Bhagini Ramotsava – Music Festival A concert of classicism and creativity

If you are on instagram and if you follow Karnatak music, then you cannot miss this girl’s singing. She has posted several compositions sung beautifully with the violin accompaniment of her husband Vittal Rangan who is a product of Kanyakumari School.

Young Vidu. Kruthi Bhat sang for Bhagini Ramotsava on the second day of the music series at BSS Vidyodaya in Krishnamurthypuram, Mysuru, on May 6. She was accompanied by Vid. Vittal Rangan on violin, Vid. B.S. Prashanth on mridanga and Vid. Shamit Gowda on ghata.

The concert was marked for classicism and creativity, which is becoming with her name. Born into a family of musicians and trained by her mother Rajarajeshwari and Uncle Sri Vittal Murthy, Kruthi is also fortunate to learn from veterans like T.R. Subramanyam, Lalgudi G. Jayaraman, Neyveli Santanagopalan and Soaumya, all of which has fine-tuned her music to refinement and maturity.

Kruthi possesses an enviably melodious voice. The first hour of the concert dragged on with no raga elaboration but just presentation of a number of compositions. ‘MAthe malayadhwaja pAndya sanjAte,’ a daru varna by Harikesha Nellur Muttiah Bhagavatar, Purandaradasaru’s ‘VandisuvudAdiyali GaNanAthana’ set to Khanda Chapu, embellished with swaras, ‘SogasugA mrudanga tALamu’ by Tyagraja in Sriranjani, which could have been elaborated, the popular ‘Brovabarama RaghurAma’ in Bahudari by Tyagaraja, which was embellished with more than 15 brisk and interesting sarvalaghu swaras in a single avarta and ‘BrOvavamma tAmasame’ by Shyama Shastri in Mishra Chapu, rendered with emotional content.

The only raga rendered with detailed elaboration in the entire concert was Bilahari for which Vittal Rangan played an enjoyable tanam followed by the composition ‘Dorakuna ituvanti seva’ by Tyagraja set to Adi tala in vilamba gati. Interestingly, this composition is one of the few compositions of Tyagaraja in which we find madhyama kala sahitya. Kruthi aptly chose the place ‘RAma brahma tanayudu Tyagaraja’ for neraval and kalpana swaras. The kalpana swaras centering around ‘s’ were creative and created a deep impact.

The taniyavartanam by B.S. Prashanth and Shamit Gowda was highly enjoyed by the artistes and the audience. In the miscellaneous section, Kruthi sang devaranama ‘Baro Krishnayya’ by Kanakadasa, a Marathi abhang ‘bolava Vitthala’ and a Lalgudi tillana in Madhuvanti.

The concert concluded with Bhadrachalam Ramadasa’s  popular mangalam ‘Ramachandraya janaka.’

It was a feast to watch the couple exchanging understanding glances smilingly, complementing each other.

— Dr. Padmavathi Narasimhan