JOIN USEka Raga Taala Vaibhava
The Karnataka College of Percussion conducts music programmes round the year to celebrate its Golden Jubilee. As part of the celebrations, a four-day Eka Raga Taala Vaibhava festival was organised. The festival witnessed vocal, flute and percussion ensembles.
Varijashree, who gave a vocal recital, hails from a musicians family. After initial lessons from her parents (H S Venugopal and Rama Venugopal), she underwent training under H Geetha and Vasantha Srinivasan and has been guided by Salem Sundareshan and D S Srivathsa. She is equally good in Sugam Sangeeth and a popular playbacksinger and has been awarded for her song in the film Rose.
Varijashree had chosen the pleasing rag Behag for her current concert. Influenced deeply by Hindustani music, Behag was very popular in Mysore Samsthana both in classical and theatre music, during the beginning of the 20th century. Right from the beginning, she chose compositions of different composers in Behag but crowned her concert with a pallavi, which suited a “Sabha Kacheri”. Her detailed alapana gave a good picture of the raga and a brisk thana further enhanced the impact. The pallavi (Neela Megha Shyama Krishnam Bhaje) testified to her talent. Earlier, she also sang a varna of Prof T R Subramanyam, a keerthana and a composition of Swati Tirunal in Behag. R Achutha Rao and Jagathi Priya gave good support on violin, mridanga respectively.
Shantala Nritya Utsav
The Shantala Arts Academy, Yeshwantpur, is a reputed dance school that has been training young aspirants in dance for the last 30 years. The academy also conducts the “Shanthala Nritya Vaibhava” festival every month and presents awards for senior artistes. To commemorate the 30th anniversary, the Trust conducted a three-day dance festival with artistes from far and wide.
There were three dance programmes on Saturday at the Trimshat Mahotsava. Neeraja Setlur is a young dance student from USA, who is being trained by Indrani Parthasarathy of Abhinaya Nritya Shale. She opened her recital with a composition on Ganapathi (Gambheera Ganna Nayakam). Krishna’s story as narrated by Krishna himself was the theme of the devaranama of Purandara Dasa. Tyagaraja’s “Sogasuga Mridanga Thaalamu”, a popular keerthane, was performed by Neeraja with ease and confidence. But with some more training and experience she will be able to perform the Navarasa with great promise.
Nayaka Bhava
A N Sudhir Kumar, a postgraduate and PhD holder from Bangalore University, presented different Nayaka Bhavas through various compositions – from stage music, Kannada lyrics and even from films in his special programme called “Purushabhivyakthi”. The opening song “Yethakenna” was from a drama portraying Virahoth Khanditha Nayaka. When the beautiful Parvathi appeared like Kaali, Ravana was astonished, which was well performed by Sudhir Kumar. Lyrics from M N Vyasa Rao, B R Lakshman Rao and “Vaidehi Yenadalu” from a film, was also demonstrated by him evocatively. Another surprise was vocal music by Maheshswamy, who is known as a flautist, all these years.
Yuva Sangeetotsava
As many as 15 young musicians took part in this year’s Yuva Sangeetotsava held under the aegis of the Bangalore Gayana Samaja. J K Yoga Kirtana (in pic), who gave a vocal recital, took her initial training from P Rama and is receiving advanced training from veteran musician Neela Ramgopal. An MBA graduate, Kirtana has won several prizes from prestigious sabhas including AIR, Music Academy and Gayana Samaja.In her concert for the Gayana Samaja, Kirtana presented a few good compositions such as Sreepathe (Nagaswaravali) and Karunajudavamma, which stood out for its graceful sangathies. “Bhogindra Shayinam” is liked by both performers and connoisseurs. She chose “Mari Mari Vachuva”, a dignified composition, for a detailed airing. It was pleasant and she showed great promise. She was well supported by Apurva Krishna on violin and Avinash Krishna on mridanga.