveloped by cosmic limitlessness, as the toy fur on close contact transforms into a night sky with tiny blinking stars.

At some point the spectator might doubt the precise, cool and shiny elegance of the works against the rough and the raw of the broader environment here, to eventually accept the same considering its privileged urban origin and address.

Alluring godliness

One remembers Sachin Jaltare painting atmospheric figures of a subdued sensual charm, their softly stylised realism being complemented by smooth stretches of abstract brushing with textures and tonalities.

His technical professionalism always served the need to please the eye. His new works from the series "Tales of Infinity" displayed at Kynkyny (December 21 to January 11) suggest that the artist has developed spiritual ambitions. While his stated intention is to capture the fusion of the human and the divine, the finite and the eternal, of duality and unity, the actual images depict mostly lover couples, indeed, equipped with sacred markings, however, rather devoid of anything other than indulgent cuteness.

In fact, their rendering is more sugary now than before, as evident in the kiss-curly mouths and such. If the painter wishes to reveal spiritual aspects of carnal passion through merging figuration with strong abstract elements, this results in a greater reliance on decorative design while clear linear silhouettes interact with modulated, somewhat plastic brushing and fragmented, flattened motifs that act in the way of patterns.

The Malleswaram Sangeetha Sabha conducted the Annual Hanuman Jayanthi with vocal (both Karnatic and Hindustani) and instrumental music concerts at the Malleswaram Sri Rama Mandira, last week.

Sriram Parthasarathy who gave the inaugural concert, has learnt with two great musicians - O S Tyagarajan and Neyveli Santhana Gopalan and has already performed in many Sabhas and Sammelanas.

He is a graduate in Music and has practised Veena also. He is a 'A' grade artiste of Akashavani and has won prizes from Music Academy (Chennai) and few other organisations.

In the current concert, Sriram presented a number of compositions on Hanuman which suited the occasion.

For instance, 'Anjaneya Paramananda' from the traditional Bhajana Sampradaya, in which he sang till Thara Panchama, with ease and confidence. Another interesting kruthi 'Pavana Thanaya Palayamam' of Dr. Balamurali Krishna in the raga Rasikapriya was enjoyable with its ragabhava.

It was clear from the beginning that the vocalist has a commendable grasp over the different facets of a concert and can deliver the goods. In the Suruti Keerthane 'Gitartthamu Sangitanandamu' Saint Tyagaraja says - "O Mind! To understand the significance of the Gita and the bliss of music here and now, you have only to delve deep into your and behold them in their supreme grandeur.

Sri Anjaneya is an eternal witness of this truth ….. Anjaneya is well versed in the five creeds." This has been well narrated in the Suriti composition.

But the percussionists were asked to play 'Tani' without bringing much tempo, which shows lack of experience. 'Mukhya Prana' of Purandara Dasaru, 'Khelathi Mama Hridaye,' 'Bhaktha Jana Vatsale' - one after the other devotional pleased the audience.

Nalina Mohan on violin and B C Manjunath on mridanga gave sustained support throughout the concert and Narayana Murthy played on Ghata. With some more stage experience Sriram Parthasarathi can rise to great heights.

Violin duet

Hanuman Jayanthi was also celebrated by many cultural and religious organisations of the city. Like wise the 'Namagiri Nilaya' also celebrated with music concerts. There was a violin duet by T K Dwarakanath and Archana Marathe.

Dwarakanath is a disciple of Vidwan H Bhimachar, senior violinist of yester years and has been guided by T S Krishnamurthy, also.

Archana Marathe has learnt music under Rema Ramaiah and Balu Raghuram and has passed diploma and senior examinations in music and a recipient of scholarship from CCRT.

Dwarakanath and Archana presented a number of popular compositions in their violin duet.

'Sadhininchane' is a dignified 'Pancharathna Kruthi' and 'Venkatachala Nilayam' is a popular devotional. 'Bagayanayya' and 'Jagadoddharana' - both are all time favourites.

