The T. M. Krishna show

They call him a maverick. They call his music prodigious. They hang to words he says on stage, between songs. They go at him for comments made in his columns. 

Vocalist T M Krishna draws the ayes and the nayes at kuctheri stages and outside them. 

If the packed audience of some 3000 plus at the Big Mantap in Chamarajpet was some indication, it showed that TMK, as he is known by friends is a big draw at concerts.

He sailed into his concert after an extended preparation of himself and of his accompanists - Manoj Siva, B S Purushothaman and Dr Hemalatha.

He stamped in signature concert style, exploring the raga long and deep, a pace that remianed meditative and slow as rasikas sat back to soak in.

There were requests for some popular songs but TMK put them aside and went his way.

The hundis are prominent under the Big Tent

Digital hundi?

Some version of this is seen at prominent places inside the Big Mantap in Charmarajpet. The stainless steel hundi, some 3 feet tall carries a signboard of PayTM, encouraging rasikas to use the App and make a payment, a donation.

They can even drop off some notes into the hundi.

Sree Ramaseva Mandali has been keenly driving donations from NRIs and rasikas here, because the money to run this huge fest is big and obviously, all that comes from the many sponsors you see listed on the backdrop under the mantap is not enough.

Sridevi displays her philatelic collection on artistes, music instruments

A philately exhibition was planted in the driveway to the college quadrangle at Seshadripuram. And it attracted rasikas; especially children.

N. Sridevi is a keen philatelist and at the concert venue she was displaying a sale of her collection themed on music. The sample itself was a wonderful collection - unique postal cancellations which used musical instruments in the visuals, stamps on Rajarathnam Pillai and Veena Dhanammal, the Thiruvaiyaru aradhana cancellation which the postal department offers during the aradhana season at saint Thyagaraja's samadhi in Thanjavur . . .

The best of the lot here was the United Nations postage stamp on M S Subbulakshmi, recently released there when Sudha Ragunathan gave a concert, marking MS' centenary year.

"I got these stamps just before the music fest started here," Sreedevi told us.

This Bengaluru philatelist is keen to hold similar exhibitions elsewhere; so mandalis and sabhas in Bengaluru and Chennai may want to invite Sridevi to their festivals. 

Such sideshows add to the color of an event. Agree?

Sikkil Gurucharan at Seshadripuran

Sikkil Gurucharan's vocal concert at Seshadripuram drew a big audience; but the quadrangle was nit packed to capacity.

With artistes K V Prasad on mridangam, Giridhar Uduppa on ghatam and Charulatha Ramanujam on violin, Gurucharan had a top-end team around him and the concert evoked a warm response from rasikas.

With the annual Cleveland Aradhana fest in the USA happening at Easter holidays time, many top-end artistes are in the West at this time of the year and mandalis in Bengaluru have to shuffle dates if they are keen to host their concerts at Sri Ramanavami time.

Final concert at Jayanagar; scenes and sights

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It was the last concert of the season for Sri Jayarama Seva Mandali in Jayanagar on Saturday evening. And the first floor hall was overflowing with rasikas.

The Mysore Brothers, the violinists who had a record attendance in Chamarajpet were to perform here. With H S Sudhindra and Arjun Kumar on the mridangam. The brothers carry their own audio gear but having clipped it into the local system, posed some hiccups and the first song went for a toss.

Many venues are not made for music or talks. And it certainly calls for hosts to work on getting the right systems in place for great music. But with keener rasikas around, the systems have got better over the years.

Sunday morning here was reserved for Sri Rama pattabhishekam, with the procession event in the evening and Monday morning was for the Sri Hanuman procession.

In the kitchen downstairs here on Saturday night, cooks were busy cutting vegetables for the Sunday feast, when a few hundred guests were expected.

The Seshadripuram fest anecdotes; rewinding 30 years

Long-time residents of Seshadripuram and Malleswaram can tell you lots of tales of the atmosphere of Sri Ramanavami concerts of times gone by.

One of them recalls the time when audio speakers would be fitted on the gates of the college campus where the concerts are held, enabling rasikas who chose to sit in the park on the opposite side to listen to the music.

