Music and Dance reviews - Margali Sangeethotsava

Margali Sangeethotsava

Sri Yadugiri Yathiraja Mutt celebrated the Margali Sangeethotsava last week, under the direction of H.H. Sri Yathiraja Jeeyar Swamiji. The festival comprised of vocal, veena and flute concerts and a dance recital too.

The inaugural programme of the Utsava was a musical feature on "Tulasi" by a 7 member musicians group led by Vidushi Lalitha Dwajan. Opening from the "Margali Thingal" from the Andal Thiruppavai, they proceeded with the "Brindavana Devi Namo Namo" of Purandara Dasa followed by "Yenu Dhanyalo Thulasi". While the song of the chaaturmasya "Sasiyali Sakala" was in the ragamalike, the Thulasi Vivaha composition "Angaladolagella" was tuned in Nadanamakriya. There are separate "Aarathi Hadu" on Tulasi and Krishna. "Bhamini Baaro" was in Hindola and the other song was in Neelambari. Raga Shanmukhapriya was their choice for "Ollano Hari Kollano" and concluded with a Tulasi Mangala "Sri Tulasi Sri Hareeye".

Aligning well with Sruthi Lalitha Dwajan, Vasumathi and Supreetha Manu sang in unison, accompanied by Bhargavi Narasimhan on violin, Lakshmi Das on veena, Dathatreya on flute and Kartheek on tabla.

SINCERE VOCALIST

Vocalist N R Prashanth, is not a stranger to connoisseurs of music of Bengaluru. He started his music lessons with R K Padmanabha and continued with Neela Ramgopal and currently learning from Prof R Visweswaran. He has performed in several organisations in UK, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia etc. He worked at the Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society as Principal Tutor and returned to Bengaluru in 2016. In recognition of his talent he has received few prizes from Bangalore Gayana Samaja, Karnataka Sangeetha Nritya Academy and Aryabhata Award. He has collaborated with Dr. Raja Ramanna in publishing few books and projects.

Prashanth opened his concert with a grand composition of Dikshitar "Sri Parthasarathina". The choice of two pieces from Thiruppavai - "Keelvanam" and "Katha Vilakku Eriya" - suited the occasion. Two compositions of Ambuja Krishnamurthy-Om Namo Narayana and Ododi Vande Kanna. Saridano Venkataramana in the raga Vitapi, Sadguru Swamyki in Reetigowla and Amba Rama - were also well received. A lesser known devaranama of Vyasaraya - "Olaga Sulabhavo Rangayyana" - is a good addition to the concert repertoire. "Govardhana Giridhara Govinda" of Narayana Teertha, is always a favourite of music lovers. He concluded with a composition of Sadashiva Brahmendra, a kruthi on Ramanuja and a Mangala.

Though Prashanth added raga alpana, nerval and swara for few compositions, it was too brief to make an impact. It is necessary to elaborate raga-swara, at least for one or two compositions in detail, to make it much more impactful. But listeners appreciated Prashanth's sincere approach, classicism, without over doing anything and simple presentation. Mathur Viswajit accompanied on violin and double mridanga of B.K. Chandramouli and B.S. Prashanth - was another attraction of the programme