Panthuvarali raga was brief but impressive. 'Sarasaksha' with brief Nerval and Swara was followed by the solo of percussion instruments (Mridanga: Vijaya Raghava Marathe and Khanjari: R. Karthik).
Their careers are worth watching.

Colourful Sambhrama

The 'Sangeetha Sambhrama' conducted annual 'Nirantharam' Festival, last week. This year under the leadership of Vidushi P Rama, conducted music (vocal, veena, jugalbandi, percussion ensemble) dance, drama, concerts, and felicitations to senior artistes.

Sutikshana Veeravalli (U.S.A.), who gave a Bharatanatya performance in the Niranthara Festival, has learnt dance from her mother Bhavani Kishore Kumar and has performed already in few places. The customary Pushpanjali gave a good account of Sutikshna's grounding.

Her angikas were in place and a fluency of line in her movement became evident, something worthy of note, in a young dancer. The Valachi varna attributed to Subbudu was neat, the fast aridis disposed of with a flourish. Portrayal of Devayani's love, angry, anxiety with Subramanya, was enjoyable too.

In the Kannada devaranama 'Jagadoddarana' dancer with her graceful abhinaya projected innocent charming child Krishna, beautifully. In the 'Vaaranam Ayiram' (Ragamalika) Andal's dream - her wedding with Lord Narayana - with all the traditional details, were presented in detail.

Sutikshna don't have one leg and performs with an artificial (Jaipur) Leg! And she don't have a palm of her right hand also! But she performed like any other dancer, with gay abandon and expressive Abhinaya.
While Vanitha Veeravalli's Natuvanga was inspiring, vocal of Bhavani Kishore Kumar was melodious. Balaji and Raghunandan supported on Mridanga and flute respectively.

Mechanical rendering

The dance was followed by a vocal concert by Sampagodu Vighnaraja, who is not a new artiste to Bangaloreans. Of course the Varna in 6 speeds gave Vignaraja a flying start. But after the third speed, it was only vibration without any aesthetic feeling, though it was proof of his hard practice and rhythmically correct. 'Siddi Vinayakam' and 'Akhilandeswari' - both are familiar compositions.

'Paraloka Sadhana' a common kruthi of yester years was briefly elaborated and the Chitteswara of 'Samayamide' (Muthaiah Bhagawathar) was also attractive. He then plunged into the climax of the evening's programme in Thodi, with a infrequent kruthi of D.S. Suryanarayana Bhat. He has good voice, but he must get rid of an overall impression of mechanical rendering and efficiency.

Scholarly vocal

R A Ramamani, senior vocalist and scholar, sang in the 'Nirantharam' festival on Friday. She presented a string of fine compositions in the best classical tradition.

Raga for the 'Paramathmudu' was brief but evocative. 'Sri Venkateshanatham' is a welcome addition to the regular repertoire of a concert. The celebrated kruthi 'Rathna Kanchuka Dharini' with raga nerval (Mandagamanassilini) and swara, was notable for the remarkable fluidity, scholarship and commanded the respect of the connoisseurs. Nalina Mohan on violin, C Cheluva Raj on Mridanga and Sukanya Ramgopal on Ghata - were in their elements.

Promising dancers

Students of Rasika Dance Ensemble gave a Bharatanatya recital, under the direction of Kiran Subramanya and Sandhya Kiran.

They revealed good grounding in the Pushpanjali itself. Ranjanimala is a popular krithi in the music concerts also.

'Anandanatanam' was a delightful composition and the Surdas lyrics provided ample scope for Abhinaya.
The laya vinyasa was an interesting item. These young students have bright future with more attention to facial expression and foot work.

From the wings Kiran Subramanya (Natuvanga), Nanda Kumar (vocal), Sri Hari (Mridanga), Madhusudhan (Violin) Mahesh (Flute) and Kartheek Dathar (Rhythm pad) supported the young dancers.

