<p>Naada gauravam<br /></p>.<p>Under the joint auspices of the Nritya Kala Mandiram and Ragam, rich tributes were paid to Vidushi Rajalakshmi (alias Lakshmi), last week. Lakshmi was a senior vocalist, teacher and composer. <br /><br />Some of her compositions were presented in Bharatanatya by Deepthi Karthik and Shruthi Rajalakshmi, as part of the “Naada Gauravam” function. <br /><br />Senior artistes Vasantha Madhavi and Dr S Bhagyalakshmi were conferred with “Naadayogini” award, in recognition of their services to the field of music.<br /><br />Deepthi Karthik and Shruthi Rajalakshmi, both students of Nritya Kala Mandiram, opened their dance recital with an invocatory piece (Siddi Vinayakam). After the Swarajathi in the raga Revathi, they moved to the main item of the evening. It was a composition of ‘Isaimani’ Lakshmi in the raga Kalyani on Krishna. Krishna’s birth, Poothani Samhara, ‘Brahmanda Darshana’ and other episodes of child Krishna were performed, dramatising the situations. Both the dancers performed with ease and assurance. <br /><br />Compositions in Bhairavi, Purvi Kalyani provided a lot of scope for Abhinaya, which they exhibited with restrained expression. <br /><br />They concluded their recital with a lesser known composition of Prof T K Govinda Rao (Hamsanandi). <br /><br />It was proof of their talent and good training and they have bright future in the years to come. <br /><br />Srivathsa’s vocal and Sheela Chandrashekhar’s Natuvanga were inspiring and Narayanaswamy (mridanga), Srihari (Morching), Shankar Raman (Veena) and Mahesh Swamy (flute) accompanied on their instruments.<br /><br />Gaana varidhi<br />M A Narasimhachar (1924-2004) was a senior vocalist and an able teacher of yester years. He was a recipient of both the ‘Sangeetha Bhushana’ and the ‘Ganakalabhushana’ titles and was awarded Sangeetha Natak Akademi Award also. In his memory, an organization called “M A Narasimhachar Music Foundation” (MANMF) has been established, which conducts a music festival and also felicitates a senior musician, with the title “Gaana Varidhi”, every year. This year, Rudrapattana Brothers (R N Thyagarajan and R N Tharanathan) received the title on Thursday.<br />Dr Sreevalson J Menon, who has a doctorate from the Agriculture University, gave a vocal concert in the MANMF Festival, on Friday. He is a disciple of Neyatikara Vasudevan. He was ably supported by H K Venkatram on violin, H S Sudhindra on mridanga and Srishyla on Ghata.<br /><br />Dr Sreevalson Menon’s swaraprasthara for ‘Meru Samana’ was enlivening and ‘Sri Saraswathi Namosthuthe’ was rendered with brief raga and swara. After a detailed ‘Ennaganu Rama’, another favourite ‘Akhilandeswari’ was sung in a majestic ‘vilamba kaala’. His alap for ‘Muruga Muruga’ was marked for its clarity though it was falling short in its enduring quality. But a tuneful voice enabled him to sing with ease and leave a lingering effect on the audience. To project a better picture of the raga, he must bring more depth to his singing by putting in extra effort. Ending pieces ‘Yathara Cheluva’ and ‘Sagara Shayana’ – were also pleasing.<br /><br />Kala Naadam<br />Nadam dedicated its annual dance festival “Kala Naadam” to Guru Maya Rao, which was held last week. On Saturday, there were three dance recitals – a Kathak and two Bharathanatya recitals.<br /><br />Nandini Mehta and Murali Mohan are senior Kathak dancers who have performed in many parts of the world and are recipients of senior fellowship from the Ministry of Culture. Murali and Nandini opened their recital with a sloka on Krishna, followed by a teen thal, in which they performed uthan that, amad, thukuda, paran, natvari, with precise laya, which was proof of their hard practice. A Dadra and a Bhajan provided them with ample opportunity to prove their talent of Abhinaya. Mischievousness of Krishna, Sudhama’s meeting with Krishna and related stories were performed gracefully.<br /><br />A dancer from USA<br />Dr Janaki Rangarajan from USA, a disciple of Dr Padma Subramanyam, has performed across many international platforms. In the current programme, Dr Janaki had chosen a Hindi lyrics by Jayashankar Prasad. It was based on Manu, Shradda and Ida. Her abhinaya was convincing but the overall impact has to be improved. Music by Sudha Raghuraman fulfilled the needs of the occasion.<br /><br />Good team work<br />The last programme of the evening was presented by Rukmini Vijayakumar of Radha Kalpa Company. A student of Padmini Rao and Narmada, she has served in the Boston Conservatory of the USA and is active in theatre and acting as well. In the programme Kala Nadam, Rukmini performed along with Vanita M D, Sneha Devanandan and Mathangi Prasun. <br /><br />The Gambheera Naata composition gave them a good start, followed by a Devi kruthi, describing Parvathi, Durga and Annpurneshwari. The ‘Vishamakara Kannan’ had good scope to dramatise the story of Krishna and the curtains came down with a thillana. They all performed with confidence and good abhinaya.</p>
