raga that is not commonly chosen began to sound better than before good control over the bow and over for this mode of improvisation. The providing a lot of saukhyam when laya. While these are assets for an niraval embellishment showcased he sang Inta saukhyamanine accompanying violinist, there did his vidwat and the trademark of his (Kapi, Tyagaraja). A quick appear a difference in the styles and guru T.M. Krishna’s earlier genre Bhogeendrasayinam (Kuntalavarali, in the approaches to elaboration of of concert-music. Aligning with the Swati Tirunal) preceded the Ragam, ragas between the vocalist and the “pace and spin” formula of concert Tanam and Pallavi in Poorvikalyani. violinist. music, he sang Mariveredikku The professionally competent To the credit of the artists, it must (Shanmukhapriya, Patnam execution of this centrepiece with the be said that none of them showed Subramania Iyer) at a brisk pace repetition of the pallavi in various any sign of fatigue, nor did they and embellished it with swaras. speeds and gaits and some pleasing let the audience feel so. It was an He went on to sing an alapana of ragamalika swaras could simply not enjoyable experience, a luxury that Yadukulakambhoji which appears capture the magic created by the may not be possible during the to be a favourite raga of his and evocative music in the first half of mad rush of the season or on a rendered Syama Sastry’s swarajati the concert. working day. (Kamakshi), emulating his guru and The last phase had a portion of doing him proud, too. The baton Considering that Carnatic music the dhyanasloka that precedes the passed on to the percussion wing for is largely an entertainment for a Vishnu Sahasranamam. Rithvik’s the tani avartanam, which continued geriatric population to go by the aesthetic sense was evident in the in the same sombre mood, yet general audience in concerts, will it ragas he chose for the viruttam. He managing to tie down most of the be a good idea to have a break after concluded with a song in Jaunpuri break-seekers to their seats! two hours or is such an interval still (Sapasyat Kausalya) and a less-heard taboo for our rasikas and musicians? When Rithvik resumed after the mangalam. Nagai Sriram provided session for percussion, his voice good support on the violin. He has T.T. NARENDRAN Raga Dhana of Udupi turns 25 he number of Carnatic music coast of Karnataka was a veritable stage, with or without a mike. It performers on AIR Mangalore ‘wasteland’ for classical music. started to rear such talents by giving in 1988-89 was barely a them opportunities and having their T Raga Dhana identified this ‘genetic dozen. Udupi perhaps boasted only performances reviewed by local syndrome’ and started working on a couple of Carnatic musicians, newspapers like Udayavani. it with genuine effort in 1989. It while of Hindustani musicians, there started with a pigmy scheme called were none. We had to import artists A. Ishwarayya, then editor-in-chief Griha Sangeetha. It invited those from across the Western Ghats. The of the magazine section of the who aspired to render music on the remuneration and the travelling paper, came forward to do this. The expenses would swell to a grand executive committee members of sum and few organisers could invite Ranjani Hebbar Raga Dhana toiled to promote art and look after such artists. The in the right direction. The Griha people here had no folk art except Sangeetha stage spread confidence Yakshagana. They were busy in among our local artists. They banking or agriculture or fetching started listening to the concerts of good marks in examinations so that other artists, with the objective of they could earn a fortune. Classical improving. But the improvement artists learnt and without competing was not easy. There was no shortcut, with anybody found solace for no substitute for hard work. Music their souls and comfort elsewhere. training camps, lecdems, and They did not dare to settle in their workshops that Raga Dhana and hometown, as it never catered to other organisations arranged in their interests. Hundreds of years different parts of the districts of passed by in this manner. The west our west coast, by renowned senior 55 l SRUTI April 2014 R.K. Srikantan (vocal), Ramakanth (vocal support), H.K. Venkatram (violin) and Anoor Ananthakrishna Sarma (mridangam) vidwans, from beyond the Ghats of music lovers, by music lovers, and Manoj Siva added lustre to enabled them to learn our music, for music lovers. This has induced the concert. Pattabhiram Pandit through intense ‘sadhaka’. A few intimacy, total involvement and and Raghunandan Panshikar gave opted to go to Bangalore, or Chennai supreme love to listen or practice a jugalbandi with Mattur Srinidhi or Trivandrum in search of gurus pure music. Only genuine rasikas are (violin) and H.S. Sudhindra who would impart genuine training. invited or counselled to sponsor such (mridangam) and Sriram Hasabnis Electronic gadgets and equipment programmes. (harmonium) and Gurumurti Vaidya accelerated the growth