The topical exhibition "Re:public" (Gallery Five Forty Five, January 13 to 26) curated by LinaVincent Smith marks and confronts associated issues.

It triggers a focus on the individual as part of society needing to honestly and responsibly analyse, question and affirm one's nature, ethics and position versus manifestations of national ideals, political power equations and actual hierarchies, personal aspirations too seen through the prism of popular culture and art.

One does appreciate the choice, its complementary contributions and cathartic potential, but it was assembled somewhat quickly, although the limitations of the space were largely unavoidable.

Even if the curator had to choose mainly from familiar works of the five participating artists from the City, more attention should have been given to the display, not only to set off mutual interactions but especially to afford respect to the pieces of quality.

Otherwise, with sufficient patience, the visitor can empathise with the balance of view angles and variety of perspectives with their different emotional and conceptual tonalities. Critical sarcasm expressed in a fairly literal way is found at one extreme.

In fact, it introduces the exhibition in the shape of a life-size politician statue by Shivanand Basawanthappa, the kitschy gloss of the profuse decorations-metaphors on the naturalistic figure underscoring the prevalence of well-practiced and socially accepted oily hypocrisy.

By comparison, the many drawings of cocks and bulls epitomising humans relishing their follies may be loud towards an easy effect.

His satirical companion, Ravikumar Kashi comes up with an understated and distanced yet eventually biting indictment of the diverse self-serving distortions of Gandhi's idealism in an installation with washing lines of his caps.

A counterbalancing couple of painters bring in a more exuberant blend of affirmation and irony in their portrayals of the young generation.

Pradeep D M , through dense patterns and graceful stylistic allusions to folklore, mirrors the hybrid condition between traditional simplicity and newly enthusiastic urban consumerism.

Anthony Roche adds here mischievous but loving visual elements of corporate, comic and art-historical globalisation.

A very different gesture of regard, empathy for and identification with the ethos, feelings and creativity of the people at the base of society comes from Estee Oarsed who for his lithographic prints collaborated on an equal footing with small time film poster artists, the apparent naivety of their idiom containing authenticity and specific sophistication.

Collaborative democracy

The need for and phenomenon of collaboration between artists and non-artists is a comparatively new, nonetheless already quite acknowledged, aspect of art-making internationally, in particular in Europe, based not only on respect for and inspiration from life on all planes but primarily on discovering and offering equal footing of non-professional creativity.

It probably has much to do with the young idealism behind the pluralistic acceptance of today's progressive or just empathetic, locally and globally oriented aspirations as well as with the humbling yet radicalising familiarity with the long-lasting recession.

Thus, this democratic premise and method, in stead of doing something for the deprived and marginalised from a position of superior knowledge, aim at achievement by working together in constant mutual adjustment and discussion, the final product being as important, if not less important, than the actual experience during the collaborative process.

This existential experience outside of the gallery, however, restricts the possibility of its full revelation to the external viewer. Here 'We were trying to make sense…', the exhibition curated by Magda Fabianczyk (1 Shanthiroad Studio/Gallery, January 5 to 15), was a significant introduction to and presentation of such collaborative efforts, significant especially considering the Indian tendency to take unacknowledged help from others, while true collaborative channels remain sporadic, Estee Oarsed probing parallels between the behaviour of art and life.

Although the display included some finished works, its necessarily documentary character was rightly directed at enabling the visitor to intuit, even study the overall subject and its specific instances.

The collected material, besides completed videos, included information about the way of making the works and the background of the people behind them, interviews with them sometimes carrying contrary ideas and expectations and was analytically gathered in a publication written by Fabianczyk with Sophie Hoyle.

Its content does not shy of probing doubts and inherent limitations or contradictions indicating that such interactive engagements are targets and active approximations, not fixed objects of value.

The independent participants fro- m the UK, Poland, Germany, Pakistan and India conjure a gamut of topical sources and formal options from folk music and theatre, to street posters, to directly working with homeless migrants and underprivileged locals, to threading email-sent, intimate videos or postal image contributions to provoking evocative situations from public concerts.

