Mail us your concert photos, mandali buzz

Are you attending concerts at various mandalis across Bengaluru?

We at KutcheriBuzz invite you to share photos and little reports on the concerts - be they in Seshadripuram or in Koramangala or in Jayanagar.

Caption the concert photos or photos of special events.

Add a few lines on the concert - avoid reviews!

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Published online content will be acknowledged with bylines!

Suggestions from rasikas

Rasikas who hail from faraway Bengaluru neighbourhoods and attend the concerts at Chamarajpet are sore that the concerts are going well past 9 p.m.

Because they depend on public transport and the venue isn't the best place to get connected best across the city.

Also, these rasikas feel that at most concerts this far artistes have taken close to 30mins to tune and balance and set the audio levels with the systems technicians. So concerts tend to start only after 7 p.m.

Rasikas say concerts must best start at 6.30 p.m.

80-artistes ensemble concert; what did you think of it?

If you were at the music ensemble concert of violin vidwan Mysore Manjunath on Thursday what did you think of this recital?

Did it work the way you expected? Or you would have preferred a concert by the hugely known brothers?

The concert, held under the Sree Ramaseva Mandali banner at its Chamarajpet pandal received mixed responses.

80 artistes on one big stage under the baton of the conductor.
Photos courtesy; Vadiraja Acharya

Jayanagar gets a smart new auditorium

The team of Sri Jayarama Seva Mandali in Jayanagar are feeling good this season as rasikas come by to attend the concerts of the Sri Ramanavami season.

This is an opportunity to show off the newly-designed auditorium.

The work is 80% complete and rasikas have got the the feel of the atmosphere they can now look forward to when concerts or discourses are held at this venue in the months to come.

The auditorium used to be on floor one. It was good though the accoustics weren't.

Now, the new hall is built to provide the best. It is air-conditioned, has a wide spacious stage, is well lit and panelled on all sides.

And the lift provides easy access, especially to senior rasikas.

The new project was budgeted at Rs.185 lakhs with Rs.50 lakhs set aside to renovate the three floors of this complex which adjoins the temple.

Honorary secretary S K Gopalakrishna says that since June 2017, the Mandali has been marking its golden jubilee with a variety of events which will culminate in mid-2018.

The renovation of the building and temple and setting up new facilities is at the core of the jubilee.

This Bengaluru neighbourhood will now have a good auditorium to head to for music and dance and discourses.

Unique postage stamp from Sree Ramaseva Mandali

The team at Sree Ramaseva Mandali in Chamarajpet always present a slew of 'specials' every season. 

This time, it released a special postage stamp under the MyStamp category. The album was released on March 25 by union minister Ananth Kumar at the Big Tent.

The stamp features an image of the Mysore Palace of an image of lord Hanuman which the Mandali uses as backdrop and banner visuals at the Big Tent.

The stamps are limited in number and a private initiative; you cannot buy these stamps at the Bengaluru Post Office. If you are really keen to get one, ask the Mandali team!

Yes, a MyStamp can be used as legal postage in your communication. Yes, anybody can design and get a MyStamp ordered and printed at select post offices that offer this facility.

A sheet of 12 stamps costs Rs.300.

Season tickets sell hot at Chamarajpet

If there is one reason why most Carnatic music rasikas want to be under the Big Top in Chamarajpet for the season's concerts it is probably because they get to listen to top-notch artistes almost every evening.

Perhaps this interest has driven sales of season tickets of Sree Ramaseva Mandali.

The Rs.500 tickets are gone.

Only Rs.300 season tickets remain. That too on sale at the gate.

Be warned that these allow you to occupy the last set of row of chairs; and you can hardly see the artistes from this end.

There are some 2000 chairs arranged under the Big Top here. So your Rs.300 season ticket may not give you a great visual experience.

Ask rasikas who hop from one venue to another during the season, which is their favourite venue and 3 out of 5 indicate the college quadrangle of Seshadripuram College.

