Music and dance reviews

Purandara Dasa Aradhana

Purandara Dasa Punya Dina [Aradhana] is being celebrated by different institutions with great devotion and fervour, in many parts of the city. One such organisation Sri Raghavendra Seva Samithi, Sudhindranagara, held the festival at its own Temple premises, with music (both Karnatic and Hindustani) concerts, discourse and bhajan apart from religious functions.

Varijashree Venugopal is a multifarious talented artiste - a singer (also with cross-cultural musical collaborations with artistes and bands), flautist, composer, actress - so on. She is also a recipient of few awards including Kempegowda Award, 'Gaana Vinodini' (Colombo), Ugadi Puraskar (Chennai), Ananya Prathibhe, Best vocalist (Television music by Kima), best female vocalist (Suvarna and Mirchi music).

In her concert in the Samithi, Varijashri presented devaranamas of different Haridasas in attractive ragas. Hamsanandi was briefly elaborated with alapana and swara for "Ea Pariya Sobagu". While "Venkatachala Nilayam" was suffixed with ragalapana, the "Sada Enna Hrudayadalli" was a favourite devaranama of yesteryears. With her sweet voice and impactful presentation Varijashree also sang 3 popular padas - 'Bandaddella Barali' in the raga Kaapi, 'Krishna Nee Begane Baro' and 'Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma'. She was well supported by J.K. Sridhar on violin and B.S. Prashant on mridanga.

Pleasing vocal

Senior vocalist Vani Sateesh chose devaranamas of Purandara Dasa, Kanakadasaru, Vyasa Rayaru, Jagannatha Dasaru and few others. Ugabhogas are specialities of Haridasas, with its good meaning and narration in an interesting manner. Vani chose several ugabhogas like - Ajaga Dwaja, Deena Nanu etc. The 'Antarangadali Hariya Kaanadava' in Mohana was followed by 'Aava Rogavo' and 'Bhajisi Badukelo Maanava'. Though the nerval (Garuda Seshadrigallu) and swara were brief, was pleasing throughout. Purvi Kalyani was the main raga of the evening for the "Kelano Hari Thaalano", which was rendered with sparkling 'sangathies'. 'Naneke Badavanu' brought nostalgic memories and Vani concluded with a mangalam. Three young instrumentalists - Adithi Prakash, Aravind and Raghunandan accompanied on violin, mridanga and ghata, respectively.

Meaningful presentation

Ashok and Hariharan are among the very few male duets of the state and have earned a respectable place, in the Carnatic music field. They opened their concert with the 'Sharanu' customarily, followed by 'Gurukarya'. Apart from veteran Haridasas, they also presented padas of lesser-known composers like B.K. Padmanabha Rao - 'Gurugala Darushana' in Athana and 'Guru Rayara Dhyana' in Dhanyasi - are a good addition to the concert repertoire. They crowned their concert with a pleasant Kalyani for "Dayamado Ranga". Their choice of ragas like Vasantha (Baro Namma Manege), Varali (Idu Bhagya), Natakaranji (Sri Rama Ninna), Neelambari (Marulu Madikonda) - was appreciated by the connoisseurs wholeheartedly. Their good voice, selection and presentation, were appropriate to both music and lyrics. Venkatesh Joiser, B.R. Srinivas and Phanindra Bhaskar were in charge of violin, mridanga and ghata respectively.

Drishti dance festival

A Tribute to three veteran dancers was paid in this year's Dristi Dance Festival, last week. Few disciples of each Guru presented items learnt from their Gurus, during their training.

Keertana Ravi, Mithun Shyam, Priyanka Raghavan, Sneha Devnandan and Sruthi Parshwanath - paid tributes to their Guru Padmini Ramachandran through Pushpanjali and Ganesha Vandana. In the "Paal Kadal" Dashavathara was beautifully projected.

Bharathanatya

Four students of Narmada chose a fine varna to pay tributes to their Guru through a Bharathanatya recital. Sathyanarayana Raju, Praveen Kumar, Anuradha Vikranth and Soundharya Srivathsa - performed the varna evocatively.

Kathak Recital

Three students paid tributes to their Guru Dr Maya Rao, through Kathak recitals. Rajendra and Nirupama's selection was a piece from Kalidasa - return journey of Sita and Rama from Lanka to Ayodhya. With their sparkling abhinaya and expression, they stole the show. Madhu Nataraj with few co-dancers presented a Thumri (More Chede) and a Tharana in jinjoti, which were proof of their good training and talent.

An overflowing crowd witnessed the Drishti dance festival, well organised by Anuradha Vikrant and T.M. Vikrant.

-Mysore V Subramanya