Not resting on their laurels

The music group called Swaraalaya is a part of ‘Kala Bhagirathi’ and is one of the active clubs in the college. It represents the college in various cultural meets and has never failed to bring laurels to the college.

Backed by talented singer Shesha Prasad of ECE Department, who was the runner-up of Ede Tumbi Haduvenu, the Club takes part in classical and light music competitions in inter-collegiate fests and organises the most happening event of the college, BNM Idol, every year.

“BNM Idol is the intra-college music contest inspired by the Indian Idol programme, where amateur singers get a chance to showcase their talents. In the finale, the top four singers perform in front of the students, who through the audience poll, select one lucky singer as BNM Idol,” says Shesha Prasad. Chinmay Athreyas, who won the Zee Kannada-Voice of Karnataka title, is a product of this music club and he had also won the BNM Idol. Ashish Ramakrishnan, the first runner-up of Zee TV’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa and Krishna T V, the first runner-up of Ede Tumbi Haduvenu were also members of the group.

In the previous VTU Fest, Krishna T V, one of the members of the club bagged the first prize in light vocal solo, Anjana Rao took the second place in classical vocal solo and the team won the first prize in group song categories creating a new record in the fest.  “We are fortunate to have a mentor like Prof Shesha Prasad. Because of his dedication, our college managed to emerge as the overall champions of the VTU Fest. His mastery over music is an added advantage for us,” says Prajwal V M, a member.

Apart from the inter-collegiate festivals, the club performs classical music on the day of Vykunta Ekadashi in Devagiri Venkateshwara Swami Temple and in Dharmagiri Manjunath Swami Temple on Rama Navami. “Normally people blame youngsters for not respecting the culture. To remove these myths, we have been offering classical music pooja for years,” says Shesha Prasad.  

At the beginning of the academic year, the college conducts a Pratibha Shodha (talent hunt) for musicians. Students who are selected in the process are trained by Shesha Prasad.  “My aim is not to train them for competitions, but to teach them on how to enjoy music and to extract the happiness from art.”