"The sundal and ground-nuts hawkers would come by to sell us snacks, just the way it happens on the Marina ( the beach in Chennai)," recalled a Malleswaram resident.

"There wasn't much traffic on these roads so the music would float into the park."

The anecdotes of the 'season' here in Bengaluru are colorful, fascinating and varied. Put together, they may well make a big story; perhaps a book or a documentary film.

Post your anecdotes here!

The artist fan!

Fans of the Carnatic music world can be demonstrative too.

Violinists Mysore Nagaraj and Manjunath have a legion of fans. They pack into the venues where their concerts are on. And then there are the special fans.

At Charmarajpet, under the Big Tent on Friday a rasika presented the artiste-brothers with a large painting of their portrait, of them playing on stage.

Have you come across some special fans who made it an evening at the festivals this season? Tell us!

Mysore Brothers on violins, rocking with their percussionists

Good Friday brought in a full house at the Big Tent in Chamarajpet. On stage were the violinist-brothers, Mysore Nagaraj and Manjunath.

A few row of seats tab the far rear of the Tent were vacant and this huge audience was treated to vintage music by the famed brothers.

Few rasikas left even as the clock struck nine and then came the show of the percussionists.

The three here were big names  - Patri Satish Kumar on mridangam, N Amrit on kanjira and Giridhar Udupa on ghatam.

The trio rocked the Tent for over 15 minutes, saluted by the violinists, repeatedly.

It was a late evening tani that rasikas present this evening will remember for a long time. So impressive that the emcee of the show christened Patri as the Vishwamitra of the group much to the amusement of the artistes on stage.

Those who had seats close to the stage could feel the warm vibes between all the artistes. Vibes which made this a good concert that ended at about 9.40 p.m.

Award for dance guru B K Vasanthalakshmi

Friday evening was for dance, at Rajarajeswari Nagar.

It was time to honour dance guru B. K. Vasanthalakshmi.

The mandali went through this gesture with little fuss; a citation read for the occasion and the Purandara Prashasthi award given to the guru. The award has been instituted by the mandali and the Bengaluru Nagarathna Memorial Trust.

The guru's sishyas had earlier presented an excerpt from their production based on Purandara Dasara Krithigalu.

The evening had started with dance recital by sishyas of guru K. Brinda and it ended with a solo dance feature by S. Raghunandan based on the Aranya Kandam from the Ramayana.

Organising a festival tests you; the Rajarajeswari Nagar experience

Complaining about Bengaluru's traffic does not raise eyebrows. It goes with the flow of life.

It takes us an hour and forty minutes to travel from Bannerghatta to Sri Rajarajsewari Nagar, where the local mandali is hosting a music and dance fest.

And then we go around in a few circles because we have not taken note of the fact that the venue has moved from last year's.

The mandali uses public space in this BEML Layout neighbourhood. It erects a large mantap, one which can accommodate at least 700 to 800 people.

Which maybe ambitious in an area which does not seem to have a large following for classical music/dance.

But this year, the mandali team was put off when they found that the civic authority had rented out the 'usual' space to a crafts mela organizer. So the fest had to be held at a private space, quite large and airy though. ( Munivenkataiah Bayalu Ranga Mandira in the Ideal Homes Hosuing zone)

Organising tests (this year it was for nine days) at Sri Ramanavami time is trusting a challenge to organizers; rising costs, lesser donors and payments for artistes test the mandali teams. The one in Rajarajeswari Nagar must be feeling the heat of these pressures.

Some big artistes at concerts for the long weekend

The long weekend offers some well-known artistes at various fests across Bengaluru.

On April 14, violinists Mysore Nagaraj and Manjunath are at Chamarajpet, Vasudha Ravi at Basaweshwaranagar and Vani Sateesh at Seshadripuram.

On April 15, Saturday, the Malladi Brothers are at Chamarajpet, Venkatesh Kumar presents Hindustani at Vani Kala Kendra, violinists Nagaraj and Manjunath play at Sri Jayarama Seva Mandali in Jayanagar and Sikkil Gurucharan sings at Seshadripuram ( he performed at Chamarajpet on 13th).

