JOIN USCaught in the flowing strains
A flute recital by B Vijayagopal was hosted as part of the ‘Horizon Series’ by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), in collaboration with Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, at the Khincha Auditorium recently. Vijayagopal, who is no stranger to the City, performed this time, in addition to popular Carnatic pieces, a few pieces that were requested by the audience as well.
Among the pieces he played was Gnanamosagaradha in raag Purvi Kalyani. This was followed by another enlightening piece called, Manavyalakin Chara in Raag Nalinakanthi.
He then swiftly moved on to perform Ra Ra Rajeevalochana in raag Mohanam. This piece was composed by Mysore Vasudevachar.
Talking about his choice of music, Vijayagopal said, “I’ve always found the audience in Bangalore very receptive. And when it’s an instrumental music concert, I find it easier to play pieces that people can relate to.”
Vijayagopal made sure that he played popular pieces in Kannada and obliged the requests from the audience as well. He gave the audience choices between Krishna Nee Begane Baro in raag Yaman Kalyani and Jagadho Dhaarana in raag Kaapi.
While the former piece is a call to Krishna, the latter extols the beauty of the lord. “There were a lot of requests. So I gave them two choices and they wanted both to be played. I ended up doing just that. It’s always a pleasure to play for a well-informed audience,” he added. What was impressive though was the style and finesse with which Vijayagopal presented most of the pieces. Through Raag Purvi Kalyani, he managed to capture the mood of the piece well.
The audience loved Vijayagopal’s performance. Most of them attend his concerts regularly and knew what they were going to hear for the evening. They were ready to make their requests as well. Sunitha Krishnamurthy, a music lover, said, “I don’t miss a single concert of Vijayagopal. There’s no strain and his performances are light and soothing.”
Vijayagopal performs at least five to six times a year in Bangalore.