Gayana Samaja concert

The Bangalore Gayana Samaja opened after renovation, last Sunday. Century-old (rather 111 years) Gayana Samaja is well furnished with several amenities, now. Pattabhirama Pandit, who gave the inaugural concert, is a well-established musician of Karnataka. He opened his concert with a beautiful composition “Paramathmudu” in Vagadheeswari. He added brief swara for the Tyagaraja’s kruthi “Nanu Brova” (Abhogi) and moved to “Ksheera Sagara” rendered in a majestic ‘vilamba kaala.’

Pattabhi then plunged into the climax of the evening’s programme in “Sarasaksha Paripalaya.” The curvaceous texture of Shubhapanthuvarali was brought out in its alap, his voice lending it weight and good ‘Bhava.’ The impact was further enhanced in the nerval (Bhamini Samudayasaya) and swaraprasthara. He was admirably supported by violinist V V S Murari with his tuneful play and Patri Sateesh Kumar enhanced the effort by his lively mridanga playing.

Haridasa compositions
Sri Raghavendra Seva Samiti, Sudhindranagar, is celebrating Purandara Dasa festival with Harikatha, bhajan, discourse and music concerts, which will be held till Friday (Jan. 27).

Connoisseurs of music are familiar with Dr Hamsini Nagendra, not only as a senior vocalist, but also as an able teacher and demonstrator. She vindicated her reputation through the choice and presentation of Devaranamas of different Haridasas.

Opening with a crisp invocatory pada (Gajamukhane Siddidayaka) of Vyasaraya in Naata, she prefaced the “Sakala Grahabala Neene” with a short and evocative alap of Athana. “Bega Baro Bega Baro” of Vadiraja and “Neene Doddavanu” of Purandara Dasa - also pleased the gathering. Ugabhogas like - “Daanake Kruthayugadi, Daasanaguvadake” - were good prelude for devaranamas. However, in the choice of Kalyani for delineation, she came out with flying colours, highlighting the ‘ragabhava’. The graceful mood continued in all-time favourite “Nambi Kettavarillavo.” “Karedare Barabarade”, and “Bandevaiah Govinda Setty” - were also tuneful. She was ably supported by Mattur Srinidhi, C Cheluvaraj and Gurumurthy on violin, mridanga and ghata, respectively.

Aradhana programmes
Many Sabha and organisations conduct Aradhana celebrations in the ‘Pushya maasa’ to pay tributes to great composers of Karnatic music, every year. BTM Cultural Academy, one of the well-known Sangeetha Sabhas of Bengaluru, conducted the ‘Aradhana Saptaha’ by presenting compositions of a composer a day, for seven days. Compositions of Purandara Dasa, Tyagaraja, Pattnam Subramanya Iyer, Papanasham Shivan, Muttuswamy Dikshitar and Shyama Sastry - were presented by musicians of not only Karnataka but also of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Vijayalakshmi and Chitra (Mambalam sisters) had chosen keertanas of Tyagaraja accompanied by a band of experienced instrumentalists - Dr Hemalatha on violin, B C Manjunath on mridanga, Gurumurthy on ghata and Bhagyalakshmi on morching.

“Jnanamosagarada” is a well-known composition of Saint Tyagaraja and ‘Samukananilva’ is the only composition available in the raga Kokila Varali. “Darini Telusakenti” is a meaningful composition full of devotion. Kharaharapriya, the time-honoured raga, was embellished with several evocative phrases. They concluded with a ‘Utsava Sampradaya Kruthi’ and “Kamalaktha Kula” in Brindavana Saranga and Mangala in Kedaragowla.