Patron remembered
SCHOLARLY Neela Ramgopal's birthday celebrations were followed by a concert
An eight-day festival of music and dance took place in memory of its mentor Dr. H. Narasimhaiah, under the joint auspices of Bangalore Lalithakala Parishath and Dr.A.H.Rama Rao and Sudha R. Rao Charitable Trust. These programmes drew full houses.
The lively team of young sugama sangeetha singers Pancham Halibandi, Mangala and Archana Udupa, rendered a well-planned concert to the accompaniment of Krishna Udupa (keyboard), Shivusathya (tabla and rhythm pads) and Prasad (special effects). On a few occasions, the background music tended to be noisy, disturbing the bhava of the sahitya of the compositions sung. However, the singers had a good mixture of new and old songs. "Baa illi sambhavisu", "Onderadu" (Kuvempu), and "Deepavu ninnade" (K.S. Narasimhaswamy) were compositions that need a mention. B.R. Lakshmana Rao's "Baare Rajakumari", in which the man tries to impress his woman through humour was effectively sung by Halibandi and Archana.
Engaging
Vidyabhushana Swamiji engaged his audience in the usual fashion. His singing was brimming with devotion. He was accompanied by M. S. Govindaswamy (violin), Ravi (ghata) and the young H.S. Sudheendra (mridanga) rose to the occasion. There was a perfect confluence of sahitya and rasa bhava. The exposition of Navaragamalika varna, a Kamaleshadasa composition of Lord Ganesha ("Bhaja Re Vignesha", Mandari), "Saraseeruha", "Mokshamu galada" (Saramathi) and Bhairavi (for Dikshitar's "Bala Gopala") was a successful attempt that focussed on the aesthetics and artistry of Carnatic vocal music. This was followed by the singing of an array of Haridasa keerthanas for which he famous.
Historic
Veteran vocalist and efficient teacher Neela Ramgopal is a name to reckon with. She has several creditable performances and disciples. Her disciples gathered together under the banner of Neelambari and felicitated her at the Indian Institute of World Culture on the occasion of her 70th birthday. As chief guests Dr. Srivatsa of Madras Music Academy, Dr. R.K. Srikantan and Vimala Rangachar hailed it a historic event, for, it was the first time, a set of 18 CDs were released to mark the Guru Vandana.After the felicitation, Neela regaled the rasikas with her short, sweet and scholarly recital.
Happily accompanied by C. Cheluvaraj (mridanga), M.A. Krishnamurthy (ghata) and Raghuram (violin), she sang some interesting ragas and krithis for which she is famous. The opening Jhenkaradhwani for "Phanipathishayi" was adorned with attractive kalpanaswaras. The Ramamanohari alapana and the Dikshitar's krithi "Shringara shakthyayudhadhara" with swaravinyasa was proof to her solid grounding.
M. SURYA PRASAD
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