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Mandali decorates TVG with national award

April 4, 2015, 10:40 am
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Space scientist Dr. Kasturi Rangan is the chief guest at the Saturday evening award function.
Dr Sarvamangala Shankar, music teacher and academic, Vice-chancellor, Gangubhai Music University is the co-guest and she talks about TVG's achievements.

At the start of this evening's meet, the host recalls S N Chandrasekar, a senior music critic who passed away.

Mani Narayanaswamy, mandali president and colleague Dr A Ravindra share the dais with the two guests and the awardee.

TVG goes into rewind mode, talks about his early association with the late Rao, the many concerts he performed for the Sree Rama Seva Mandali and how he has recommended dozens of artistes to this fest.

" I only wish that you pray that I continue to perform as long as I live,"he says. TVG is in nhis 80s and is still active.

In a warm gesture, the hosts invite his wife Radha to share the spotlight with him, as the heavy images of lord Rama and Sita are handed over to him.

The audience is thin today - maybe 200 people. Smaller for the concert. TVG has with him ace artistes, Patri Satish Kumar on mirdangam, S Varadharajan on violin and Girish Uduppa on ghatam.
He sings a song of Thyagaraja that his guru Chembai Vaidhyanatha Bhagavathar used to sing, but rarely. And another which his sishya, at his die says was sung some 20 plus years ago.
"Due to time constraints I will present a short concert." says TVG.

Then we realize that the lunar eclipse has kept many rasikas away from events this evening.
Word comes in that the concert at Seshadripuram was wound up early.

Today was TVG's evening. He loves to tell stories, anecdotal. He did it. "When I am with the right artistes in a concert I feel as if I am in a space ship," he says.


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Lunar eclipse and Trichur Brothers sunrise

April 5, 2015, 11:09 am
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We had not looked up at the skies last night, the Saturday. Till Varadarajan of Sree Rama Seva Mandali told us that the small audience for TVG's concert was due to the lunar eclipse.

Even that explanation did not stop us from heading to Seshadripuram where the Trichur Brothers were in concert. Negotiating BVK Iyengar Road tests your patience and when we got to the college campus where the fest is on, the gates were being locked.

The concert had closed at 8.30-ish, we were told.

But the Trichur Brothers, called in to start singing from 5 pm seem to have wowed the audience. Rasikas said so this morning.  They have got the thumbs up here.
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Sunday concerts/ photos

April 5, 2015, 11:13 am
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Sisters Ranjani and Gayatri warm up for their concert at Sree Rama Seva Mandali, Chamarajpet on Sunday ( photo on top) and Pantulu Rama in concert at Seshadripuram on Sunday evening ( photo below).
Both concerts had a large audience.
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Recognition for artistes, supporters on Founder's Day at Sree Ramaseva Mandali

April 6, 2015, 6:11 am
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It was Founders Day last Sunday at Sree Ramaseva Mandali in Chamarajpet.
As people double din to get a good seat for Ranjani-Gayathri's concert later that evening they may have not noticed the invite - for a buffet dinner.

Dinner is always served to rasikas and guests on Founders Day.

Chief guest V S Arunachalam felicitated one mridanga and three tambura artistes - Ullur Nagendra Udupa ( his son Giridhar represented him), Hulikal Prasad, V Jagannatha Rao and G A Sripada Rao.

Five others were also decorated on this occasion - all of them are lead supporters of the fest. They were B R Shivramiah, a former AIR artiste, P. Balasubramaniam, a funder, senior chartered accountant  N C S Raghavan, banker A Venkitaraman and furniture supply manager S A Franklin.
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Thumbs up for Trichur Brothers, Ramakrishnanmurthy

April 6, 2015, 6:17 am
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Seshadripuram rasikas are showing the thumbs up sign for two young artistes. This from the lot who have performed at the college campus this Sri Ramanavami,

One is for the Trichur Brothers who started early on a lunar eclipse evening and swung the rasikas with their music.

The other is for Chennai-based Ramakrishnamurthy. A committee member says that it rained music on the evening the young artiste performed. "It just flowed on and on," is how he put it.

Such was the impact that the Mandali host went on stage and 'booked' Ramakrishnanmurthy for 2016's season.
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Revathy Sadasivam's veena concert; Seshadripuram

April 8, 2015, 4:58 am
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Revathy Sadasivam presented a veena concert on April 6 at the Seshadripuram Sree Ramaseva Mandali on April 6.

