Beautiful Bharatanatya
The Bangalore Lalithakala Parishat presented a Bharatanatya recital on Friday at HN Kalakshetra.
Veena and Dhanya, the Nair sisters, are disciples of Narmada (Shakunthala Natyalaya) and have practiced Mohiniyattam, under Kalamandalam Kshemavathy. They have performed in prestigious sabhas and sammellans, both in and outside the State.
The Nair sisters opened their programme with a shloka, followed by "Gajananam". From the initial Kautuam, the duo displayed the self-assurance and maturity of a seasoned dancer. The Neelambari Varna of Lalgudi Jayaraman provided ample proof for their talent and hard practice.
Sharing between themselves they performed the Varna convincingly. It was visually impactful though they were more at home in Abhinaya. Balakrishna's different 'Leelas' were more theatrical, though had a popular appeal. The tillana in Simhendra Madhyama was also evocative.
With graceful stage presence and pleasant smile the Nair sisters performed convincingly. But they can enhance the impact by observing restrain, wherever necessary.
Ashwin Nair (natuvanga), Bharathi Venugopal (vocal), Gurumurthy (mridanga) and Madhusudhan (violin) - accompanied the dancers from the wing.
A promising vocalist
Amritha Venkatesh, who gave a vocal recital under the aegis of the MES Kalavedi, is a familiar artiste in Bangalore music circle.
After taking initial lessons from M T Selvanarayana, she received advanced training from Charumathi Ramachandran and presently continuing her training under Prince Rama Varma. She is an 'A-Grade' artiste of Akashavani in both vocal and Veena and has received several prizes from prestigious sabhas, including the Music Academy.
In the current concert Amritha Venkatesh, in the initial stage chose "Shobillu Saptaswara" (Jagan Mohini Raga - Tyagaraja) and sang with interesting an swara. "Marivere" of Shyama Sastry and "Sri Chamundeswari" - were well received. "Sabha Pathi Ku" was another fine selection and a detailed alapana of the Raga Ramapriya.
Instead of the usual Ragas, it was a welcome change from the routine alapana. Ramamanohari (52nd Mela) was replaced by Ramapriya in Kanakangi list.
Though Tyagaraja has composed in this raga, it became a more popular raga in the post-Trinity period. Sandehamu (Tyagaraja), Korinavara (Patnam Subrarmanya Ayyar) - are some of the well-known compositions in this raga. Amritha highlighted the salient features of the raga Ramapriya successfully. Well-knit swara phrases for "Samodam Paripalaya" was attractive.
With her good voice and lively presentation Amritha Venkatesh sang with required weight. Still there is scope to improve - especially the nerval part. B K Raghu on violin, Tumkur Ravishankar on mridanga and Bhagyalakshmi Krishna on morching - gave a good support on their respective instruments.
Tributes to great souls
A number of artistes sang as a tribute to four great musicians and poets. As a tribute to C Ashwath, Dr R K Srikantan, Yashwant Halibandi and Dr G S Shivarudrappa - Ratnamala Prakash, Malathi Sharma, Y K Muddukrishna, Kikkeri Krishnamurthy and a host of others sang Kannada lyrics of the great poets.
It was just natural that "Naada Namana" was opened through a classical composition. Senior musician R S Ramakantha presented "Manasu Karagade" - as an opening song in a complete classical style. Nagachandrika Bhat sang "Jeeva Jatreyali" of G S Shivarudrappa in a simple way, while Y K Muddukrishna's choice was "Yanava Maadidi" of R N Jayagopal.
Ratnamala and Malathi chose "Ninnade Nela Ninnade Jala" - a popular lyric of G S Shivarudrappa. Kikkeri Krishnamurthy delighted the audience with another well known song of G S Shivarudrappa "Kaanada Kadalige." Five young girls of Geethalaya Nritya Academy - all below 10 years - pleased the gathering by their Bharatanatya recital.
The Bangalore Lalithakala Parishat presented a Bharatanatya recital on Friday at HN Kalakshetra.
Veena and Dhanya, the Nair sisters, are disciples of Narmada (Shakunthala Natyalaya) and have practiced Mohiniyattam, under Kalamandalam Kshemavathy. They have performed in prestigious sabhas and sammellans, both in and outside the State.
The Nair sisters opened their programme with a shloka, followed by "Gajananam". From the initial Kautuam, the duo displayed the self-assurance and maturity of a seasoned dancer. The Neelambari Varna of Lalgudi Jayaraman provided ample proof for their talent and hard practice.
Sharing between themselves they performed the Varna convincingly. It was visually impactful though they were more at home in Abhinaya. Balakrishna's different 'Leelas' were more theatrical, though had a popular appeal. The tillana in Simhendra Madhyama was also evocative.
With graceful stage presence and pleasant smile the Nair sisters performed convincingly. But they can enhance the impact by observing restrain, wherever necessary.
Ashwin Nair (natuvanga), Bharathi Venugopal (vocal), Gurumurthy (mridanga) and Madhusudhan (violin) - accompanied the dancers from the wing.
A promising vocalist
Amritha Venkatesh, who gave a vocal recital under the aegis of the MES Kalavedi, is a familiar artiste in Bangalore music circle.
After taking initial lessons from M T Selvanarayana, she received advanced training from Charumathi Ramachandran and presently continuing her training under Prince Rama Varma. She is an 'A-Grade' artiste of Akashavani in both vocal and Veena and has received several prizes from prestigious sabhas, including the Music Academy.
In the current concert Amritha Venkatesh, in the initial stage chose "Shobillu Saptaswara" (Jagan Mohini Raga - Tyagaraja) and sang with interesting an swara. "Marivere" of Shyama Sastry and "Sri Chamundeswari" - were well received. "Sabha Pathi Ku" was another fine selection and a detailed alapana of the Raga Ramapriya.
Instead of the usual Ragas, it was a welcome change from the routine alapana. Ramamanohari (52nd Mela) was replaced by Ramapriya in Kanakangi list.
Though Tyagaraja has composed in this raga, it became a more popular raga in the post-Trinity period. Sandehamu (Tyagaraja), Korinavara (Patnam Subrarmanya Ayyar) - are some of the well-known compositions in this raga. Amritha highlighted the salient features of the raga Ramapriya successfully. Well-knit swara phrases for "Samodam Paripalaya" was attractive.
With her good voice and lively presentation Amritha Venkatesh sang with required weight. Still there is scope to improve - especially the nerval part. B K Raghu on violin, Tumkur Ravishankar on mridanga and Bhagyalakshmi Krishna on morching - gave a good support on their respective instruments.
Tributes to great souls
A number of artistes sang as a tribute to four great musicians and poets. As a tribute to C Ashwath, Dr R K Srikantan, Yashwant Halibandi and Dr G S Shivarudrappa - Ratnamala Prakash, Malathi Sharma, Y K Muddukrishna, Kikkeri Krishnamurthy and a host of others sang Kannada lyrics of the great poets.
It was just natural that "Naada Namana" was opened through a classical composition. Senior musician R S Ramakantha presented "Manasu Karagade" - as an opening song in a complete classical style. Nagachandrika Bhat sang "Jeeva Jatreyali" of G S Shivarudrappa in a simple way, while Y K Muddukrishna's choice was "Yanava Maadidi" of R N Jayagopal.
Ratnamala and Malathi chose "Ninnade Nela Ninnade Jala" - a popular lyric of G S Shivarudrappa. Kikkeri Krishnamurthy delighted the audience with another well known song of G S Shivarudrappa "Kaanada Kadalige." Five young girls of Geethalaya Nritya Academy - all below 10 years - pleased the gathering by their Bharatanatya recital.