Violinists Ganesh and Kumaresh get full house at Big Top; nadaswaram troupe plays to empty space

Union minister H N Ananth Kumar who is into his 6th term as a member of parliament from Bangalore South inaugurated the 80th edition of the Sri Ramanavami Music festival of Sree Ramaseva Mandali under the Big Top at Old Fort School ground in Chamarajpet on Sunday evening - March 25.

Bangalore M. Lakshman and his co-artistes had spent over an hour on stage from 4 p.m., playing the nadaswaram to an empty pandal - this is a shame and must be galling for a set of senior artistes and that too in what is now promoted as a global music fest.

In fact, the inauguration this Sunday limped on - the guests for the inauguration arrived 30 minutes after the nadaswaram concert had been wound up. It appeared as if the nadaswaram is still ticked in to superficially honour a tradition.

There is no reason why a snappy nadaswaram concert curated as part of the launch cannot be held - with the chief guests also listening to it - thus ensuring that a sizable number of rasikas attend.

In contrast, a mandali at Seshadripuram hosted a nadaswaram concert as the main one after its formal inauguration the same evening and had over 300 people attending it.

Back to Chamarajpet - alongside minister Ananth Kumar on stage was Sudha Murthy, head of Infosys Foundation.

A special postage 'MyStamp' was released to mark the 80th edition of the festival of this mandali. 2018 also marks the 50th year of this festival being held at Old Fort School grounds.

The first concert was by violinists Ganesh and Kumaresh - they got a full house. 

In Vyalikaval, OST has two young artistes on his side

O. S. Thiagarajan is a regular Bangalore traveller from Chennai. For he is featured at concerts round the year in the city.

It was his evening on stage for the mandali of the Vyalikaval Extension community.

This colony is a visual delight: this place is like no other in the Sri Ramanavami Season of music that we have covered. The streets are clean, the place tidy, street-space around the temple here is lit up with strings of small lights, mostly strung to trees. The temple is neat and welcoming and the small hall is good for a chamber-like concert.

This Saturday evening ( March 24), OST had with him on stage the veteran violinist  C N Chandrasekar and two young, talented Bangaloreans who have made a name too - Akshay Anand on the mridangam and Sunaad Anoor on khanjira.

OST acknowledged his young co-artistes during the concert and the duo gave off their best.

Bangalore's now has a large crop of young, talented Carnatic musicians who deserve to be seen in Chennai. And some of them are jamming in various quarters.

Once the Vyalikaval concert was over, Sunaad had a 11 p.m. appointment - at an all-night concerts festival at a hall in another part of Bangalore.

OST, as the veteran vocalist is fondly called by rasikas was back in the city on Monday - to perform for the mandali in Seshadripuram. 

Full house for Hindustani concert; in Jayanagar

Saturday evening was full house at the new auditorium of Sri Jayarama Seva Mandali.

Set in the quiet 8th Block quarter of Jayanagar where a new phase of work on the Metro rail system is going on, the weekend evening for just the time for rasikas to catch up with Hindustani music.

Vocalist Jayatheertha Meduri did not disappoint - true to the Hindustani style, he warmed up his audience and then transported them to another realm.

The managers had to bring up their final set of chairs to accommodate late-comers.

Work on the newly-built auditorium is in its final phase so the air-conditioning had to be on and off and with the houseful attendance, it did become a tad stuffy inside.

This venue should become a top-class space for concerts in the weeks to come.

Why isn't this music fest season getting wider coverage?

Bangalore's media does not seem to see the music season at this time of the year as something special.

Its Tourism department, fairly proactive in recent times also does not see the possibility of branding this culture that is here for the asking.  Kerala does it very well - it has just planned a Monsoon Raga festival of music in Thiruvananthapuram.

Why isn't Bangalore presented naturally? No answers yet.

Soaking into election mode perhaps - elections to the Karnataka state Assembly are due soon.

The few reports that one gets to read also seem biased. The stories are on the music fest at Chamarajpet, at the Fort School ground, giving people the impression that this is the only music fest at Sri Ramanavami time.

This is in indeed the biggest fest in terms of vintage, concerts and attendance but there are over a dozen bodies, mostly called mandalis that also host music festivals in various parts of Bangalore.