Photo by M P Guruprasad
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When an artiste wants a formal presentation . . .

April 8, 2015, 5:09 am
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When a senior artiste is not treated too well formally on stage he boils no end.

Three tambura artistes and one mridangist were honored at the Founders Day event of Sree Ramaseva Mandali in Chamarajpet on Sunday, April 5 evening.

These are the kind of artistes you may have seen often on stage but remain in the shadows.

Off stage I chatted with Hulikal Prasad, a veteran tambura player who has accompanied some greats and the rest in south India.

Prasad was boiling inside because the emcee had not presented his name the way it has to be, prefixing his name with that of the town he hails from.

"It is important. . .just the way you call Madurai T N Seshagopalan and Madurai Mani Iyer…names must be called out the way we use them," he fumed gently. "What use is it when I gave them all in writing?"

Prasad says that despite the use of electronic tambura ( and he gives full credit to Radel's Raj Narayan for making it) nothing can really replace the original. "But then few people ask for tambura artistes….who wants to now learn playing the tambura…it also needs learning but few are learning it," he said.

Prasad had a point about the manner in which a senior artiste must be presented. But he could not make it known to the hosts nor did he think it fit to do so. "Now its done and over", he said, still smarting at what he thought must have been a slight.
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On funds for music fests - a rasika comments

April 8, 2015, 5:13 am
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Rasika R. Ranganathan has responded to a KutcheriBuzz report on the funds crunch that mandalis face in Bangalore.

This is what he wrote -

I read your news item "Bangalore music season opens, seeks funds for concerts".
 
Yes, it is indeed difficult to organise music festivals- be it the December season in Chennai or the Ramanavami festival in  Bangalore. Without financial help from corporates, banks, philanthropists etc. 

Of late. their help is also dwindling. During the recent December season in Chennai, I read a news item that sponsors were not forthcoming. Chennai sabhas face this problem in spite of their charging  for all concerts. The same is true of Sri Ramaseva Mandali in Bangalore. 

They have been conducting Ramanavami festival  every year  for a month or even more. Their programmes are ticketed.Surprisingly, they do not have their own hall after so many years (like Sri Parthasarathi Swamy Sabha in Chennai).
 
In such situations, organisations in and around same areas  can pool their resources and conduct the festivals (This is only my wishful thinking).
Or there is no need to conduct such month long festivals. Many sabhas in Bangalore face financial crunch to organise monthly programmes.
 
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K J Yesudoss is in town

April 10, 2015, 4:52 am
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K J Yesudoss will be in town on Saturday and he has two big events on his check list. And his fans are looking forward to him.

He is to be decorated with the Dr B Saroja Devi National Award instituted by this famed actress. The event is at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bangalore. The event is at 11 am. Open to all.

He will later that evening perform at the Big Tent in Chamarajpet. - at 6.30 pm. The host expects over 5000 people to attend. He is still a big draw. 
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Big concerts this weekend

April 10, 2015, 9:03 pm
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There are big artistes on stage this weekend.

On Saturday, K J Yesudoss is at Chamarajpet, T. N. Seshagopalan in Jayarama Mandali, Jayanagar and Saketaraman at Seshadripuram.

On Sunday, Vijay Siva is at Chamarajpet, Pravin Gokindhi and U P Raju jam on a Hindustani - Carnatic concert at Vani Kala Kendra, Basaweshwaranagar and  a all-women artistes team performs a venu-veena-violin concert is at Seshadripiuram, featuring - Shuba Santosh, Vani Manjunath and Prema Vivekj. 
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Young talent in Basaweshwaranagar

April 10, 2015, 9:18 pm
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The season of music in Bangalore provides space for young artistes. Many make the best of it.

Vani Kala Kendra has slots - 30mins to 45mins - for young artistes. Since it runs an active arts program in its schools in Bangalore pocking out the bright talents and scheduling them at Sri Ramanavami time is easy for curator Keshav.

But we also invite other artistes, says Keshav.

On Friday evening as the sun went down, two brothers -  Dattareya, a student of flutist Pravin Gokhindi and Nandakishore on the harmonium, with two tabla  accompanists gave a crisp concert. ( Photo on top)

The audience was small - people were streaming in for the big devotional concert of Vishwanath Nakod and Samamithra Sharma. ( second photo)

- Photos by Vino John
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Yesudoss tells his stories . . .

