Music & dance reviews

Grand music festival

The Academy of Music conducted the annual music festival at its own and prestigious auditorium "Chowdaiah Memorial Hall" last week.

The K K Murthy Memorial Chowdaiah award (Rs 1 Lakh) was conferred on two popular musicians - M Balamurali Krishna and Kadri Gopalanath. Both veteran and young artists performed vocal and instrumental music concerts in the festival and the public response was overwhelming.

Unnikrishnan, who sang on the inaugural day, opened his concert with the "Vadera Daivamu", instead of a varna or a invocatory (on Ganapathi) piece, customarily.

"Nadaloludai" was equally melodious while the Latangi was brief but bright.
His creativity consolidating further, delineated thody with aplomb. With nerval and swaraprasthara it was whole some. "Nee Mayeyo" and "Yake nirdayenade" - Two fine devaranamas - were also rendered neatly.

 H N Bhaskar, Arjun Kumar, Guruprasanna and Pramath Kiran supported on violin, mridanga, khanjari and morching, respectively.

Athaana variety

Popular vocalist R K Padmanabha was accompanied on violin by Mysore Srikanth on mridanga by Srimushnam Raja Rao and on ghata by Ullur Giridhar Udupa. The "Swaminama Paripalaya" - gave him a bright start. Few krities like - "Chalamelara" and "Enthaveduko" were rendered with vintage touch and brought nostalgic memories, in old timers. His own composition "Sri Shyama Sastry Sangeetha Chakravarthi" was chosen as the climax of the concert. It was preceded by a well delineated ragalapana and a spacious thana, unfolding in the "Mandhara Sthayee" also, which was creditably manoeuvred with mridanga strokes. "Hecharikaga Rara" was another fine selection.

Sparkling violin

Violin duet by Ganesh and Kumaresh revealed their hard practice, talent and command over the instrument. Opening krithy "Srihari Vallebhe" was a pleasant one. "Akhilandeswari" was rendered in a majestic "Vilamba Kaala." "Nanena Madideno" was a lovely devaranama. The brothers recital always offers something to cogitate upon! In the current concert the "grahabheda" in Kalyani was mind-boggling and a different experience. Kambodhi bristled with sparkling phrases and the devotionals (Sarvam Brahma Mayam, Bhagyada Lakshmi) were also pleasing. The percussion duo Trivandrum Balaji and Guru Prasanna accompanied on mridanga and khanjari respectively.

Good feeling vocal

The curtains came down on the festival with a gatecrashing concert on last Sunday. Music lovers simply stood, sat, every where and all over to hear their favourite musician Aruna Sairam and even the spacious Chowdaiah Memorial Hall appeared small!

The Gambheeranata Varna (Balamurali Krishna gave her a flying start. After the sloka the "sabhapathiku" was refreshing. "Vasudevayani" which was a familiar composition, especially in old Mysore, was invested with sonorous phrasings. After the "Annapurne" in "Vilamba Kaala" the "Aadaddella Olithe aayithu" was sung briskly. She chose the celebrated "Chakkaniraja" for a detailed airing.  In the post ‘Thani’ session Manimukutadhari, Bhaje Mridanga, madume and so on! All ‘Bhava’ laden compositions sung with good feeling. Audience enjoyed the ‘Lakshmi malike’ immensely. Chanting of ‘Vittala’ led the connoisseurs also into the intended mood. H N Bhaskar on violin, Pathri Satish Kumar on mridanga and Ramani on ghata rose to great heights in their supporting roles. Kudos to Suma Sudhindra and her team, for conducting the "Music festival-2009" successfully.