Season of music
Once again Ramothsava, the music season has arrived. Though most of the Rama Mandalies conduct Ramotsava celebrations on the Rama Navami Day, a few organisations start the programmes from Ugadi itself, known as "Garbha Navami."
One such organisation is Sri Vani Kala Kendra. It conducts Rama Navami Music Festival on its premises in Basaveshwaranagara. The spacious open air theatre with a beautifully decorated stage, has a natural musical ambience.
Padmashree Dr Kadri Gopalnath, internationally acclaimed artiste, presented the inaugural concert of the Ramotsava on the auspicious Ugady day. A large gathering heard the saxophone of Dr Kadri Gopalnath with great joy.
Padmashri Kadri Gopalnath sprung a surprise in the beginning itself! He opened the concert with raga Tilang. The lilting melody of the raga at once attracted the audience and the composition of Papanasham Shivan was evocative. Another melodious raga Kalyana Vasantha was briefly rendered for 'Naadalolludai.' This 'Audava Sampurana' raga is an appealing Rakti raga. At that stage Kadri surprised the audience by choosing a lesser known raga. It was Manoranjani, which is again a 'Audava Sampurna' raga.
This raga is known through Tyagaraja's Keertana 'Atukaradani'. Dr Gopalanath presented this composition with swara and charana was played in 'drutha kaala.'
He capped his efforts with a sparkling exposition of Kharaharapriya. With brisk swaras in different speeds, it glowed with resplendent glory. C N Chandrasekhar accompanied on the violin, V Praveen on the mridanga, Rajendra Nakod on the tabala and B Rajasekhar on morching, impressed the audience by their artistry.
Tributes to MPL Sastry
The MES Kalavedi conducted the annual "Prof M P L Sastry Memorial Dance Festival" last week.
Subhashini Vasanth who gave a Bharathanatya recital in the festival, is a student of Smt Narmada and has also received guidance from Dr Maya Rao, Chitra Venugopal and Kalanidhi Narayan.
Subhashini opened her Bharathanatya recital with Pushpanjali, customarily. "Moha Maya" the majestic varna in the raga Bhairavi, revealed her good training and hard practice.
The episodes on Prahlada, Narasimha and Draupadi were well portrayed in the Meera Bhajan and the Mohana Kalyani thillana was also lively. Subhashini's performance with good abhinaya was reassuring.
Sreevathsa (vocal), Soundarya Sreevathsa (natuvanga), Gurumurthy (mridanga) and Narasimha Murthy (flute) - gave spirited support from the wings.
Programme on vachanas
The Akhila Bharatha Sharana Sahitya Parishat held a "Vachana Sangeethotsava," on Saturday and Sunday. Musicians and musicologists from different parts of the State took part in both - the symposium and performances.
The inaugural concert was a Shehnai, which suited the occasion, as it is a mangala vadya. The performer Pandith S Balesh, who hails from Belgaum, is now a resident of Chennai.
He chose raga Nat Bhairav and gave a spacious exposition on a solid ground. He lent a well-reasoned imagery to the raga. It was melodious and impressive too. Sri Krishna Balesh (co-player), Suresh Atre (tabala), Prakash Balesh (dukkad) and R K Ravi (swara mandal) - accompanied the shehnai.
It was followed by a vocal recital by Dr Ashok Hugganavar from Honnavar, who has earned a doctorate. He presented a number of Vachanas - both known and less-known, including Ullavaru Shivalayava, Swamy Neene, Chakorange Chandramana, etc. His voice range is limited but he sang simplistically. M Nagesh and Sudamshu Kulkarni supported on the tabala and the harmonium, respectively.
Shivakumar Hiremath chose - Kanda Bhaktarige, Nadechenna and the meaningful "Pranathi ide Bhakthi ide", etc. Though he has a rich voice, lack of good feeling reduced the impact. Guru Sangappa Hugar and Sateesh Kolli - were incharge of tabala and harmonium, respectively.