But this aspect of the cultural season does not appear apparent in the media.

Kumaresh and Jayanthi get full house

Violinist Kumaresh and veena artiste Jayanthi Kumaresh got a packed house for their concert in Basaweshwaranagar on Friday evening.

This was expected considering the reputation of this couple.

It took a good amount of time for the concert to start - the artistes keen to balance the sound and unhappy with the 'audio bounce' that they were receiving on stage.

Kumaresh and Jayanthi are contrasts - while she settles in quickly and is at peace with herself the violinist gets engaged all around him.

"She is the boss," Kumaresh quipped as the team took time to decide on their next song midway through the concert.

Jayanthi though did not show it.

In K U Jayachadra Rao ( mridangam) and Pramath Kiran ( konnakol and tabla) the duo had able co-artistes and much of the packed house stayed on till the end.

At the Friday concert was veena maestro and Jayanthi's guru ( and aunt) Padmavathy Ananthagopalan now in her 80s. She say through the concert and was then invited on to the stage to honour the four artistes of the concert - a special moment for them.

Bangalore's summer makes muggy evenings

The fest that Sri Vani Kala Kendra hosts works because it is hugely supported by rasikas of the neighbourhood - though there are a few who journey from Seshadripuram and Malleswaram to attend the concerts of the well known artistes.

But since the school campus, the venue is located in inner streets parking is a big issue.

A massive, permanent arched roof over the school's quadrangle has been a recent addition - to protest rasikas from the pre-monsoon unseasonal rains.

But as Bangalore's temperature rises this summer and there is little sign of evening breeze, the quadrangle is a stuffy space.

A stage for teen musicians: this flutist scores

There is a positive policy, perhaps a unwritten guideline that the curators of the music festival of Sri Vani Kala Kendra follow.

The stage in its Basaweshwaranagar campus is always give to young artistes - to perform before the big names take over.

On March 23, Friday evening it was the turn of Achyutha Athreya to perform. He is probably less than four feet and when seated on the stage he looks like a speck from the last row of chairs in this campus.

But this young lad lets his flute do all the talking. Better, his music reflects his talent. On Friday evening it captivated the audience of some 100 people. They gave him a standing ovation too.

And after the concert was done, Achyuth and his co-artistes - Akshya Koushik and L J Likith had the surprise of their lives when well known violinist Kumaresh, who sports his shiny, shaved pate walked up to honour the trio with garlands.

Book tickets online for concerts at Chamarajpet mandali

Season tickets to concerts of Sri Ramaseva Mandali which has its fest in Chamarajpet opened on March 18.

Now, when a rasika book tickets online he/she will need to pick up their hardcopy ticket after showing to the staff at the gate their digital booking slip.

Season tickets cost Rs.500 and Rs.300.

These can also be bought at the pandal gate.

Abhijit Varadaraj, a member of the Mandali's core team says the good response to online booking has made them offer online booking of any concert ( daily ticket) a day before the concert. "We want to make things easy. More ideas are being discussed," says Abhijit.

Live streaming of concerts can be viewed only by subscribers in foreign countries by paying Rs.2000 for the season.

<< Are you attending concerts this Sri Ramanavami fest season? If you take some great photos do also share them on the FB page of KutcheriBuzz. Caption them please!

Concerts Guide for 2018 season is out

The annual Guide to Concerts of Sri Ramanavami festival is out. 

Published by KutcheriBuzz which is based in Chennai, it lists leading concerts of various artistes at ten venues across Bangalore over four weeks starting from March 21.

The Guide is circulated free.

It will be circulated on the March 24 weekend at a few venues in Bangalore and at others, the next weekend.

The Guide enables rasikas to navigate through the season of music and dance and choose then concerts they wish to attend.

A PDF copy of the Guide has been posted online at www.kutcheribuzz.com. For more, call 044-24994599.

Gayathri Venkataraghavan's is opening concert of fest in Basaveshwara Nagar

With the Metro connecting many parts of Bangalore, Yelachenahalli to Rajaji Nagar is just 35 minutes on the Green line. The meter in the auto from Rajaji Nagar Metro station showed the minimum fare of Rs. 25 while getting down at Sri Vani Education Centre in Shamavana, Basaveshwara Nagar. 