On Sunday, T M Krishna sings at Chamarajpet, the Malladi Brothers for Vani Kala Kendra and Sriranjini Santhanagopalan sings at Seshadripuram college campus.

Award presented to Sudha Ragunathan

In between concerts at Chamarajpet, there are a few awards that are given out to artistes.

On Tuesday last, it was the turn of vocalist Sudha Ragunathan to be given the Rama Gana Kalacharya award at a function at which politician S. M. Krishna, who has just joined the BJP party, crossing over from the Congress was present.

The Sree Ramaseva Mandali have not hid their heavy leanings towards the BJP and many BJP leaders are guests at the Mandali's music tests.

However, much is promised in terms of support but that does not seem to be coming. Yet.

- Photo of Sudha's concert, courtesy Sree Ramaseva Mandali

Huge attendance for Yesudoss' concert

The fans kept their date with K J Yesudoss under the Big Tent last weekend. Swathes of them headed to Chamarajpet to enjoy the concert of an icon who still commands a huge following.

Abhijit Varadaraj of Sree Ramaseva Mandali, the hosts says there must have been close to 11,000 rasikas at this concert.

The hosts were expecting this crowd. They got them.

Amazing.

- Photos by Sree Ramaseva Mandali

Ramanavami concerts at Koramangala's cultural spot

Koramangala, one of the posh localities of Bangalore is always traffic-chocked. Amidst the crowded shopping malls and big brand stores where shoppers check out throughout the day, The Indian Heritage Academy is housed inside a quiet campus.

Sree Rama Seva Mandali, Koramangala celebrates its Ramanavami music festival at the cozy auditorium in the Academy campus. The community that supports cultural activities never fails to turn-up at these concerts.

On Saturday evening, there were about 200 rasikas when young R. Ashwath Narayanan presented a vocal concert. Accompanying him were Pappu Gnanadev on the violin and Bangalore's senior mridangam vidwan H.S. Sudhindra and Phanindra Bhaskara, a disciple of Sudhindra on the Ghatam.

The senior on the mridangam supported the young team with generous appreciation throughout the concert.

As is customary of concerts this season, Ashwath too presented kritis on Lord Rama. Dikshitar's grand composition 'Mamava pattabhirama' in Manirangu and the main number 'Nannu palimpa' in Mohanam stood out. While 'Varalandu Kommani' in Gurjari did remind us of Dr. S. Ramanathan, Ashwath rendered a composition of Dr. S. Ramanathan 'Na moravina rada' in Gopriya. April 8, 2017 marked the birth centenary of the scholar. Ashwath surprised the audience with Kanaka Dasa's 'Baro Krishnayya' after the main piece.

Ashwath Narayanan, a disciple of Padma Narayanaswamy travels from Chennai for concerts this season. He was happy when the audience, which included a couple of musicians, went up to him to appreciate after the concert.

Patrons keep their word . . .

Patrons help make a festival. And they keep a low-profile and assure their support year after year.

One such are the Ramamurthys ( mother and son seen in this picture, above).

This family has been sponsoring the first concert of the festival of Sree Seshadripuram Ramaseva Samithi in Bengaluru; and that has to be a nagaswaram concert.

"We do it the Tamil Nadu tradition way," said the Samithi's secretary, Tarakaram this year, as the fest opened to the music of V. Murali and his group on the college campus.

The Ramamurthys have always supported a concert and this year, though the man of the family passed away, the son signed and sent a cheque quickly to keep the family tradition.

A few other families also sponsor concerts here. And their contribution is acknowledged in the festival schedule and promos.

This weekend, Yesudoss, Ranjani-Gayatri, Abhishek and Sudha Ragunathan

The weekend offers concerts by the big artistes; good one for the rasikas to who want to catch them early in the season.

So, on Saturday, Sudha Ragunathan is at the Big Tent at Chamarajpet and Ranjani and Gayathri, the sisters are at Seshadripuram this evening.

On Sunday evening, its the big one at Chamarajet as K J Yesudoss performs - and as the mandali team here assures us, they expect over 5000 people; for Yesudoss sings in Bangalore only once a year and that is here!