Once again Ramothsava, the music season has arrived. Though most of the Rama Mandalies conduct Ramotsava celebrations on the Rama Navami Day, a few organisations start the programmes from Ugadi itself, known as "Garbha Navami."
One such organisation is Sri Vani Kala Kendra. It conducts Rama Navami Music Festival on its premises in Basaveshwaranagara. The spacious open air theatre with a beautifully decorated stage, has a natural musical ambience.
Padmashree Dr Kadri Gopalnath, internationally acclaimed artiste, presented the inaugural concert of the Ramotsava on the auspicious Ugady day. A large gathering heard the saxophone of Dr Kadri Gopalnath with great joy.
Padmashri Kadri Gopalnath sprung a surprise in the beginning itself! He opened the concert with raga Tilang. The lilting melody of the raga at once attracted the audience and the composition of Papanasham Shivan was evocative. Another melodious raga Kalyana Vasantha was briefly rendered for 'Naadalolludai.' This 'Audava Sampurana' raga is an appealing Rakti raga. At that stage Kadri surprised the audience by choosing a lesser known raga. It was Manoranjani, which is again a 'Audava Sampurna' raga.
This raga is known through Tyagaraja's Keertana 'Atukaradani'. Dr Gopalanath presented this composition with swara and charana was played in 'drutha kaala.'
He capped his efforts with a sparkling exposition of Kharaharapriya. With brisk swaras in different speeds, it glowed with resplendent glory. C N Chandrasekhar accompanied on the violin, V Praveen on the mridanga, Rajendra Nakod on the tabala and B Rajasekhar on morching, impressed the audience by their artistry.
Tributes to MPL Sastry
The MES Kalavedi conducted the annual "Prof M P L Sastry Memorial Dance Festival" last week.
Subhashini Vasanth who gave a Bharathanatya recital in the festival, is a student of Smt Narmada and has also received guidance from Dr Maya Rao, Chitra Venugopal and Kalanidhi Narayan.
Subhashini opened her Bharathanatya recital with Pushpanjali, customarily. "Moha Maya" the majestic varna in the raga Bhairavi, revealed her good training and hard practice.
The episodes on Prahlada, Narasimha and Draupadi were well portrayed in the Meera Bhajan and the Mohana Kalyani thillana was also lively. Subhashini's performance with good abhinaya was reassuring.
Sreevathsa (vocal), Soundarya Sreevathsa (natuvanga), Gurumurthy (mridanga) and Narasimha Murthy (flute) - gave spirited support from the wings.
Programme on vachanas
The Akhila Bharatha Sharana Sahitya Parishat held a "Vachana Sangeethotsava," on Saturday and Sunday. Musicians and musicologists from different parts of the State took part in both - the symposium and performances.
The inaugural concert was a Shehnai, which suited the occasion, as it is a mangala vadya. The performer Pandith S Balesh, who hails from Belgaum, is now a resident of Chennai.
He chose raga Nat Bhairav and gave a spacious exposition on a solid ground. He lent a well-reasoned imagery to the raga. It was melodious and impressive too. Sri Krishna Balesh (co-player), Suresh Atre (tabala), Prakash Balesh (dukkad) and R K Ravi (swara mandal) - accompanied the shehnai.
It was followed by a vocal recital by Dr Ashok Hugganavar from Honnavar, who has earned a doctorate. He presented a number of Vachanas - both known and less-known, including Ullavaru Shivalayava, Swamy Neene, Chakorange Chandramana, etc. His voice range is limited but he sang simplistically. M Nagesh and Sudamshu Kulkarni supported on the tabala and the harmonium, respectively.
Shivakumar Hiremath chose - Kanda Bhaktarige, Nadechenna and the meaningful "Pranathi ide Bhakthi ide", etc. Though he has a rich voice, lack of good feeling reduced the impact. Guru Sangappa Hugar and Sateesh Kolli - were incharge of tabala and harmonium, respectively.