Versatile dancer

Versatile dancer

Y G Srilatha, who gave a Bharathanatya recital as part of the “Every Friday Cultural Evening Programme” is a versatile artiste.

Though a engineer by profession, is not only a dancer but also a good Veena player and a vocalist. She is a disciple of Revathi Narasimhan of Natya Niketan and has completed the Vidwath examination with distinction and has performed in many parts of the country including The Indian Fine Arts Society (Chennai), Girija Kalyana (Nanjangudu), Nritya Kala Parishat, Khajuraho Dance Festival, Noopura Ninada, Pallavotsava.

She has choreographed few dance dramas and is also teaching at the “Natana Tarangini.” After the customary inaugural piece, Srilatha chose a popular Keerthana: “Mamava Meenakshi” which is mainly a concert stage piece. The real testing piece was the famous Dhanyasi varna “Nee Indu Mayam.”

But Srilatha handled the numerous variations of each passage through the different stages revealing a good grip over the rhythm in the neatly synchronizing footwork. The Abhisarika Nayiyka Bhava was neatly depicted in the Bhegade pada “Yarukagum Bhayam.”

It was more restrained than exuberant. Dramatising the situations, her Abhinaya was pleasing in the devaranama “Hanumantha Deva Namo.” She presented the thillana (Dhanashri) with aplomb. With some more experience she can improve her Abhinaya. In total, Srilatha performed with a liveliness and elan.

In the side wings, Guru Revathi Narasimhan directed wielding the cymbals, while Bharathi Venugopal provided good vocal support. The instrumental support consisted of Gurumurthy on mridanga and Vivek Krishna on flute.

Tuneful flute

Heramba and Hemantha, twin brothers from Coorg, hail from a culturally rich family background.

Their grandfather Ambale Subba Rao, was a senior musician and teacher while their aunt is a senior dance teacher. Their initial training was under A V Prakash and are continuing their practice with Neyveli Santhanagopalan now.

They have already performed in prestigious Sabhas like Music Academy, Bangalore Gayana Samaja, in Delhi, Singapore, Hyderabad, Tirupathi, Trivandrum, Udupi, Gauhati, Mysore, Udaipur, etc. They are recipients of few awards and prizes including Kishore Prathibha (Government of Karnataka), Naadbhed (Spic Macay and DD) and CCRT National scholarship. But this year it is a hat trick for the brothers as they have bagged three national prizes – that is “Best instrumental Award” in the Spirit of Youth Festival, Chennai; M S  Subbulakshmi Fellowship, Mumbai and “A-grade” of Akashavani.

With these background the flute duet of Heramba and Hemanta (Yadugiri Yathiraja Mutt) aroused quiet interest among both connoisseurs and lay listeners. After opening briskly with a familiar varna, they chose “Orajupu” in Kannadagowla. Kannadagowla is a “Shadava raga” and belongs to Kharaharapriya varga.

Compositions of both Tyagaraja and Dikshitar in Kannadagowla, are quiet popular. This composition gave the duo an excellent start.

The evocative raga Purvikalyani was also convincing. In any instrumental concert “Raghu Vamsha” (Kadana Kuthuhala) is a common item! Bhairavi alapana and the kruthi “Upacharamu” revealed a flurry of fine sangathies, evoking nostalgic memories among the discerning.

From the varna to mangala, no moment was dull. The duo performed with good feeling and was melodious through out. All they need now is more experience to reach great heights. The accompaniment of Vittal Rangan (violin), B K Chandramouli (mridanga) and Narayana Murthy (ghata) – was inspiring to young flautists.

Blend of lyrics, melody

The Ranga Samsthana, under the leadership of Bandlahalli Vijay Kumar, is doing yeoman service in the fields of Sugama Sangeetha and folklore.

In the “Kannada Naada Vallari” held on Saturday, a number of youngsters from different schools and colleges of the city sang a number of Bhavageethe and folk songs. Apart from well known poets like K S Narasimhaswamy, Bendre, N S Lakshminarayana Bhatta, Kuvempu lyrics of few lesser known poets were also chosen. Many of them were well tuned by S Somasundaram, veteran director and tunesmith.

Young vocalists reeled off a variety of popular lyrics. They succeeded in projecting not only the intricate texture of poetry as in “Jogada Siri” but rendered their music in such a way that the one supported the other. The tuning of “Vasantha Baro” (Dr N S Lakshminarayana Bhatta) was quiet tuneful, the opening of “Jaya Jaya Kannada Rajeswari” with swara phrases, was quiet attractive.

So also the swara prelude for “Doora Teeradinda” (Ka Vem Srinivasa) was attractive. They also presented Enthachenda (Kuvempu), Mungoli Kugyavo (Dr Chandrashekhara Kambara), Hombannada Madesha (folk), Bringada Benneri (Bendre), etc. They sang neatly with good pronunciation and sruthi and they can improve with some more intensified training. Vasanth Kumble, Anup and Ramesh supported on keyboard, tabala and rhythm pad, respectively.