Abhishek Raghuram will be performing at Seshadripuram.

Meanwhile, the team at Rajarajeswari Nagar of the other side of town, launched its music fest on April 6.It goes on till April 14.

A Tamil Nadu tradition in Seshadripuram

This Wednesday evening was also a time for the Seshadripuram Seva Samithi to launch its festival.

It kept to tradition. "It is the Tamil Nadu tradition that we follow," said secretary Tarakaram even as nagaswaram vidwan V. Murali, a resident of Sripuram and his artistes played the last song of the concert.

There was a threat of rain and the Tarakaram family chose to make an offering to appeal to lord Varuna to hold the rain till the end of the month. This college quadrangle does not have a roof facility.

The attendance this evening was small; some 100-plus people, with art critic Mysore V. Subramanya inaugurating the fest.

Ms. Tarakaram appealed to the two dozen rasikas who sat till the end of the nagaswaram concert to spread the word about the music fest. And when she looked up, the rains came down. 

Bangalore had its first, good spell of light rain; the daytime temperature hovers around 35 degrees.

Fest under the Big Tent in Chamarajpet opens

Varadaraj and his son Abhijit lead their team at Chamarajpet to add new design elements, a tad loud they may be, to the Big Tent of Sreerama Seva Mandali.

There was a light drizzle that welcomed rasikas and guests to the inauguration of the month-long music fest that began here this Wednesday evening.

The Mysore royal scion was the chief guest. The emcee reminded Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wodeyar of his ancestors' connection with the area and with the music festival. Yaduveer spoke briefly as did the other guests. The watering of a tulsi plant was a symbolic gesture to mark the start of the music fest.

A few eyebrows were raised when one speaker on stage, took off at a tangent, gloating over the days when the region was ruled by a king and suggesting the minus side of democracy. That reference hit a low note but was forgotten when Bombay Jayashri walked on stage to start her concert. With her were manoj Siva, K. V. Gopalakrishnan and Embar Kannan.

By then, the Big Tent was full; some 4000 plus rasikas were here to listen to Jayashri. It was a concert twitched often by interruptions by the artistes to get the sound engineers get a 'balance'; it never got done till the end.

Evening of percussion music in Basavangudi

On the eve of Sri Ramanavami, lots of spots in Bengaluru host music concerts.

We decided to head to Basavangudi this Tuesday evening.

Percussionist Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma sent us an invite; it was to be a concert by eleven artistes, mostly percussionists.

The Sri Kaaranji Anjaneyaswamy Temple is tucked between a college and the city's criss-cross roads. This evening, the temple zone was quiet save for the music streaming in from the stage for community events.

There were about 100 people, small for this kind of a Bengaluru neighbourhood.

As the concert progressed, volunteers served the rasikas puliogare in a dhonnai.

The Layalahari musicians troupe was started in 1981 by Anoor's father and still has a few senior artistes in it. Here are the eleven - M. K. Prakash on the flue, held the concert together this evening, Yasasvi, Dattatreya Sharma, A. C. Kasinath, A. Satya Kumar, A. Somasekar, B. Dhruvraj, V. R. Ravikumar, Nagendra Prasad, Jagadeesh Kuruthukoti and Anoor himself.

This is a closely-knit team and works on a few guiding principles when an invite is received to perform.

It was past 9.45 pm when the concert got over; the artistes were invited to the sannidhi of Sri Rama and blessed; then there was a simple dinner of vangibath, puliogare and salad.

That night, some of the musicians led by Anoor got into a van and headed to Malabar in Kerala for a concert. And it rained, lightly.

Schedule of fest in Malleswaram

Here is the Sri Rama Navami Music Fest schedule at Malleswaram Sangeeta Sabha.

April 4 - V. Balakrishnan, vocal concert

April 5, 4 pm - Vatsala leads a 25 member women's bjajan group

April 5, 6.30pm - Bharatanatyam by Nrityalahari group of Bangalore

April 6 - Roopa Srikanth, vocal concert

April 7 - Mohan Kumar's Harikatha concert

April 8 - Sharadha Sankar's bhajans

April 9 - 10 am - Sri Rama Pattabhishekam ceremony

April 9, 7 pm - Keshav Doss' Divya-namasankeertana

April 10, 6.30 pm - Atma Venkatesh - Hindustani concert

April 11, 6.30 p.m - Chittalapally Ramakrishnan vocal concert

Contact Mandir's office - 23565220.

