56th Annual Music Festival of Kalasagaram Opens with Reverence and Tradition
Hyderabad: The 56th annual music festival of Kalasagaram started on a perfect, purist note with a grammar-filled Carnatic music rendition by N. Vijaysiva and his accompanying artists. He started his concert with a small prayer to Lord Ganesha in Hamsadhwani. He then rendered a varnam in Begada.
The varnam of ‘Shamashastri Dayanidhe Mamava’ set the tone for the evening. This was followed by ‘Samaja Varada’ in Shuddha Saveri set to Rupaka talam. Two songs into the concert, Vijaysiva got to a leisurely interpretation of ‘Raag Vachaspati’ after a short ‘alaap’ of the raga.
He presented the kriti of Papanasam Sivan, ‘Paratpara Parameswara.’ The neraval at “Ariyanum kaana” was a neat presentation. Later, ‘Sri Bhargavi’ in Mangala Kaishiki came at the right time. Vijaysiva was accompanied on the violin by Sangeeta Kalasagara Shriram Kumar, N.C. Bharadwaj on the mridangam and Sunil Kumar on the kanjira.
They proceeded to deal at some length with Raga Madhyamavathi. Vijaysiva rendered in a crisp fashion, the soulful kriti of Shyama Shastri — ‘Palinchu Kamakshi’. The tempo that Madhyamavathi received was crisp and a tad different from the usual leisurely presentation. The artist even announced the rendition of ‘Phulasamma’ in Devagandhari before the main item of the evening was presented. The raga for the evening was Saveri. ‘Sri Raja Gopala’ of Muthuswamy Dishithar was chosen and the team gave a well-balanced presentation with ragam, neraval and swara. Bharadwaj and Sunil Kumar showed their prowess in the Thani Avarthanam.
Gauging the audience to be well-versed with the form of music, Vijaysiva proceeded to, albeit very shortly, render a ragam tanam pallavi in Sankara Varanam. The pallavi moved in a Ragamanika including ragas like Karuna Rangani, Mohana Kalyani, and Suruti. After a vrutham of Gopalakrishna Bharathi, he presented Eppovaruvaro in Chenchurutti. The evening was steeped in tradition completely devoid of pretensions and dramatisations. An evening in an old school.
Earlier in the day, Kalasagaram bestowed the title of Sangeeta Kalasagara on mridanga vidwan, Trichur R. Mohan. Speaking on the occasion, Deepika Reddy, chairperson, Telangana Sangeetha Nataka Academy, advised parents to encourage children to develop good hobbies and to take to classical arts like music and dance.
