Navarathri cultural programmes
Bangalore is reverberating with religious and cultural programmes being held in connection with the Navarathri celebrations. Most of the temples—especially Devi temples—are illuminated and decorated with special ‘Alankara’ and religious rituals are held during the day time. In the evenings, cultural programmes were organised in many places of the City. Though dance, drama and Harikatha were also held, music concerts were prominent in most of the organisations.

Avani Sringeri Samsthana
Sri Avani Sringeri Samsthana celebrated Sharannavathri at its Mutt premises (Mahalakshmi Pura) with vocal and instrumental (saxophone, violin solo) music conerts on all the ten days. Rudrapattana Ramakantha, who gave a vocal concert here on Tuesday, is a senior vocalist and a son of Dr R K Srikantan. The varna gave him a bright start and a number of compositions on Devi followed, which suited the occasion very well.

Dr L Muthaiah Bhagavathar’s `Jaya Mahishasura Mardhini’ with raga and swara, was  evocative.

 `Maathe Malayadwaje’ is popular in dance also. He rendered Haridasa’s `Kodubega Divyamathi Saraswathi’ with the prelude of a ugabhoga. `Amba Sourabha’ anchored with a flurry of glowing swara.

His alap for `Dharmasamvardhini’ was noted for its modal fidelity, the dignified krithi enriched with some scintillating nerval (Nirmala Hridaya Nivasini) and swara passages. While `Sarasijanabha Sodari’ brought nostalgic memories, `Annapurne Vishalkashi’ is a popular composition. He also sang `Easwari’ and `Saraswathi Vidhiyuvathe’ neatly.  T S Krishna Murthy on violin, C Cheluvaraj on Mridanga and Vyasa Vittala on Khanjari—gave good support on their respective instruments.

Santhala Arts Academy
The Santhala Arts Academy,  Yeshwanthpur, held a nine-day cultural mela with dance (Bharatanatya), Yakshagana and music (classical, light music, percussion ensemble) recitals.

But the doll exhibition here was the special attraction, which attracted a large gathering every day  of the Navarathri.

 In both music and dance the Academy had chosen young and budding artistes, which was appreciated by one and all.

On the seventh day of the Navarathri, there was a dance recital by a dozen young aspirants, under the banner of the youth wing of the Karnataka Nrithyakala Parishat.

 Four students of Nataraja Nritya Shale—Pallavi, Ashwini, Sushmitha and Anjana—opened the programme with `Pushpanjali’ customarily,  followed by Kautvam.  Hemalatha, Swathi, Divya and Ishwarya—all students of Chitkala School of Dance performed Ananda Narthana and `Jaya Janakee Ramana’ with ease and they are too young to assess critically! Comparatively, the next four dancers were seniors. Ramya Ajay, Radha Jayaram, Srividya Anand and Rashmi—are all diploma holders from the Kalakshetra.

They presented a varna (Saaminee),  a piece from `Kumara Sambhava’ and Tillana (Hindola).

They are adequate in laya based forays but their Abhinaya fell short of meeting the demands  of the weighty varna.

Flowing grace
J Chandraprabha, a talented young dancer from Bangalore, is a graduate in Science and has passed proficiency examination in Bharatanatya. A scholarship recipient, she has performed in many places, both within and outside the State.

In the programme at the Nayana auditorium,  right from the opening piece—Pushpanjali, she proved that her Laya was in place and Angika, testified to a keen understanding of the basic elements. `Nada Tanumani Sham’ is a popular composition in music concerts also.

The varna (Swami  Nanum) revelled with some glowing Theermanas. Sharp Thattu—Mattu and lively stance, spoke for steady practice. But after the varna, another lengthy composition was selected!

Changing the roles in quick succession she presented the well known keethane `bhavayami’ impressively. She performed the legendary Jawadi `Idene Sakhi’ with flowing grace and concluded with a fine Tillane in the raga Hindola. Chandra Prabha’s  career is worth watching.

She was well supported from the wings, by guru Manjula Paramesh (Navatunga), Ramesh Chadaga (Vocal), Janardhan Rao (Mridanga), Hemanth Kumar (violin) and Srihari (Khanjari).