JOIN USEnd of music season
Bengalureans enjoyed music of both celebrities and young musicians in the Ramotsava music festival during last one month. Though it was quite hot - summer months of April and May - the concerts were a pleasant experience inside the pandals due to melodious music. Curtains came down on this year’s music festival organised by Rama Seva Mandali, with a saxophone recital of Padmashri Dr Kadri Gopalnath, on Friday.
Padmabhushan T V Sankaranarayanan was conferred with the S V Narayanaswamy Rao Memorial National Award. After the award presentation function, he opened his concert with a Ganapathi Stuthi, customarily. “Sogasu Juda Tarama” had the same soul and fervour to leave a lingering impact. Starting the swara slowly, he sang with good feeling. “Sakalagrahabala Neene” is another popular devaranama, followed by the “Abhaya Varade Sharade.” An infrequent composition “Bhuvaneswariya Nene” of Dr L Muthaiah Bhagawathar is also a favourite of connoisseurs. Kharaharapriya was attended to in greater detail.
The familiar krithi “Chakkani Raja Margamu” had its customary brilliance, embellished with ‘nerval’ (Kantiki Sundara Taramagu) and swaraprasthara. While senior Ella Venkateswara Rao on mridanga was the centre of attraction among the accompanists, B Raghuram on violin and Bhargava Halambi on khanjari fulfilled the needs of the occasion. Sankaranarayanan’s son Mahadevan Sankaranarayanan caught the attention of the assembly with his neat presentation.
Mother-daughter duet
The Kalapremi Foundation conducted a workshop under the direction of Dr Sukanya Prabhakar, senior vocalist, teacher and composer. The trainees presented four compositions of Veena Seshanna, in unison. After that, there was a vocal duet by Dr Sukanya Prabhakar and her daughter Sumana Vedanth.
Dropping the oft-repeated varna, the duo opened their concert with a varna in Kadanakuthuhala. The invocatory piece that followed was also not a frequent one - “Sri Mahaganapathe Surapathe” of Mayavaram Viswanatha Sastry, in Naata raga and “Shobillu Saptaswara” in raga Jaganmohini. Their elucidation of Latangi for the “Marivere” (of Pattanam Subramanya Iyer) was colourful and had a melodious aplomb. Both sharing alapana and swara made it wholesome. Two devaranamas in the end - Mareya Beda Manave Neenu and Ramadutha Hanuma - were also pleasing. Viswajith and N Vasudeva accompanied on violin and mridanga, respectively.
Tributes to Ramanujacharya
Saint Ramanujacharya systematised the Vishishtadvaita system, 1,000 years ago. A revolutionary saint, he was a great philosopher, poet and more than all a great social reformer. To commemorate Ramanujacharya's “Sahasramaana” several religious and cultural programmes were held under the direction of Sri Yadugiri Yathiraja Narayana Ramanuja Jeeyar.
The dance ballet “Sri Ramanuja Vaibhavam” was choreographed by Dr Veena Murthy Vijay and presented by Dr P Ramaa. As many as 40 dancers, changing their roles in quick succession, performed different episodes, right from Acharya’s birth. Pavan Kumar as Ramanujacharya performed well and Padmini Jagadish as Bibi Nachiar also caught the attention. It was a big show, which required a lot of rehearsal and huge preparation.
In the Ramanuja Kalakshetra, rich tributes were paid to Saint Ramanujacharya through music. Senior musician M S Sheela, sang along with her few talented disciples accompanied by Geetha Ramanand on veena, Apurva Krishna on violin, Adamya Ramanand on mridanga and Pranav Dutt on rhythm pad. The special attraction of the programme was commentary by Swamiji himself. The commentary was brief but covered all the aspects of Ramanujacharya's life and works.
Sheela opened her vocal by saluting to Ramanujacharya through a sloka “Yo Nitya” followed by “Bhashyakara Neepaada” in Hamsadhwani and “Sri Ramanuja Charanambuja”. For Annamacharya's kruthi, a brief raga prelude of Purvikalyani added pep to the composition. “Bhaja Yathi Rajam” was also a fine composition and “Ramanujare Namo Namo” of Kanakadasa was a welcome addition to the repertoire. It was a different kind of musical experience with educative commentary.