At Vani School, Gayathri Venkataraghavan presented the inaugural concert of this year's Ramanavami Festival on Ugadi day. 

The open-air auditorium was filled with the teachers of the school, students, parents apart from rasikas from the neighbourhood and the surrounding Malleshwaram, Sriramapura and Seshadripuram areas.

Gayathri accompanied by Charulatha Ramanujam on the violin, Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma on the mridangam and Guruprasanna on the ghatam took the rasikas along with her in the raga alapanas and compositions, all on Lord Rama. The variety of composers, she chose for the day interspersing with Kannada compositions was interesting.  

Sakkani raja margamu, a grand composition by Thyagaraja in raga Kharaharapriya received much appreciation from the audience for Gayathri's rendering the kriti, Charulatha's support on the violin and the tani avarthanam by the percussionists. 

Smarane onde salade in Malayamarutam by Purandaradasa and Rama nama bhajisidavage in Darbari Kanada by Gopala dasa gave the melodious effect for the evening. She included a Tamizh composition by Thanjavur Sankara Iyer, Sant Tukaram's abhang and mangalam composed by Papanasam Sivan.

Sri Vani Kala Kendra's festival is on till April 17, 2018. Many leading artistes are scheduled to perform at this festival.

The venue is well accessible. However, you need to ask for Vani School in Shamavana or specifically mention Basaveshwara Nagar while commuting by auto rickshaws as there are a couple of branches of Sri Vani Education Centre in the locality. 

And yes, Namma Metro gets the music concerts closer to the rasikas of Bangalore!

- Report and photo; R. Revathi

Here are the concert schedules! Online.

For a listing of key concerts at Bangalore's main mandalis you may visit the KutcheriBuzz web site at www.kutcheribuzz.com

Download the PDF file and seek out details at your convenience.

KutcheriBuzz publishes its annual Guide to the Concerts in Bangalore for Sri Ramanavami. This Guide will be circulated free at all leading mandalis at the start of their concert series.

Expect the Guide on the March 24 weekend. It is free.

Get tickets online. Watch concerts web-streamed.

This year, if you are keen to attend most concerts at Sri Ramaseva Mandali's Bit Tent in Chamarajpet you do not have to queue up to buy tickets.

There is an online facility - go to - www.ramanavmitickets.com.

The concerts at this venue will also be web streamed live on its web site but these can be accessed only by members of this mandali ( membership is open now).

Go to www.ramanavami.org to become a member and enjoy the streamed concerts of Season 2018.

80th edition of fest of Sri Ramaseva Mandali in Chamarajpet

The Big Daddy among the mandalis, Sri Ramaseva Mandali in Bangalore's old area of Chamarajpet presents the 80th edition of this festival which it now calls a Global Music Festival, with its team saying it is now part of  Bangalore's heritage.

Under the Big Tent that is erected at the Old Fort School grounds, this mandali's concerts of the top artistes attract over 1000 rasikas.

This year, its regular and top draw artiste, K J Yesudoss will perform on April 8 evening.

Welcome to 2018 edition of Sri Ramanavami Fest Music Season

Bangalore's popular and annual music festival at the time of Sri Ramanavami has come alive for the 2018 season.

And we at KutcheriBuzz ( www.kutcheribuzz.com), the web site for classical music and dance are back to reporting on it.

On Sunday, two mandalis launched their festivals - Vani Kala Kendra in Basaveshwara Nagar and another in Jaya Nagar's 9th Block.

Across March and April at least 10 major organizations will host concerts. From Malleswaram to Chamarajpet, from Koramangala to Rajarajeswari Nagar, music will be in the air.

While the smaller mandalis will host concerts for about a week, with religious events slated for Sri Ramanavami day - March 25 - the older and bigger ones will host concerts for four weeks.

KutcheriBuzz intends to share with you snappy posts and pictures and slices of concert music over the next four weeks.

Be with us. Share your posts and comments too. 

Mail us at - kutcheribuzz@gmail.com