His music pulls crowd unfailingly

The moonlight music is a regular attraction on every full moon day. The speciality of this is the freedom of expression given to artistes.

There is no restriction of any sort to them to sing or play. They are free to sing either devotional or classical . They can sing devaranama, vachana or a bhajan. The receptive listeners are ready to absorb with intense eagerness. A vachana is equally enjoyed as that of a devaranama. It is but broad mindedness.

Vidyabhushana, popularly known as ‘cassette swami’ who has hundreds of cassettes to his credit, is a crowd puller. The husky voice gives a personal touch to his singing that builds a rapport between him and the rasikas.

This was evident in his concert at the JSS Math on June 4. The pond and the surrounding area was flooded with listeners proving his popularity. He did not disappoint his fans and sang a number of Devaranamas and vachanas.

Probably his experience in singing devaranamas has helped him in bringing bhava in every note he sings. This moonlight programme was a hit with his emotionally charged compositions.

The ragas he selected were attractive and suited the lyrics.

The classical keerthana of Tyagaraja “Shiva Shiva enarada” (Panthuvarali-Adi) had a very good alapana and attractive kalpana swaras . Apart from this, many heard and unheard devaranamas and vachanas followed. ‘Harahara Shambho’ (Brindavanasaranga), ‘Madhukaravruthi nannadu’(Hindola), ‘Kaada beladingalu’ , ‘Chandrodayake’ (Bheempalas), ‘Bettada melondu’(Mohana)’Bevu belladadoldalenu phala’(Behag), ‘Bhaktharembuva kadala’(Yaman kalyani) and many more followed accompanied by ugabhoga .

The singing conveyed clearly the meaning of the compositions . Some of the vachanas were sung like ugabhogas too. The accompanists H K Narasimhamurthy(violin), H L Shivashankaraswamy (mridanga) and M R Manjunath(ghata) were very co-operative and added for the success of the concert.

Dynamic young singer

Young and erudite Manasanayana sang under the aegis of Ganabharathi at the Veene Seshanna Bhavana on June 6. He was ably accompanied by Adithi Krishnaprakash (violin), A U Jayachandra Rao (mridanga) and V S Ramesh (ghata).

The hallmark of this concert was the commitment and sincerity of this young and dynamic singer.

Right from the very beginning to Raga thana pallavi, his planning clearly indicated his eagerness to be different. Indeed he is. He is  seriously in to music which shows itself in every presentation. Rudrapatnam Venkataramayya’s varna in Kedaragowla was a rare piece. Tyagaraja’s ‘Kalalanerchina’ in the raga Deepaka was also a welcome.

The main raga Saveri was the highlight of the day. The elaborate alapana of this raga brought out the creative genius of the artiste.

Adithi reciprocated in the same manner bringing the inner beauty of the raga.
Muthuswami Dixitar’s ‘Karikalabhamukham’ was a musical treat. The neraval at “Kaveri thatasthitham Saveri raganutham” improvised the ragabhava in every phrase.

The profound kalpana swaras added to it. The tani avartana of Jayachandra Rao and Ramesh was clear with many a rhythmic patterns.

Another interesting piece was a pallavi (Keeravani), taken from the famous Kannada song of B M Srinkatiah “Karunalu ba belake”. Manasa deserves an applaud for this attempt of binding kannda poetry with classical music.  

His experimental mind has many such credits. He paid utmost care to every kruthi instead of filling the concert with umpteen compositions.