April 11, 2015, 5:02 am
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The man commands a big fan following even in this age. K J Yesudoss does.
And as one rasika in his 70s told me, 'The voice is coarse now but still rooted in the classical."

Yesudoss was at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Bangalore ( Race Course Road), here to receive a national award instituted by the film star of yesteryears, Saroja Devi who resides in this city, where the daytime temperature is climbing past 33 degrees but the nights are cool at 22 degrees.

We got here a tad late and the auditorium was packed and Yesudoss was speaking. Today, he dwelt on religion and the Ultimate, music and lessons learnt from his dad ("When I was stepping into the film field people suggested to me that I should change my name to get opportunities and when I told my Dad he said if that had to be done I should come back").

Yesudoss shares a lot of anecdotes nowadays when he is at the podium. He is at that stage in his life. He tells them even between songs at a concert.

This morning he was here with his wife.

Just as the event closed, came in actor-politicain Ambarish and his wife, Sumalatha and all the media folks clicked furiously and the hosts also got excitedly around them. The hero of the day was left to be on the side.

Fickle people.

Yesudoss is to perform this evening ( Saturday) at Chamarajpet.

Photo; Vino John
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Easy in kurtas and with backpacks . .

April 12, 2015, 11:37 pm
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The backpack artistes must be a familiar sight to many. The sort who troop into a concert venue in kurtas and loose trousers/veshtis, have a backpack slung over their shoulders and if they are instrumentalist, the violin packed in a  smart case.
They are at ease on all platforms.

We bumped into a young man who has been seen quite often now in Bangalore's kutcheri circuit - Ramana Balachandhran.
He can sing and play the veena and the mirdangam. So his multi-talents gets him to the centre or on the side depending on what the call is for!

Ramana had just finished a concert at the Seshadripuram College venue for the local mandali. He played the mirdangam.
He is not so sure he will go on to choose playing the veena in the late future, the tells us even though it will give him centre stage.

We wonder if it is because the veena still gets less space on stage.

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Rains. 5000 rasikas. Yesudoss.

April 12, 2015, 11:39 pm
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We raced through the old market area of Chamarajpet where they can tear a lorry apart in hours and weld on both sides of the pavements. The dark clouds had taken over Bangalore's blue tarpaulin and our auto-driver assured us of good rains.

Outside the wall of Old Fort School, the queue of rasikas snaked to the ticket counter. There were over a hundred, some pulling out tne umbrellas as the drops fell.

Inside the Big Tent, there must have been some 5000 people. or more. At least 300 of them were standing, and a few began to inch closer to the stage and private guards sternly discouraged them.
Yesudoss had started on time - how can he not keep to his dad's dictums even in this day?
The music was rolling as lightning faintly lit up the skies outside the tent. Those who had grabbed tickets outside, came running in, grabbing chairs left at the canteen while Mandali head, Varadaraj and his team scurried for more chairs on this Big Evening.

In this day and age, Yesudoss is still a big draw.
What makes his so attractive?
A music that is frilled by his playback singing experience? Or the wide reach of his cassettes and CDs? Or the sheer depth in the voice?
Yesudoss must have bathed his rasikas with three hours of music on that rainy night.

We had to leave - there were a few dozen rasikas still looking for tickets.
The hosts could have invited them in - the rain was steady.

We headed to Ravindra Kalakshetra off J C Road; streams of rainwater rushed down the incline ( was bangalore rain-water harvesting?). We were in for the final play of a drama fest which honored a great theatreperson, CGK.

Old friend and playwright Pralayan was here, presenting his play which takes off on the Silapaddhikaran epic. 26 artistes, mostly from Pondicherry.
The rain had washed out the open air play plan. The play was held in the lobby. And 200 people, wet and cold sat down to watch it.

Bangalore's dedication.
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More rain. A venu-veena-violin concert to remember

April 12, 2015, 11:40 pm
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Saturday's downpour made Sunday a pleasant day - these are mornings when Bangaloreans either have breakfast at their local darshinis ( we checked out the hugely popular one off Ulsoor Lake) or take their cycles out to join a Cycle Sunday event.
By early evening though the grey clouds gathered and we knew showers were in store. For the three mandalis that continue with the music season, a weekend of high-end concerts and unexpected heavy rain strikes the rough note.

When we arrived at Seshadripuram College, the open air ground was in darkness, the pandal set up for the morning Sri Rama Pattabhishekam rituals was soaking heavy and only two dozen senior rasikas were around.

