Music and dance review

Musicians’ conference

The 42nd Musicians’ Conference-cum-Young Musicians’ Festival was held mainly in two parts: concerts and academic Session.

Apart from the seasoned artistes, a number of young musicians were also invited to perform by the Karnataka Ganakala Parishat. Karthik Hebbar, who gave the inaugural concert on Wednesday, is a disciple of R K Padmanabha and a talented artiste. The selection of ‘Budhamashrayam’ suited the occasion, as it was a Wednesday. The short alaap of Kalyani covering its contours prefaced ‘Vasudevayani’ of Saint Tyagaraja. But one felt that a slightly slower tempo would have invested it with greater grandeur.

‘Paradevatha’ was also pleasing in which the violinist H N Smitha proved a measure of her artistic insight of a seasoned accompanist. Surati is considered as an auspicious and ‘rakti’ raga which was chosen for the Pallavi. Karthik’s talent and musical accomplishment were vindicated in the delightful alap, thana and pallavi. The percussion duo – A Radhesh (mridanga) and Bhargava Halambi (Khanjari) gave good support on their instruments. He concluded the concert with a Kannada composition “Vadiraja Kripalu” of R K Padmanabha. Karthik Hebbar’s career is worth watching.

Well woven pallavi

The cerebral appeal of carnatic music gained prominence in the vocal recital of R A Ramamani at the Musicians Conference. The crowning glory of the concert was a ‘Panchanade’ pallavi ‘Ma Madhure Meenakshi. The pallavi in Natakuranji raga set to Tishra Roopaka was intelligently woven, wit commendable grip on laya and fidelity to convention that commanded respect. She saluted to trinities through their compositions – ‘Swaminatha Paripalaya’ of Dikshithar, ‘Nanubrova’ of Shyama Sastry and ‘Gathineevani’ of Tyagaraja. Also the classic raga Thodi took on a majestic gait and grandeur.

Earlier, she opened the concert with the familiar Natakuranji Varna, followed by a composition of Mysore Sadashiva Rao. ‘Makelara’ had a vintage flavour and concluded with a deveranama ‘Raghavendra daye thoro’. B Raghuram on violin responded to all the moves of the vocalist with alacrity, while Arjun and Sukanya Ramgopal proved a good foil on the percussion instruments maintaining the tempo with certitude.

Educative session

The academic session of the 42nd Musicians Conference opened with an invocation by the students of Guruguha Sangeetha Mahavidyalaya, Shimoga.

C A Sridhar of Fine Arts College, Mysore, read a paper on Pattanam Subramanya Iyer.

Though he gave a detailed version of his life, few illustrations of his (Pattanam) compositions could have elevated the stature of the programme. Young vocalist N Ranjani presented a variety of Thillanas of different composers, neatly. She also sang Durbari Kaanada, Charukeshi, Mohana Kalyani, Basanth Bahar Thillanas – melodiously.

Senior scholar K Varadarangan sang a number of compositions of Tyagaraja, Swathi Tirunal, Dikshithar, Balamurali Krishna and others to demonstrate the ‘Mela System’ of carnatic music.

Earlier Tumkur University Vice-Chancellor S C Sharma launched the website of the Karnataka Ganakala Parisat and also inaugurated the Academic Session of the Conference.

Devotional Songs

The Garden Youth Friends’ Association of Malleswaram, had arranged cultural programmes and competitions in connection with its 6th Anniversary, on Sunday.

Snehalatha, who sang in front of the beautifully decorated Ganapathi, is not a stranger to music lovers of Bangalore. She presented lyrics of well known Kannada poets, Devaranamas of Purandaradasa, Surdas and others. Well-known composition ‘Nammamma Sharade’ gave her a bright start followed by ‘Sriman Narayana’. The ‘Ranga Bande Manege’ and ‘Govinda Ninnaya Namave Chanda’ – both are familiar devotionals. ‘Hey Govinda’, ‘Govardhana Giridhari’, ‘Brindavanake Haalanu Maaralu’ – were also pleasing.

She can reach great heights with some more higher training and stage experience. T K Dwarakanath, Srinivas and Ganesh accompanied her on violin, key board and mridanga respectively.