Battle of the strings

Soulful Strains

Exploring the musical talent in the City, a violin contest called ‘Cake, Cheese and Violin’ was recently held at the garage of Sonido Musicals on the occasion of International Violin Day.

The participants of the contest played different genres of music, varying from Western to Carnatic, jazz and even Bollywood numbers. Each participant had a ten-minute slot to showcase his or her best. The evening kick-started with a short performance by violinist Giselle Viogts, a music teacher from Germany.

The 17 participants were from different age groups and from different walks of life. Clara Trupthi Mitra, one of the youngest participants, was just four years old and performed a nursery rhyme. Priscilla Dorcus, a 13-year-old, chose to play Christmas songs. The participants were judged by Mario D’souza, a music consultant at Bangalore School of Music and Arwen Magma, a popular face in the City’s music arena.

Divya Raghuram, a second-year engineering student who has been learning the violin for the last five years, says, “I’ve done many stage performances and I teach as well. It’s nice to organise an event for a reason and remember a day like this later. I played a Carnatic piece here — the amruthavarshini raga, which is a nine-minute, 23-second piece.” 

For Jaziel Peter, a first PUC student, this first-time experience was very exciting. He explains, “I’ve been learning the violin for nine years and have been performing at the school and college levels. It was a very different experience to perform in front of people I hadn’t met before. I performed two Western classical pieces and a Western pop piece.”

Praveen Paila, a software professional, has been playing the violin for four years now. “I have accompanied children in concerts and often performed at office and at parties. This was a new experience. I played a bandish in raga desh here.”

Suzanne, a ninth-grade student in the City who hails from Germany, was announced the winner of the violin contest. The runner up for the evening was Joy Peter. Suzanne says, “I’ve performed in Germany as well as in the City, and this was an interesting experience. I played ‘Habanera’ from ‘Opera Carmen’ today. I also played Mozart’s ‘Violin Concerto No 3’.”

Mario D’souza, one of the judges at the event, says, “It was nice to see such talent from across the City come together. The City has been moving in terms of art and culture, and kids today are more serious about such interests. Parents are also very encouraging.”