Aradhana Sapthaha
The BTM Cultural Academy conducted the "Aradhana Sapthaha" with music programmes for seven days. All of them were vocal duets and everyday the concert was on different composers of Karnatic Music. Vijayalakshmi and Chithra (known as Mambalam Sisters) presented select compositions of Muthuswamy Dikshitar. Dikshithar (1775-1835), one of the trinities of Karnatic music, was not only a vocalist but also a Veena player. With the "mudra" of "Guruguha," he has composed hundreds of krithies including Vibhakti krithies, Navavarna, Vaara and single charana krithies.
Vijayalakshmi and Chithra are familiar artistes to connoisseurs of Bangalore. Mambalam Sisters chose "Chintayama Kandamula Kandam," one of the 'Panchabhuta Krithies'. In the chaturdasha Ragamalike (Sri Vishwanatham Bhajeham), 14 melodious ragas flow one after the other and create a colourful picture.
The "Swaminatha Samrakshitohum" was on Lord Subramanya in the raga Brindavana Saranga. Sharing themselves they developed the alapana and thana and made the Kambodhi raga a wholesome one. In the Pallavi, they further added pep through the Ragamalika swara. After an interesting Nottu swara they concluded with "Sri Kamalambike." The concert was notable for the remarkable fluidity and melodic content in their voices which soared with ease throughout the concert. A band of seasoned instrumentalists accompanied the sisters wholeheartedly - Dr R Hemalatha on violin, A Renuka Prasad on mridanga, K S Rangachari on Khanjari and Bharadwaj Sathavalli on morching.
International conference
The Indiranagar Sangeetha Sabha conducted the "International Conference on Music and Dance" with the theme "Classical forms in World Music." The annual music and dance festival was also held along with the conference and Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr Umayalapuram K Shivaraman was conferred with the Purandara award on the occasion. There were interesting lecture and demonstrations on various topics of music and dance and young musicians and dancers were also provided ample opportunities to exhibit their talent.
Dr Uday Kiran K T spoke on the "Influence of other genres on Karnatic classical music." Sowmya and Sanat Kumar Athreya demonstrated few verses from Thiruppugazh with a detailed background while P R Ashwini spoke on the concept of voice culture.
Anirudha Knight, who comes from the lineage of Balasaraswathi, gave a dance reital in the festival on last Monday. He opened the programme with a verse from Thiruppugal (Madhyamavati).
The Ragamalike Shabdam by Chinnaiah Naidu was on Lord Subramanya. The varna "Sarasala Lo" was the piece de resistance of the evening. Though Abhinaya was his forte, the jathies were simple and executed neatly. Conservatives may not agree with some of the things (including his costumes), but Anirudha performed the pada on Muruga, another of Kshetragna (Ninnu Juchi) and a devaranama (Krishna Nee Begane Baaro) and concluded with a thillana (Mandari). Anirudha's career is worth watching.
T Girish (vocal), Babu Prasad (Natuvanga), K Gopinath (Mridanga) and T R Murthy (flute) - supported the dancer from the wings.
Nadajyothi festival
The Nadajyothi Sri Thyagaraja Swamy Bhajana Sabha in collaboration with the Malleswaram Arya Vysya Sangha celebrated the annual music festival at the Vasavi Temple premises in Malleswaram. With "Unchavruthi," vocal ensemble of Pancharathna krithies and Bhadrachala Ramadasa's compositions, discourse, violin solo, vocal (both Karnatic and Hindustani), instrumental trio and Gamaka - the festival attracted a sizeable gathering. M S Govindaswamy (violin), M Vasudeva Rao (mridanga), M R Sathyanarayana (Gamaka) and N Amrith (Khanjari) - received the annual awards.
Young vocalists M B Hariharan and S Ashok gave a vocal concert last week. They were accompanied by seasoned artistes - C Chandrasekhar on violin, A V Anand on mrianga and S N Narayana Murthy on Ghata. Opening with a varna (Chalamela), they chose "Ambikaya" in Kedara. The "Meenalochana" with brief raga was quiet impressive. "Niravadi Sukhada" pleased the old timers, before moving to the main item of the evening.
Evocative raga Bilahari was elaborated step by step and they tried their best to highlight the raga bhava. Post 'Tani' they sang few devotionals and a patriotic song "Jayathi Jayathi Bharatha Matha." Without over doing anything Hariharan and Ashok pleased the gathering, with their good voice and neat presentation.
