JOIN USA 'flight' full of life
The fifteenth edition of one of the most popular annual music events of the City began with a violin duet by renowned artistes Mysore Nagaraj and Dr Manjunath on the first day. The impressive and innovative performance of the siblings left an indelible impression on music-lovers.
The duo showed no hesitation in innovating and exploring the ragas while sticking to the traditional style at the same time. “In Bangalore, we have always got an amazing response. Today, we have come with a wonderful team. Veteran artiste Thiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam is accompanying us on mridangam. Bangalore’s very own Giridhar Udupa will be supporting us on ghatam. It will be yet another memorable concert for us,” said Dr Manjunath, before starting the performance.
They began with Kalyani raag. A perfect raga to start with, Kalyani was a slightly difficult raga to elaborate on. They played Birana Brova, one of the popular compositions in Kalyani and Tani Avartnam. Their performance of Ragmala was also impressive. Thiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam also got thunderous applause from the crowd for his expertise and innovations in ‘mridangam’.
The next piece was Janani Ninnuvina, a famous keerthane in Reethigowla raga composed by Subbaraya Shastri. The duo also played many bhajans like Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma. “It is always a pleasure to watch Nagaraj and Manjunath performing together. They always play in sync without compromising on their individuality.
Despite being one of the top ranking artistes in the country, they are so humble. For people like me who don’t have much knowledge of classical music, the first few minutes of a concert, especially the alaap, always seem boring. But today, the duo was able to get my attention right from the beginning,” said Prabhanjan Kallur, a member of the audience. The festival also featured Carnatic vocalists Sikkil Sri Gurucharan and
Abhishek Raghuram on the second and third day respectively.