Soul of Carnatic through voices of a hundred

Continuing Legacy

The scene on the sprawling acres of the palace on Wednesday will promise something spectacularly sublime: an ensemble of classical Carnatic music of the Chintallapalli form.

It will, no doubt, be a rare treat for classical music aficionados when the voices of a hundred vocalists reverberate under the open sky. They will together embody a centuries-old music tradition that lives on in a single extended family.

Last-minute rehearsals were underway during the weekend at the premises of the Chintallapalli Parampara Trust, at 4th Cross, Swimming Pool Extension, Malleswaram. The performers, aged between 8 and 80, will leave for Mysore on Wednesday morning on three buses, accompanied by an additional 20 instrumentalists.

Seventy of these vocalists are women: homemakers, professional singers, music teachers or music students. “It is a great honour to be recognised in this manner by the government,” said Chintallapalli Parampara Managing Trustee C R Srinivas.

“We have given three other stage performances as a 100-strong troupe but we are excited as it is the first time we will perform at the world-famous Dasara festival,” he adds. The Chintallapalli form is, in a way, returning to its roots Srinivas’s father and grandfather, Chintalappali Ramachandra Rao and Chintalapalli Venkat Rao were the Asthana vidwans in the courts of Jayachamaraja Wadiyar and Krishnaraja Wadiyar and received widespread recognition for their genius.