Fusion passion
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Music teacher Dr. S. K. Venkatachari came with an innovative concert of Indo-Western fusion music.
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THE ANNUAL festival of Pallavi Academy of Fine Arts, Habsiguda, couldn't have come at a better time for Dr. S. K. Venkatachari. The noted Carnatic vocalist and music teacher (Telugu University) used the event to come out with a new project he had conceived to attract the youth to classical music.
As more and more youth are drawn to western culture and music, Venkatachari feels fusion music will do its bit to bring youngsters to the classical fold. The inaugural programme in this regard was held on the final evening of the festival.
Venkatachari, a long-time disciple of Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana said he observed the musical needs of his disciples.He finds they are drawn to a presentation of classical music, with a dash of western style. "Some of the scales in the genre are akin to Carnatic style," he says while pointing that C-Major, for example, is like Sankarabharanam. Venkatachari selected certain Western tunes and mixed with them equivalent scales of the Carnatic system. These he either rendered together as a single piece or separately one after the other, maintaining the same mood. `Mohana', `Thodi' and their equivalents in western system were touched. Some `geethams' also made way into this fusion programme.
Some of the compositions were truly surprising. There was one in which he borrowed a tune from the film `Titanic' in C-Major and added a Sankarabharanam piece to that. Similarly, `Krishna Nee Begane' in Yamunakalyani was given a different sound by adapting the tunes of the pop duo, Colonial Cousins.These compositions were rendered by Venkatachari's senior disciples.The structure of his fusion also included swarakalpana for some of the pieces and raga renditions as well. There were 20 singers in all delivering the compositions, some of who were trained in the western system. The orchestra featured both Indian and Western instruments. There were jazz drums, pads, guitar besides the violin and keyboard. In the Indian array, there was veena, mridangam, ghatam, kanjira and morsing. Venkatachari himself rendered `Vatapi' along with swarakalpana to the accompanying instruments. . The whole process created an atmosphere of interest that made the audience sit through the two-hour session. The programme was titled as `Vasudhaika Nadam', which means `world music'. Incidentally, the festival was dedicated to the memory of M. S. Subbulakshmi.
GUDIPOODI SRIHARI
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