The title of the current exhibition at Time & Space - "Vignettes. Passages. Parables The Madras Movement" - (February 3 to 17) allows one to expect a presentation around what is now a classic chapter in Tamil Nadu art history associated since the 1950s with Cholamandal and the idea of the modernist indigenous.

The painters and sculptors, like K C S Paniker, Salim Ali and M Redappa Naidu, S Dhanapal and P V Janakiram, come to the mind along with their still presently successors from S G Vasudev to Dakshinamoorthy.

The actual display appears to be trying to bridge the impact of the old school and the new times without, however, including clearly contemporary choices, two of its participants directly drawing on that lineage and the other two non-obviously and individualistically reconciling it with more recent methods and aesthetic vocabularies.

The sculptures of S Nandagopal have all the ingredients of the Indology-based take on Hindu myths and icons, carrying echoes of traditional or folkloristic frontal views and line-encased but ornate volumes in a vivaciously playful and dynamic coexistence with High Modern, opened up plasticity and balanced asymmetry.

Oscillating between a pleasant, smooth stylisation and its light roughing, the artist brings the hieratic statuary to the level of warm domesticity, blending the behaviour of idols and mortals or nature's creatures, mixing temple attributes and kitchen utensils, figures, motifs and a sense of landscape.

The large paintings of K Muralidharan come from a similar background and wish to likewise reunite the poetic charm and fantasy of the ancient lore with the spirit of today.

Although the painter speaks about a surreal layer here, what reaches the eye is a jolly, slightly mischievous celebration of childhood stories that animate the whole world and are retained with innocence in adult life, while young women still have the capacity to metamorphose into divinities.

However much one may appreciate the cultured hold on and the free handing of the techniques in both cases, it would be difficult to miss the fairly formulaic approach and its decorative character.

In theory, the spectator might try to connect Rm. Palaniappan's work to his predecessors through his abstract images that almost like symbolic designs strive to imbue our measuring precision on the immediate plane with an intuition of cosmic spaces and motions over limitless time.

This, nonetheless, is done by him in a not obvious and not cluttered manner, the purely geometric forms and lucid lines suggesting simultaneously the coolness of scientific implements and universal trajectories that become, yet, reflected to a degree in the coarser, rugged markings of human hands, nerves and feelings further enhanced by the presence of philosophical jottings.

If his inspirations have a few decades behind them, the unspecific contemporariness of C. Douglas is as understated as it is his own. His vast paintings always verge on drawing, whilst the stained and crumpled, as though vulnerable and still resistant paper spreads and absorbs a kind of twilight darkness whose hopeless gloom somehow turns effulgent.

There prevails images of irrepressible sadness that indicates immersion in death but not without letting in the memory of a child's fascination preserved by the poet. This may be the most interesting part of the show, only the few of Douglas's relatively colourful and pattern-based composition disappointing despite their apparent allusiveness to the formal ways of Cholamandal.

Playing with water

The events at Jaaga on the 2nd and 3rd of this month saw quite absorbing experiments around the idea of water, its scarcity as well as its rooting on ancient traditions, to be experienced along the current sensitivities of urban youth accustomed to digital technology along with the fun and gaming it enables.

It seems that the involvement of the artists with the enchanting but nowadays problematic element intuitively necessitated the need to attract the viewers into interaction.

Even though some technical aspects of the pieces did not always work perfectly, one did appreciate the concepts having been mounted in real life experiences of today.
The misty, slightly pixellated images of the sky in "Swiping Clouds" by Sean Blagsvedt with help from Kiran D were projected on an architecturally large synthetic water tank whose muted whiteness permeated the darkly translucent video, while its circular volume evoked Buddhist prayer wheels. One could feel the excitement of making the image respond to one's gestures as well as sink into the meditative calm of the slow moving video itself.