in our music. (tabla). The Carnatic side suffered The Silver Jubilee festival of Raga Most of the artists came home from an overload of kanakku and Dhana held during 1-9 February and started training their younger Pantuvarali being rendered just 2014 was a testimony of the good cousins. like Pooria Dhanashri. Panshikarji work done all these years. The sang a good Bhoopali, however. After 25 years of Raga Dhana, late nonagenarian R.K. Srikantan Shashank Subramanyam was at we witness talented musicians who inaugurated the festival home with soulful presentations from the two districts of Mangalore rendered a brilliant Kambhoji to the of Latangi and ragam-tanam- and Udupi showing promise in a accompaniment of H.K. Venkatram pallavi in Vagadeeswari with competitive milieu. Raga Dhana (violin) and Anoor Ananthakrishna brilliant accompaniment by B.U. will fight hard to sustain this newly Sarma (mridangam). Prarthana Sai Ganeshprasad (violin) and Parupalli achieved enterprise in this district, Narasimhan with Poorna (violin) Phalguna (mridangam). The Malladi with the continuous cooperation of and J. Vaidhyanathan (mridangam) Brothers with Akkarai Subhalakshmi music lovers and ardent listeners. was as confident in Nayaki as in Mohanam. Srivalsan Menon, with (violin) and Laxminarayanraju Raga Dhana has conducted more his mellifluous voice, rendered an (mridangam) and Udupi Sridhar than 2000 concerts over the years. expansive Sankarabharanam with (ghatam) were at their best. Their It has arranged a number of Griha Mysore V Srikanth (violin) and scintillating Muripume (Mukhari) Sangeethas, workshops, lecdems, Tumkur Ravishankar (mridangam). and Venkatasaila (Hameer Kalyani) and Trinity festivals. It has been Jayanti Kumaresh’s was a serene were dipped in bhakti and their bringing out Ragadhanashree, a rendition of a Dharmavati ragam- scholarly treatment of ragas monthly journal in Kannada since tanam-pallavi. She was accompanied reverberated. Maharajapuram 2008, and conducting Kathana by Arjun Kumar (mridangam) and Ramachandran reminded the Kutoohala a programme of Trichy Krishna (ghatam). Vijay listeners of his father as he chose storytelling by musicians about their Siva’s Balagopala and Nannu to sing the same menu — including life in music. It has not approached brovu Lalita bore the stamp of the Natai, Kalyani, Vanaspati, Arabhi, a non-music loving member of traditional DKP-DKJ bani which and the ragamalika Sarangan the corporate world for funding its etched the clear rendering of every Marugane. He rendered the kritis programmes. It is an organisation raga he chose. R.K. Shriramkumar hurriedly in the AIR format. The 56 l SRUTI April 2014 Ranjani-Gayatri (vocal), Vittal Rangan (violin) and Arunprakash (mridangam) Ranjani-Gayatri duo gave a spotless Sreekrishna (Kurinji). Equally and Dr. Gowri Ramnarayan, veteran rendering of every kriti they handled. competent was Gargi of Udupi journalist and playwright. They Their scholarly Ranjani ragam- (B.Sc. student) who with her paid tributes to the evocative tanam-pallavi was satisfying in mellifluous voice sang a memorable music of Ranjani Hebbar and its fullness. Young Vittal Rangan Sankarabharanam. An hour and half commented on the current state of on the violin was very adept in video show – Maardani – marked Carnatic music. Captain Dr. Ganesh every bit he played. Arunprakash a heart-warming tribute to Ranjani Karnik, an MLC with a difference, was composed as ever lending a Hebbar. An ensemble choir on raga has a tender heart for pure transporting felicity to everything Marva directed by Ustad Rafiq Khan, classical music, which was rendered by the duo. was a result of rigorous training evident in his speech. A. Ishwarayya, imparted to a set of school children, the president of Raga Dhana, The festival featured a Hindustani was worth watching. A dance recital V. Aravinda Hebbar, Secretary, recital too on 2nd February directed by Nandini Eshwar of and K Sadashiva Rao, Treasurer, by Ustad Faiz Khan, Bharath Mysore featured at the end of the were on the stage painting a Hegade, Gurumurty Vaidya. The festival demanded more attention for lucid picture of the rugged path ragas Multani and Gavati in his making it successful. Raga Dhana has traversed through reverberating voice were very these 25 years. absorbing. His rendering of The guests of honour in the Dasa Keertanas was very valedictory were V. Ramnarayan, V. ARAVINDA HEBBAR meditative and carried a telling editor-in-chief of Sruti magazine, (A music teacher and composer) effect of what the Dasas Samanvi and Archana communicated in their lyrics. A notable concert in the Utsav was the featuring of an extraordinary talent of a tiny duo of Udupi who were nick named the Latangi Sisters by the audience, though they are not sisters. Samanvi and Archana, respectively 6th and 8th standard students, reminded us of Ranjani Hebbar with their soulful rendering of Bhuvaneswariya (Mohanakalyani), Kaddanuvariki (Todi), Sada enna hridayadalli (Brindavanasaranga) and Jo Jo 57 l SRUTI April 2014.