Online concert by Mysuru-based violinist

Mysuru is often referred to as the ‘Cultural Capital’ of Karnataka and music is an integral part of this culture.

Young violinist Sumanth Manjunath belongs to a reputed family of musicians. He is slated to perform live on Facebook, as part of Sanjeevani-2020, organised by California-based Hamsadhwani Carnatic Music Academy, to mark Tamil New Year, on Wednesday, as the nationwide lockdown is in force due to coronavirus or Covid-19 spread.

Sanjeevani, as described in Ramayana, is a cure-all plant that can reverse even death. The series has been conceived at this time of crisis, to give hope through music.

Legacy

Sumanth is the son of renowned violinist Mysore Manjunath. His grandfather S Mahadevappa was a disciple of T Puttaswamiah, younger brother of legendary T Chowdiah. Mysore Manjunath’s elder brother Mysore Nagaraj is also a renowned violinist.

Sumanth, a final semester BMusic student of University College of Fine Arts, under University of Mysore, said, “I was slated to perform at California, in a concert organised by Hamsadhwani Academy in June. There is uncertainty over the concert, due to the prevailing crisis. Meanwhile, the organisers contacted me and asked, if I can perform on Facebook Live as a Tamil New Year special concert, under the Sanjeevani series. I was glad and accepted.”

Ramanavami live

He said, “I have been performing along with my father and uncle since I was young. My first teacher was my grandfather. I performed online, Facebook live, recently, along with my father Manjunath to keep the tradition of Ramanavami concerts of Chamarajapet-based Sri Rama Seva Mandali Charitable Trust in Bengaluru. We performed from our house and the response was amazing. People watched the concert world-over.”

Under Sanjeevani series, Hamsadhwani has organised nine concerts by young artistes, starting from April 11, by vocalist Gokul Iyer.

Live streaming is on: https://m.facebook.com/HamsadhwaniCarnatic/ Sumanth’s concert is the Tamil New Year special.

Other artistes are: Aparna Thyagarajan and Vignesh Thyagarajan (violin duet, April 18), Ananya Ashok (vocal, April 25), Srinivas Balaji (vocal, May 2), Sruti Sarathy (violin, May 9), Kamalkiran Vinjamuri (violin, May 16), Rakshith Prasad (mandolin, May 23) and Tejas Srinivasan and Yashes Srinivasan (vocal-mridangam, May 30). All concerts are for an hour and will be available in the FB page of Hamsadhwani forever.

Concert on Wednesday

Sumanth’s concert will be at 6 pm on April 14, to mark Tamil New Year as per the Pacific Standard Time (PST).

However, it will be at 6.30 am on April 15 (Wednesday) in Mysuru. Sumanth will be accompanied by A Radesh on mridangam and S Manjunath on ghata.