"The Rain Game" by Gene Kogan, too, drew the visitor into the projection transposing him/her into a digital silhouette expected to fill with rain drops that kept coming on the screen. It may not have resulted in much serious questioning the water scarcity prospect, nonetheless led one's attention in the general direction.

When children of five years' age started singing 'Pahi Pahi Gajanana' at the Seva Sadana, Malleswara, audience were surprised.

The children continued with another devotional 'Parvathi Pathim.' Next, eight-year-old children sang 'Sri Gananatham Bhajare' and a batch of 10-year-old children presented 'Nagabharana Hey Nataraja' in the raga Mohana.

It was part of the "Naada Namana" held under the aegis of the Karnataka College of Percussion (KCP). Internationally acclaimed KCP conducted workshop, quiz, lecture, demonstrations in the Naada Namana. Students were divided age wise and were trained in different groups.

Ganesha stuthi, Shiva stuthi, Krishna stuthi, Saraswathi Vandane, Notu swara - were presented by different groups, neatly. 'Bhajare Gopalam' in Hindola is a popular composition and 'Narayana Emba' was in Bilahari. These young singers sang with confidence and that was proof of their good training.

Instrumentalists accompanied young talents, with good understanding.

Aradhana programmes

Many Sabhas and schools of Bangalore conducted Purandara Dasa and Tyagaraja Aradhana with music and religious fervour. In many organisations the celebrations will continue for some more time. Sri Raghavendra Seva Samithi, Sudhindra Nagara, Malleswaram conducted the Purandara Dasa Aradhana with not only music concerts but also Harikatha, Bhajan, and discourses.

Pattabhi Rama Pandith who presented a vocal concert on Thursday, is fast emerging as a prominent musician of Karnataka. He is known for his good repertoire and rendering with good 'Bhava.'

In the current concert he presented completely Haridasa compositions which suited the occasion. "Jaya Janakee Kantha' gave Pattabhirama Pandith a bright start, followed by 'Yenu Dhanyalo Lakumi Entha Manyalo,' with nerval and brief swara.

The 'Kaala Pramana' of 'Pogadiralo Ranga' was rather very slow than the composition suggests. But he rendered it with interesting swara prasthara. Nerval (Suramunigalu) and swara for the well known Pada 'Pogadirelo Ranga' had their desired aesthetic impact. But a detailed Ragalapana would have made it truly wholesome. 'Bhaja Bhaja Maanasa' was on Saint Raghavendra Swamy, 'Hari Ninna Mechisabhadu' was a meaningful devaranama.

While Kande Dhanyanaade' at once reminded his guru (Late K V Narayanaswamy). So also 'Na Ninna Dhyanadolu iralu' - stood out for its emotional sensitivity. The lyrical appeal in the Padas accented its instant likeability and the vocalist impressed the gathering. Mathur Srinidhi on violin and H S Sudhindra on mridanga gave excellent support and accompanied with aplomb.

Lively concert

Sri Rama Lalithakala Mandira conducted the Vasantha Sangeethotsava (Spring Music Festival) last week successfully. Eight vocal concerts were held by both male and female vocalists and the public response was overwhelming. One of our popular musician Sanjay Subramanyan's vocal recital in the Vasanthotsava on Wednesday was refreshing.

Especially his Kaanada was highly evocative. He gave a detailed airing of the soulful raga with brisk Thana. A well-knit pallavi in Khanda Triputa and a pleasant swara prasthara heightened the impact of the Pallavi. Earlier he also sang 'Ennaganu Rama' with meaningful Nerval.

Raga Shankarabharana was also appealing and the Jawadi 'Modi Chesi' brought nostalgic memories. It was a lively concert, which created a fine musical atmosphere in the Gayana Samaja Auditorium. Young violinist Awaneswaram S R Vinu proved his talent and senior percussionist Mannargudi Easwaran's accompaniment was inspiring and S Venkataramanan played the Khanjari.