Kanchana Sisters at Malleswaram

We are headed to Malleswaram on Monday evening hoping to avoid the maddening traffic and negotiate the 'No Entry' signs on every other Cross.

9th Cross is already packed with cars. Much like Mylapore in Chennai, and the whiff of incense and flowers is floating in the air, as the din of the market place rises.

The Sri Rama Mandir is a place of quiet. Seniors stop by on their walks, say a prayer and walk on. Others head straight in to the sanctum.

This evening's Ramanavami concert is by the Kanchana Sisters, Sriranjani and Shrutiranjani. They hail from south Kanara and have made Bangalore their home, as have many others.

Some 50 people enjoy the music. The acoustics aren't all that good though the hall is large and meant obviously for socio-religious events.

Charged hall at Sriramapura

Scenes at the Sriramapura Sri Ramanavami Fest, shot on Saturday evening when the hugely popular M S Ramachandra Char presented a dasaragal-padal concert, with his trademark flashes of a variety of printed images that illustrated the lyrics.

The small hall here was packed and ha people lined on the pavements too.

The music, bhajan-in-nature finally encouraged a few rasikas to dance in front of the lord inside.

Pantula Rama sings this evening; not too many artistes from outside Bangalore this season

Pantula Rama, the senior vocalist isn't a regular on the Bangalore circuit. But she is here this evening ( Monday, April 3) to perform in Vyalikaval, With her is violinist-husband M S N Murthy; they mostly team up for concerts.

Bashyam, the busybody curator of the music fest at this time of the year here says that of late, he has to work with tight budgets and can invite only two or three artistes from outside Bangalore.

The young V. Deepika was another invitee this season.

Big names really do not work in places where the rasikas' attendance is dictated by the changing face of the area. And Bashyam, who has 'connects' across the south Indian states as far as artistes go, plays it safe nowadays.

This place also hosts a series of concerts at Navaratri time.

Do we need such rasikas? In shorts, after walks . .

For some people, the concerts are time-pass events to make good use of.

At Vyalikaval last weekend, two sets of men and women seated in the front rows carried on a healthy chat; much to the annoyance of a woman who was keenly video recording Vinay Sharva's concert.

But the scene at Basaweswara Nagar, on a packed Sunday evening was quite annoying. Scores of people walked in and then out, just curious of the Hindustani concert.

There was another bunch - the fitness zealots - in skin tight clothes, sporty shoes and sweaty Tees who also walked in, listened and looked around and walked off.

Then there was a bunch of men, young and teens who ambled in, in their home shorts and Tees; some hand-holding their grandmas, others here to pick up their moms.

This space is certainly a great neighborhood performing arts space. That certainly does not mean you amble in in shorts and sweat-shirts. Or treat the concerts as social events where gossip is welcome.

Pravin Gokhindi and Anupama Bhagawat rock

When  some 3000 people file in well before a concert, you know there is a star expected on the stage. 

Pravin Gokhindi was the star on Sunday evening at Vani Kala Kendra;s concert in Basaweshwara Nagar. As a young Bharatanatyam dancer presented a recital (this place offers a half-hour slot to young artistes every evening), Parvin cooled himself in the anteroom for guests, met some fans who slipped in and stepped out to survey the courtyard. He must have felt good to have this big an audience in the neighbourhood.

Not that he has less at his recitals.

This evening, with him was Anupama Bhagavt on the sitar and Ravindra Y. on the tabla.

They explored purv kalyani through the better part of the concert, with Parvin stunning the audience with his wow riffs.

But Anupama was in her own zone this evening; sometimes wowing the rasikas who may have been Parvin-fixated.

As the concert slipped into its tenth minute, the people who came in had to be seated in the space below the stage, on the floor.

It was a rocker of a concert. And this big an audience boosts the spirit of an arts organizer like Keshav.

