Young musicians displayed their creativity at the Mangaluru Sangeethothsavam

Shankari Moorthy Balila performing at the mangaluru Sangeethotsavam, 2022.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Sangeetha Parishath, Mangaluru, had organised a four-day ‘Mangaluru Sangeethotsava 2022’ at Swami Vivekananda Auditorium. The fest was held in association with the local centres of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Ramakrishna Math, and under the patronage of the State Government’s Department of Kannada and Culture. After the inaugural function, the event began with the auspicious Nagaswaram recital by Sunnambukulam G. Padmanabhan, Sholavaram N. Venkatesan and Shoolagiri S. Nandeesh.

On the second day, Shankari Moorthy Balila presented a vocal concert with a bouquet of kritis in pleasing ragas. She began with the varnam ‘Dayalaedha swami’ by Mysore Vasudevachar in Behag. For people used to varnams in Saveri, Sahana, Bhairavi and Kamboji, the Behag varnam was refreshingly different. After ‘Gajarajena rakshithoham’ by Muthuswami Dikshitar in Arabhi, Shankari rendered ‘Nannu brova neekintha thamasama’ by Tyagaraja. ‘Sri Satyanarayanam’ by Dikshitar was preceded by a bhava-laden delineation of Subhapantuvarali. ‘Parvathi nayaka’ in Bowli and ‘Madhura madhura meenakshi’ in Bageshri added to the mood of devotion. Achyutha Rao on the violin, Sunil Subramanya on the mridangam and S. Manjunath on the ghatam gave excellent support.

Sriranjani Santhanagopalan at the four-day Mangaluru Sangeethotsavam 2022.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

At her forenoon concert, on the final day, Sriranjani Santhanagopalan built an immediate rapport with the audience with her lively and cheerful demeanour. She began with a pleasing varnam in Behag, ‘Vanajaksha ninne nammithi’ by T.R. Subramanyam.

‘Telisi rama chinthanatho’ in Poornachandrika was brisk while ‘Parvathi ninnu ne Neranammithi’ (Syama Sastri) in Kalkada was meditative. She brought out the raga swaroopa of Kalyani with all its grandeur before ‘Anjikeyathakaya sajjanarige’ by Purandaradasa. The niraval for ‘Purandaravittalana poojey’ and the sprightly swaraprastaras were enjoyable. She explored the magnificence of Thodi before presenting Dikshitar’s ‘Sri krishnam bhaja manasa’ . With her melodious voice, Sriranjani effortlessly translated her rich imagination into engaging swara sessions. She glided into the lighter session with a shlokam from ‘Shyamala Dandakam’, ‘Matha maragatha shyama’ followed by ‘Paalisamma mudhu sharadhe’. Sriranjani was ably supported by Vaibhav Ramani (violin), Vijay Natesan (mridangam) and Sharath Kaushik (ghatam).

Vishnudev Namboodiri performed on the last day of the four-day Mangaluru Sangeethotsavam, 2022.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

The final concert by Vishnudev Namboodiri was high on energy. The audience that almost filled the large auditorium lapped up the music that had the traits of a good concert. The first kriti ‘Dinamani vamsha’ in Harikamboji lent a vivacious start.

Following it was Swati Tirunal’s ‘Paripalayamam’ in Ritigowla. Vasantha (’Harihara putram’ – Dikshitar) and Varali (’Kamakshi amba bangaru’ – Syama Sastri) were given special treatments with elaborate alapanas, niravals and swaraprastaras. The alapanas were soaked in the raga bhava and during the swara sessions, the swaras effortlessly poured forth in quick succession.

Rarely does one get to hear an RTP in Bahudari and Vishnudev presented just that. The long pallavi ‘Suguna sheela sakaetha pura vaasa, dasaratha Putra’ was sumptuous with niravals and swaras in various ragas. ‘Kande naa govindana’, ‘Jagadhodharana’ and ‘Saramaina’ were some of the tail-enders.

Trivandrum R. Sampath’s violin was firm, and swift, yet smooth and mellifluous. Balakrishna Kamath’s nimble fingers played on the mridangam with lightning speed, but retained the sowkhya bhava. Vellattanjoor Srijith joined spontaneously in the creation of enchanting music with his sprightly performance on the ghatam.

Saketharaman presented an impressive vocal concert on the third day. Up-and-coming artistes Akash Krishna, Shobhitha Bhat, Yoga Kirtana and Shraddha Kote sang during the earlier slots on the four days respectively.