Spring music festival

Music and dance reviews

Spring music festival

Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira conducted the annual Spring Music Festival with 8 music concerts. As part of the festival senior musician Neela Ramgopal was conferred with the “Sangeeta Vedanta Dhureena” award.

Bombay Jayashree Ramnath, who gave the inaugural concert, is one of the most sought-after musicians. Her concert took off on a bright note with “Sri Varalakshmi Namasthubhyam.” The next choice of her was “Makelara Vicharamu” in raga Ravichandrika, which was a popular kruthi, a few decades back.

In this composition Saint Tyagaraja says - “Oh Ramachandra what (why) should we worry about! ........ All the world is a stage wherein you hold the strings with which you control and direct......... We are puppets in your hands.” The nerval (Krishna Krishna Endu) had a lively gait to rise the level of the devaranama “Narayana Ninna Namada.” The Saramathi kruthi “Mokshamugalada” is a very popular composition. “Bhuvaneswariya” with ragalapana was also pleasing.

The pallavi “Bhairavi Tripura Sundari” bristled with impactful “Sangathies” and stood out for its “raga bhava.”

The connoisseurs are familiar with the devaranama “Ondu Baari Saalade” more in Hindustani. But Jayashri’s rendering had its lively gait. In total, Bombay Jayashri’s vocal was an aesthetic treat, rising the concert to a lingering mood. H N Bhaskar’s violin, especially in raga alapana and swara, acquired a special delight. V V Ramana Murthy on mridanga and B S Purushotham on khanjari suited the needs of the occasion.

Talented vocalist
Sampagodu Vighnaraja is a disciple of his father D S Suryanarayana Bhat and is the founder director of Surya Global Music Academy. He is well-versed in both vocal and flute and a promising musician of the state. In his current concert for Sri Raghavendra Seva Samithi, he presented Kannada devaranamas of different Haridasas. Alap for Pantuvarali received a reposeful airing, all the endearing facets of the raga combining to heighten its aura. The pada “Rama Rama Enniro” was evocative with good swara prasthara. Earlier, he also sang familiar devaranamas like Dayamado Ranga and Narayana Ninna Naamada Smaraneya - with good feeling. The Kamalesha Vittala’s comp­osition - “Udupi Krishnana Sa­d­agara Noduva Nadiye” - is a welcome addition to the conce­rt repertoire. Even the sw­ar­a, for it was not only brisk, but also attractive. Blending his voice with shruti and rendition, Vighnaraja concluded his concert with two well-known compositions - Tunga Teera Vihara and Jagadoddarana. Young Vaibhav Ramani and seasoned percussionist A S N Swamy accompanied on violin and mridanga.

Vocal with good feeling
The 892nd programme of the Bangalore Lalitakala Pari­sh­a­th was a vocal concert by Gayatri Venkataraghavan. She has carved a niche for herself as one of the leading vocalists of Carnatic music. She was well supported by H M Smitha, H S Sudheendra and S Srishyla on violin, mridanga and ghata, respectively. Her “Shankari” of Shyama Sastri, stood out for the aesth­etic charm, subtle nuances, effectively infused into musical precision. “Bhajare Re Manasa” came alive with lovely phrases and feeling. Another well-known composition of Purandara Dasa “Kallu Sakk­a­re Kolliro” was equally haunting for its lyrical appeal and there was a touch of class, thro­ughout.  Her voice is deeply communicative as evidenced in the popular “Nan­e­ke Badavanu.”  The ugabhoga as prelude for it was also complementary to the devaranama and concluded with another devaranama Jgadoddarana.”

It was another concert to justify her reputation.