The BTM Cultural Academy conducted the "Aradhana Sapthaha" with music programmes for seven days. All of them were vocal duets and everyday the concert was on different composers of Karnatic Music. Vijayalakshmi and Chithra (known as Mambalam Sisters) presented select compositions of Muthuswamy Dikshitar. Dikshithar (1775-1835), one of the trinities of Karnatic music, was not only a vocalist but also a Veena player. With the "mudra" of "Guruguha," he has composed hundreds of krithies including Vibhakti krithies, Navavarna, Vaara and single charana krithies.
Vijayalakshmi and Chithra are familiar artistes to connoisseurs of Bangalore. Mambalam Sisters chose "Chintayama Kandamula Kandam," one of the 'Panchabhuta Krithies'. In the chaturdasha Ragamalike (Sri Vishwanatham Bhajeham), 14 melodious ragas flow one after the other and create a colourful picture.
The "Swaminatha Samrakshitohum" was on Lord Subramanya in the raga Brindavana Saranga. Sharing themselves they developed the alapana and thana and made the Kambodhi raga a wholesome one. In the Pallavi, they further added pep through the Ragamalika swara. After an interesting Nottu swara they concluded with "Sri Kamalambike." The concert was notable for the remarkable fluidity and melodic content in their voices which soared with ease throughout the concert. A band of seasoned instrumentalists accompanied the sisters wholeheartedly - Dr R Hemalatha on violin, A Renuka Prasad on mridanga, K S Rangachari on Khanjari and Bharadwaj Sathavalli on morching.
International conference
The Indiranagar Sangeetha Sabha conducted the "International Conference on Music and Dance" with the theme "Classical forms in World Music." The annual music and dance festival was also held along with the conference and Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr Umayalapuram K Shivaraman was conferred with the Purandara award on the occasion. There were interesting lecture and demonstrations on various topics of music and dance and young musicians and dancers were also provided ample opportunities to exhibit their talent.
Dr Uday Kiran K T spoke on the "Influence of other genres on Karnatic classical music." Sowmya and Sanat Kumar Athreya demonstrated few verses from Thiruppugazh with a detailed background while P R Ashwini spoke on the concept of voice culture.
Anirudha Knight, who comes from the lineage of Balasaraswathi, gave a dance reital in the festival on last Monday. He opened the programme with a verse from Thiruppugal (Madhyamavati).
The Ragamalike Shabdam by Chinnaiah Naidu was on Lord Subramanya. The varna "Sarasala Lo" was the piece de resistance of the evening. Though Abhinaya was his forte, the jathies were simple and executed neatly. Conservatives may not agree with some of the things (including his costumes), but Anirudha performed the pada on Muruga, another of Kshetragna (Ninnu Juchi) and a devaranama (Krishna Nee Begane Baaro) and concluded with a thillana (Mandari). Anirudha's career is worth watching.
T Girish (vocal), Babu Prasad (Natuvanga), K Gopinath (Mridanga) and T R Murthy (flute) - supported the dancer from the wings.
Nadajyothi festival
The Nadajyothi Sri Thyagaraja Swamy Bhajana Sabha in collaboration with the Malleswaram Arya Vysya Sangha celebrated the annual music festival at the Vasavi Temple premises in Malleswaram. With "Unchavruthi," vocal ensemble of Pancharathna krithies and Bhadrachala Ramadasa's compositions, discourse, violin solo, vocal (both Karnatic and Hindustani), instrumental trio and Gamaka - the festival attracted a sizeable gathering. M S Govindaswamy (violin), M Vasudeva Rao (mridanga), M R Sathyanarayana (Gamaka) and N Amrith (Khanjari) - received the annual awards.
Young vocalists M B Hariharan and S Ashok gave a vocal concert last week. They were accompanied by seasoned artistes - C Chandrasekhar on violin, A V Anand on mrianga and S N Narayana Murthy on Ghata. Opening with a varna (Chalamela), they chose "Ambikaya" in Kedara. The "Meenalochana" with brief raga was quiet impressive. "Niravadi Sukhada" pleased the old timers, before moving to the main item of the evening.
Evocative raga Bilahari was elaborated step by step and they tried their best to highlight the raga bhava. Post 'Tani' they sang few devotionals and a patriotic song "Jayathi Jayathi Bharatha Matha." Without over doing anything Hariharan and Ashok pleased the gathering, with their good voice and neat presentation.