Big Tent at Chamarajpet can accommodate 15,000 rasikas

Ramayanan discourses in the mornings, Carnatic music concerts in the evenings.

This then will be the schedule of the Sree Ramaseva Mandali at the Fort School grounds in Chamarajpet.

Mandali general secretary S. N. Varadaraj has said that over 300 artistes are featured in concerts that will start on April 5, with Bombay Jayashri's recital that evening after the formal inauguration.

The big artistes include K. J. Yesudoss, who will perform for the 46th time - his concert is on April 9 at 6.30 pm and the host expects at least 15,000 people under the Big Tent.

Yes, they do have seats for that big an audience.

Daily and season tickets will be on sale at the venue.

The contacts are - 080-26604031, 9483518012.

The FaceBook page of Sree Ramaseva Madali also posts updates of their recitals/ discourses.

Chatting with vocalist Vinay Sharva

Vocalist Vinay Sharva was in his second avatar. These artistes who hold a day job and then hop across to concert platforms slip in so well.

Vinay is among the growing young Carnatic music vocalists on the Karnataka firmament though he plays his stature down when he meets people for the first time.

He has a busy season this month. Perhaps 8 to 9 concerts.

So he goes off to work ( electronics is his field) at 7.30 am and logs out by 3p.m. on the days he has a concert.

"Employers will offer you flexibility but not too much leeway," says Vinay just before is concert at Vyalikaval.

Saturday's concert for Vinay eatures a senior team - V. Krishna on mridangam, Maddur Shrinidhi on violin and Guruprassana on ghatam.

The music gets a tad loud, screaming and rocking on the percussion stream though Vinay impresses when he is on his own.

This place is for magical music; small audience, great artistes and neat hall. 

The lead artiste may well want to create that magic to celebrate Sri Ramanavami.

WATCH a video snippet of Vinay's concert here at the FaceBook page of KutcheriBuzz

Vyalikaval is most appealing

The Vyalikaval space for God and Music is most appealing among all of Bengaluru's Sri Ramanavami spaces for a few reasons.

The streets are spic and span, the street leading to the venue is illuminated, the temple premises is neat and welcoming and the small auditorium is good for soulful music.

And yet, the current music fest attracts 30, or a maximum of 50 people. Most sit through the concert.

We are told that the changing dynamics of this old neighborhood, now home to many north Indians reflects on the patronage at the concerts.

Food and music; hardly any complement here

What is the popular landmark for the Sri Rama Temple in Vyalikaval?

Rajesh 'darshini'.

We have heard it a dozen times on or rounds of the music season here and so, this time on Saturday evening, we chose to drop by to check out what makes this hang-out tick.

I guess the food is good. Always good. We dug into a medhu vada in sambar and a tumbler of hot coffee; and our evening was made.

Food is not an integral part of the music season here unlike in Chennai; the reason is because the concert/s are restricted to the evenings.

The canteen at the Big Tent in Chamarajpet is still not good. It does not offer mouth-watering dishes. The coffee has improved. Let's see what is in store when the canteen opens on April 5.

Rama Katha; today at Chowdiah hall

This evening, you may want to check out another Sri Ramanavami-timed dance event - invites "Rama-Katha", is a fundraisers from Nadam, presented by senior dancer Sathyanarayana Raju,  in aid of Karnataka Theosophical Federation, Bangalore. 

It is on at 6.30 pm at Chowdiah Hall, Bangalore.

A note from Nadam says - Karnataka Theosophical Federation (KTF) is an organization with all the branches of the Theosophical Society in Karnataka put together. The main branch of the Karnataka Federation is situated in KR Road, Bangalore.

There are 4 branches in Bangalore of which the Malleswaram branch situated at 8th cross, Malleswaram was started 100 years ago as one small building constructed on a plot donated by a member for the activities of the Theosophical Society. The building has become ancient and dilapidated to conduct meetings. 

The building has to re-built and funds have to be raised for the same. The Malleswaram Lodge, as it is called, has no income of its own. The cost of the building which includes one hall, library, toilet, kitchen, lecture rooms etc is estimated to be around at least Rs. 50 lakhs.

Tickets are available.

Call 98802 01608 / 98458 08152