Demonstration of will
GUDIPOODI SRIHARI
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Though not professional veena players, `Vipanchi Balagas' enthralled the audience with their presentation and dedication.
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Photo: Mohammed Yousuf
GOOD TEAMWORK Vipanchi Balaga', a team of five women veena players from Karnataka during their performance.
`Vipanchi Balaga', a team of five women veena players from Manipal presented a concert at Ravindra Bharathi on Saturday, under the aegis of Department of Culture, Andhra Pradesh. The programme was a demonstration of their will, more than their skill. The enthusiasm to impress the audience was very much there with what all they learnt so far in this art. The team was led by Pavana Balachandra Achar, Director, Kala Spandana. Usha Kamala, Snigdha Kola, Veena Upadhyaya and Surekha Tantry were the other four members. They were accompanied on mridangam by Balachandra Achar, a faculty member of Manipal Technology Institute and on ghatam by Sridhar Acharya, a senior faculty member of IIT, Pune.
All the five are not professional veena players. But Veena is their passion. They have been entertaining music lovers with their melodies and skill.The repertoire had almost a dozen and a half compositions in Telugu and Kannada , which they played with high degree of discipline. Their stage presence was so appealing that Rallabandi Kavita Prasad, director of Department of Culture, described them as a group of `Gandharvas' sent by Goddess Saraswati. Their ability to play in unison, note to note, displayed the talent in them to become veena players with a professional touch.
Clear notes
There were no raga essays or nereval and swara play. Almost all the compositions were played in vilamba kala, to be sure that they presented each note clearly and in unison. The stage was decorated delightfully with pictures of veena, creating right kind of ambiance. All the artistes sat in an array with mridangam and ghatam. Anjali Rao was providing the tala beat as guide to the players.
One third of the repertoire was filled with Kannada compositions. They opened with a navaraga malika varnam, Valachi Vachi of `Patnam' and then proceeded with Vatapi (Hamsadhwani) as an invocation. After the popular Samaja Varagamana (Hindolam), they played Jagadananda Karaka (nattai) of Thyagaraaja — carefully keeping to the devotional import of the song. Other notable compositions included Darabendre, a Kannada composition in suddhadhanyasi that describes the spring season. Then there was Raghuvamsa Sudha (kadanakutuhalam).
Vasudevayani (kalyani), describing the beauty of Lord Vasudeva, was well received. The inspiring Ranjani mala — a quintet of ragas ranjani, sivaranjani, sriranjani, megharanjani and jana ranjani in a chain was another piece that was well received.
Other interesting compositions were an experimental Western note resembling sankarabharanam, a tillana in Behag of Veena Seshanna composed on Mysore Maharaja, Jayacharaja Wadayar and a Purandaradasa composition in `madhyamavati'.
Gopalakrishna, Station Director, AIR, spoke about veena and the importance given to the instrument in the Indian mythology. Prof. Avula Manjulatha, Vice-Chancellor, Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University, was the chief guest and honoured the visiting artistes. Rallabandi Kavita Prasad presided.
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