Music review

Glory of art group

The Parishat conducts classical – both Carnatic and Hindustani music, sugam sangeeth (light music), dance and drama programmes at the H N Kalakshethra, Jayanagar, on first and third Fridays of every month. It also organises a cultural festival in memory of H Narasimhaiah, sponsored by Rama Sudha Charitable Trust, every year. Now,  A H Rama Rao, senior educationist and philanthropist, heads the Parishat. The Parishat presented the 750th programme on Friday with a special music concert.

R K Padmanabha, who gave a vocal recital, is known not only as a senior musician, but also popular as an able teacher, dramatist, composer and organiser. The high spot of the evening’s concert was raga Kosala. Rendition of this rare and infrequent raga, was a welcome change from the routine.

The 71st mela was known earlier as Kusumavali or Kusumaakaram and Dikshitar and Maha Vaidyanatha Ayyar have also composed compositions in this raga. But still it is not a familiar raga and thus Padmanabha’s selection of the raga is commendable.

Opening from the ‘Mandra Stayee’, his alapana had several aesthetic passages to lend a rich flavour to the rare melody. It was followed by a self composition “Viswave Veene”. It was executed on a large canvas, with a detailed nerval (Veeneya Nudisidare) and swara, which had the necessary tautness.

Earlier the familiar varna ‘Sarasee’ – gave him a bright start and ‘Sri Varalakshmi’ is known as a dignified krithi. After the meaningful devaranama “Rama emba” the “Ma Kelara Vicharamu” made old timers recall its rendering by stalwarts of yesteryears. Two seasoned accompanists R K Shriram Kumar (violin) and K Arun Prakash (mridanga) lent excellent support to add to the musical appeal, while G Guru Prasanna (Khanjari)  rose to the needs of the occasion.

Delightful ragamalika
The Ananya presented a vocal concert on Ragamalika compositions under the series “Geetha Shastra Sinchana” last week. Ragamalikas provide different flavours and always a favourite choice of both performers and connoisseurs. Manasi Prasad, an exceptionally talented musician, gave a colourful picture of the subject and demonstrated a variety of Ragamalika compositions.

The initial Navaraga malika varna was of Dandayudhapani and the known ‘Ranjani mala’ had Ranjani, Sriranjani, Megharanjini and Janaranjani. Dikshitar’s ‘Sri Viswanatham’ is a ‘Chathurdasha’ ragamalika and ‘Salandam’ is a krithi of Swathi Tirunal. She chose a ‘Dwiraga’ Pallavi and handled it intelligently. A Devaranama (Krishna enabaarade), sloka (Sayankaale) and a Thillana – were rendered in the concluding session.

It was proof of Manasi Prasad’s talent, hard practice and repertoire. Nalina Mohan, N Vasudeva and Bharadwaj Sathavalli accompanied on violin, mridanga and morching, respectively.