<p>Naada gauravam<br /></p>.<p>Under the joint auspices of the Nritya Kala Mandiram and Ragam, rich tributes were paid to Vidushi Rajalakshmi (alias Lakshmi), last week. Lakshmi was a senior vocalist, teacher and composer. <br /><br />Some of her compositions were presented in Bharatanatya by Deepthi Karthik and Shruthi Rajalakshmi, as part of the “Naada Gauravam” function. <br /><br />Senior artistes Vasantha Madhavi and Dr S Bhagyalakshmi were conferred with “Naadayogini” award, in recognition of their services to the field of music.<br /><br />Deepthi Karthik and Shruthi Rajalakshmi, both students of Nritya Kala Mandiram, opened their dance recital with an invocatory piece (Siddi Vinayakam). After the Swarajathi in the raga Revathi, they moved to the main item of the evening. It was a composition of ‘Isaimani’ Lakshmi in the raga Kalyani on Krishna. Krishna’s birth, Poothani Samhara, ‘Brahmanda Darshana’ and other episodes of child Krishna were performed, dramatising the situations. Both the dancers performed with ease and assurance. <br /><br />Compositions in Bhairavi, Purvi Kalyani provided a lot of scope for Abhinaya, which they exhibited with restrained expression. <br /><br />They concluded their recital with a lesser known composition of Prof T K Govinda Rao (Hamsanandi). <br /><br />It was proof of their talent and good training and they have bright future in the years to come. <br /><br />Srivathsa’s vocal and Sheela Chandrashekhar’s Natuvanga were inspiring and Narayanaswamy (mridanga), Srihari (Morching), Shankar Raman (Veena) and Mahesh Swamy (flute) accompanied on their instruments.<br /><br />Gaana varidhi<br />M A Narasimhachar (1924-2004) was a senior vocalist and an able teacher of yester years. He was a recipient of both the ‘Sangeetha Bhushana’ and the ‘Ganakalabhushana’ titles and was awarded Sangeetha Natak Akademi Award also. In his memory, an organization called “M A Narasimhachar Music Foundation” (MANMF) has been established, which conducts a music festival and also felicitates a senior musician, with the title “Gaana Varidhi”, every year. This year, Rudrapattana Brothers (R N Thyagarajan and R N Tharanathan) received the title on Thursday.<br />Dr Sreevalson J Menon, who has a doctorate from the Agriculture University, gave a vocal concert in the MANMF Festival, on Friday. He is a disciple of Neyatikara Vasudevan. He was ably supported by H K Venkatram on violin, H S Sudhindra on mridanga and Srishyla on Ghata.<br /><br />Dr Sreevalson Menon’s swaraprasthara for ‘Meru Samana’ was enlivening and ‘Sri Saraswathi Namosthuthe’ was rendered with brief raga and swara. After a detailed ‘Ennaganu Rama’, another favourite ‘Akhilandeswari’ was sung in a majestic ‘vilamba kaala’. His alap for ‘Muruga Muruga’ was marked for its clarity though it was falling short in its enduring quality. But a tuneful voice enabled him to sing with ease and leave a lingering effect on the audience. To project a better picture of the raga, he must bring more depth to his singing by putting in extra effort. Ending pieces ‘Yathara Cheluva’ and ‘Sagara Shayana’ – were also pleasing.<br /><br />Kala Naadam<br />Nadam dedicated its annual dance festival “Kala Naadam” to Guru Maya Rao, which was held last week. On Saturday, there were three dance recitals – a Kathak and two Bharathanatya recitals.<br /><br />Nandini Mehta and Murali Mohan are senior Kathak dancers who have performed in many parts of the world and are recipients of senior fellowship from the Ministry of Culture. Murali and Nandini opened their recital with a sloka on Krishna, followed by a teen thal, in which they performed uthan that, amad, thukuda, paran, natvari, with precise laya, which was proof of their hard practice. A Dadra and a Bhajan provided them with ample opportunity to prove their talent of Abhinaya. Mischievousness of Krishna, Sudhama’s meeting with Krishna and related stories were performed gracefully.<br /><br />A dancer from USA<br />Dr Janaki Rangarajan from USA, a disciple of Dr Padma Subramanyam, has performed across many international platforms. In the current programme, Dr Janaki had chosen a Hindi lyrics by Jayashankar Prasad. It was based on Manu, Shradda and Ida. Her abhinaya was convincing but the overall impact has to be improved. Music by Sudha Raghuraman fulfilled the needs of the occasion.<br /><br />Good team work<br />The last programme of the evening was presented by Rukmini Vijayakumar of Radha Kalpa Company. A student of Padmini Rao and Narmada, she has served in the Boston Conservatory of the USA and is active in theatre and acting as well. In the programme Kala Nadam, Rukmini performed along with Vanita M D, Sneha Devanandan and Mathangi Prasun. <br /><br />The Gambheera Naata composition gave them a good start, followed by a Devi kruthi, describing Parvathi, Durga and Annpurneshwari. The ‘Vishamakara Kannan’ had good scope to dramatise the story of Krishna and the curtains came down with a thillana. They all performed with confidence and good abhinaya.</p>
