Music & dance reviews

Veena ensemble

There was a special programme on the concluding day of the Music Festival held under the aegis of the Bharatiya Saamagana Sabha, last Sunday. There was a Veena ensemble under the direction of Vidwan D Balakrishna, senior Veena player of “Mysore Baani”.

Saint Tyagaraja’s “Pancharathna Krithies” are reputed in the field as five gems of Karnatic music. They are evershining compositions and appear always fresh and new to connoisseurs. But we don’t hear them, on instruments – especially in Veena ensemble – frequently. Thus the “Dasha Veena” ensemble attracted a large gathering at the Chowdaiah Memorial Hall.

The lyrics and music is amazingly blended in the ‘Jagadananda Kaaraka’. He pleads “Oh Rama! Who will save me other than you?” in the ‘Dudukugala’ (Gowgala raga).
The ‘Sadhinchane’ – especially the last charana – resembles the well knit Thaana Varna. The saint has praised Lord Rama’s ‘Mangala Swarupa’, in the Varali kruthi ‘Kanakana Ruchira’.

Most popular among all the Pancharathna kruthies is ‘Endaro Mahanubhavalu’ with common ‘Patanthara’ and traditional style.

Veena ensemble was performed in unison, and melodious, which was the result of the good direction of D Balakrishna. H S Sudhindra, Dayananda Mohithe and B Rajasekhar supported on percussion instruments.

Appreciable vocal duet

Deepa Anand and Roopa Kiran, known as Kasaravalli sisters, paid homage to Purandara Dasaru in the “Guru Shishya Parampara Sangeetha Utsava”.
They chose few well known and few infrequent devaranamas to make the concert an interesting one.

“Sharanu Sharanu,’ the invocatory piece, gave the sisters a pleasant start.
They also sang a number of Ugabhogas like – ‘Enna Dhanyana Mado,’ ‘Vande Mukundam,’ ‘Ninnane Paaduve Anavaratha,’etc, which bristled with lyrical charm.
‘Aacharavillada Nalige’ is a well known satire-like pada, while ‘Gaali banda kadeyalli toorikolliro’ is a meaningful devaranama.

‘Ariyaru Manujaru’ also was enjoyed by the audience. With their sweet voice and simple presentation Kasaravalli Sisters’ vocal was appreciated by the assembly.

Captivating moments

The Bangalore Lalithakala Parishat presented a Mohiniattam on Friday by Sangeetha Iyer.

She hails from a family known for Bhagawatha scholarship and has been trained by Kalamandalam Premalatha, Usha and Hymavathy.

In Kathakali, she is the disciple of Kalamandalam Soman and Sangeetha has performed in various cities and festivals including Orissa, Chennai, Soorya Vestival, Mysore Dasara and Hampi Utsava and is the director of ‘Mudra’, where she trains young aspirants of Mohiniattam.

    It was a customary start by Sangeetha Iyer, with obeisance to Ganapathy, the portrayal standing out for in its evocative descriptions of the elephant-faced God. It was followed by a jathiswara in the raga Jinjoti.

Though ‘Shakuntala’ of Kalidasa is chosen by every other artiste from centuries, it is still the choice of many dancers.

Sangeetha also selected the Shakuntala, which had script by Unnikrishna (Mani Pravala) and music by Kotakal Madhu (Ragamalika) and choreographed by herself with slow but some captivating movements.

Her restrained but pleasant Abhinaya came to fore in the Swati Tirunal pada ‘Alar Shapari Thapam’ in the raga Surati. She concluded with the popular lullaby.

    B S Anand (vocal), Rekha Raju (Natuvanga), N Gurumurthy (Mridanga), Purunur Subramanyan (Edakka) and Baiju (Veena) – supported from the wings.