This week connoisseurs will get another opportunity to listen to the music of their favourite musicians — both vocal and instrumental.
The annual music conference of the Karnataka Ganakala Parishat will commence on Wednesday at the Seva Sadana Auditorium, Malleswaram, which will continue till Sunday.
Senior percussionist L Bhimadhar (see pic) who has been elected as the president of the musicians’ 38th conference will receive the prestigious title "Ganagkalabbusbana" in the Vidwath Sadas on Sunday. He is a senior morching player of the State and has accompanied leading performers for more than five decades. In 2006 he was invited to Amsterdam to perform in the "International Jew's Harp festival" and is the director of the "Morching Tarang" a unique ensemble of morchings. Naturally, he has been awarded several title and honours, including the Karnataka Sangeetha Nrithya Academy award.
Simultaneously the 'young musicians' conference will also be held, as before. Young mridangist V Krishna, the president-elect of the young musicians conference hails from a well known musicians family. He is a ME graduate and assistant professor at PESIT, Bangalore. He is also a member of the "Layalahari"—percussion ensemble and has widely toured. The title "Gaanakalashree" will be conferred on Krishna on the final day of the conferene.
Felicitations
The birth centenary of R K Venkatarama Sastry (see pics), veteran violinist of yesteryears, will also be celebrated during the conference. Dr R K Srikantan, R K Sriram Kumar and N S Krishna Murthy will speak on the life and works of RKV Sastry. Six eminent persons, who have served music field in different ways—will also be honoured in the valedictory function on Sunday. They are: Prof Rathna Shiva Shankar (scholar), BS Narayana Iyengar (vocal), KJ Venkatachar (violin), Dwaraki Krishna Swamy (composer - dance), Hosahalli Narayana Rao (Carnatic vocal) and Kannan (organiser).
Vimala Rangachar, chairperson, Crafts Council of Karnataka, will inaugurate the conference on Wednesday (03/10/07) and A T Ramaswamy, MLA, will be the guest of honour. Dr R K Srikantan veteran musician and Rajsekhar Mansur, chairman, Sangeetha Nritya Academy—will be the chief guests at the valedictory function, the coming Sunday.
Concerts galore
After the inaugural concert by Dr Kadri Gopalanath (saxophone) in the subsequent days—RK Sriram Kumar (solo violin), S Soumya, Dr RK Srikantan, Bellary Raghavendra, Amrith Nagasundar (vocal), Revathi Sadasivam (veena), L V Mukund (flute) and Sahana Ramachandra and Smita Bellur (jugalbandhi)—will perform and entertain the connoisseurs. Demonstration and lecture on different aspects of music, will be held in the mornings by eminent scholars. Admission free for all the programmes. For details contact: 94485-74894/ 94480-89890.