But Tharakaram and his team were not discouraged. The generator got up and going, rasikas were asked to sit in the driveway and the artistes smiled at the drizzle and the music set all afloat.

This was an evening of music by five women -   leader Vani Manjunath on the flute, Prema Vivek on the violin, Shuba Santosh on the veena, Rajini Venkatesh on the mirdangam and Bhagyalakshmi Krishna on the morsing.

The five presented a pleasant evening of music - they had to glance over their shoulder to seek the nods of rasikas - for in front of their eyes were raindrops dripping from the pandal in a dark space.

The five will not forget this concert. As prasadam was distributed to mandali members who could not attend the morning puja, the rain stopped but it was time for the music to end too.
Seetharama was happy. "I have been here for over 40 years…I donate one hundred rupees," he said.

In ten minutes, the concert space was deserted and in darkness. 
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Tap Non Resident Bangaloreans for funding?

April 17, 2015, 3:47 am
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Tapping NRIs to fund the Sri Ramanavmi festivals may be a good idea.

That is a suggestion that a guest speaker at the Founders Day event of Sree Ramaseva Mandali made at the Chamarajpet. Arunachalam said that with many non resident Bangaloreans who are also rasikas of music having links with the rasikas who attend the shows under the Big Tent, it would be nice to tap small donations from each rasika.

Many people in the audience nodded their heads - but Varadaraj and his team will have to make a concerted attempt to tap the NRIs. And also give them something in return.

Clearly, some mandalis are struggling to get funding.
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Change in concert artistes this evening at Chamarajpet

April 17, 2015, 3:50 am
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A media release from Sree Ramaseva Mandali concerning this evening's concert -

Shri Praveen Godkindhi will not be able to perform in this year's Ramanavami National Music Festival due to the death of his father, hence a Karnatic-Hindustani Jugalbandhi concert by Anil Srinivasan (Piano) and Pandit Prakash Sontakki (Guitar) has been organised...
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A stage for Bangalore's young talent

April 13, 2016, 2:13 am
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N S Abhishek is singing on stage. Alongside him are musicians of his age - Anirudh Bharadwaj on violin, Nagendraprasad on mridangam and Ganesh Murthy on ghatam. (photo below)

We are at Vani Kala Kendra's festival venue, a school campus in Basaweshwaranagar.
Here, every evening the curator of this fest, Keshav allots 45minutes to a snappy concert by youngsters.

The recitals are attended by a handful of people, mostly family and friends of the artistes on stage. But for the artistes performing at the Vani stage, the recital adds weight to their biodata. It can make an impression on other festival hosts. And it can encourage the talents.

Keshav says he draws up his list for the Sri Ramanavami season over the year; most artistes are alumni of the Vani group of schools where the arts is given much space and time.


Others too apply and get a nod. 

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Ramana on the veena . . .

April 13, 2016, 10:30 am
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At Sri Rama Seva Samithi, Sriramapuram, Bangalore on April 10 evening -Ramana Balachandhran on the veena, on the mridangam is B.S. Prashanth
and on the ghatam Phanindra Bhaskar.
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Music in Mysore . . .

April 15, 2016, 3:43 am
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A bunch of artistes were to perform in Mysore. For Sri Ramanavami. And they invited us to join them one recent evening.

So we made the drive, a not-so-smooth one - it takes ages to get outside Bangalore, ages to bypass the new neighborhoods and then, a highway that runs through small towns that are growing - like Ramnagaram and Mandya - is not the best road for people who want to a quick and smooth ride.

Mysore is chaotic today. And is still expanding. In the old part of town, the Sri Ramaseva Mandali Charitable Trust of Mysore North has been hosting the seasonal music fest for 21 years. At a wedding hall next to a temple in V V Mohalla.

The fest opened with M S Sheela's concert on April 8. We were here when Papanasam Ashok Ramani was to sing. With him were Anoor Ananthakrishna Sarma ( mridangam), N N Ganesh Kumar on the violin and Bhargava Halambi on ghatam - the last three from Bangalore.

People stroll in and out, from the temple while some 80 to 100 people sit through concerts here - the venue may not offer a great ambience but provides rasikas some good music.

The fest ends on April 17 with the honoring of veteran artiste Neela Ramgopal and her concert.

The team led by president Sudha Ramprasad manages this fest and artistes from Chennai a regulars here.

Contact - 2510974.

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