Voices of perfection

It was a day of splendid musical performances.  The ‘Vishesha Utsava 2017’,  organised by Vishesha Fine Arts at MLR Convention Centre, JP Nagar, recently, had people from all age groups enjoying it.

The event which started off at 8 am entertained music lovers in the city till late in the evening. Some of the events included the compositions of Muthuswami Dikshitar
presented by students of Vani Sateesh, a ‘nagaswara concert’ by Prabhavati Palanivel, SP Palanivel and S Karunakar (on thavil), and a vocal concert by Vani Sateesh.

The show then progressed to a Hindustani vocal concert by Omkarnath Havaldar, who was accompanied by Kedarnath Havaldar (tabla) and Sameer Havaldar (harmonium).

The evening’s performance included a mesmerising rendition by Abhishek Raghuram, who was accompanied by Mysore V Srikanth (violin), Anantha R Krishna (mridanga) and Giridhar Udupa (ghatam). While Abhishek’s voice moved many a heart in the crowd, the concert saw interactions between the instrumentalists.

The audience listened to Abhishek’s performance with keen interest. While his confident voice emitted a sense of comfort across the venue, the solo instrumental pieces  added to the experience.

This was followed by a performance called ‘United Strings’ which was a brilliant display of musical prowess. The segment saw instrumentalists Mysore Manjunath (violin), Jayanthi Kumaresh (veena), Anil Srinivasan (piano), K U Jayachandra Rao (mridanga) and Pramath Kiran (creative percussion) at their best.

It started off with the rendition of ‘sahana varnam’. Manjunath also spoke to the audience about “attempting something new”. He added, “Music is abstract. It is only in the world of instrumental music that such attempts can be done”.

The other artistes also interacted with the audience and also transported them to a different world with their ‘jugalbandi’.  The notes of the piano and that of the veena created magic, while ragas like ‘raga malika’ were performed. With the accompaniment of the violin, the concert took a new turn.  At each pause, one could see the audience breaking into applause or discussing the ‘ragas’ and ‘talas’ with great interest.

“It was a rare sight to hear different voices and musical instruments coming together. The finale was grand and brought together all the different musical styles,” said Karthik Subramaniam, a music connoisseur.

He said that it takes a lot for passionate musicians to break their usual style and try new collaborations.

“Music is a passion and is inbuilt just like one’s spirituality. To break barriers, accept new things and work on those lines is a unique experience,” he said.

Proper timing is an important feature for a great performance, said Samantha A, an IT professional who was part of the audience.

“The enthusiasm that the artistes maintained on stage was refreshing and palpable,” she said.