Aruna Sairam-28-10-10,Ravindra Bharathi, Hyderabad

[revanthv552]

Vocal-Smt.Aruna Sairam
Violin-Sri Raghavendra Rao
Mridangam-Sri Vaidyanathan
Ghatam-Sri Trichy Murali

The Program was organized by SICA and Krishna & Suchithra Yella Foundation. The concert was held at Ravindra Bharathi auditorium.

1.Sri Vigna Rajam-Gambheeranata-Oothukadu[S]
2.Gaanamoorthey-Ganamoorthi-Thyagaraja
3.Bala Kanakamaya-Atana-Thyagaraja[O,S]
4.Ennagaanu Rama-Panthuvarali-Bhadrachalam Ramadasa[R,N,S]
5.Slokam-"Kamalaalaya theerastha" on Goddess Kamalamba
Kamalamba Samrakshathu-Anandabhairavi-Dikshitar
6.Ranga Baro-Sudhdha Saveri-Purandaradasa
7.Thaye Yashoda-Thodi-Oothukadu[R,S,T]
8.Pillam Goviya-Mohana Kalyani-Purandaradasa
9.Abhang-Hindolam-Sant Tukaram
10.Vishamakara Kannan-Chenchuruti-Oothukadu
11.O Rama nee namam-Poorvikalyani-Bhadrachala Ramadasa
12. Tirupathi Venkateswara Kavacham-Arabhi,Revathi,Hamsanandhi
13. Alamelumanga-Anandabhairavi-Annamacharya
14.Jago Thum-Bengali song
15.Viruththam-Shanmukhapriya, Sahana, Neelamani
Enna Kavi Padinalum-Neelamani-Ayinampatti Adisesha Iyer
16.Thillana-Gambheeranata-Oothukadu
17. Bhujagasaayino-Yadukula khamboji-Swathi Tirunal

Most of the pieces in the concert were all requests from various people, including the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, SICA's president Chakravarthy and so on! She obliged to every request given despite the time being on higher side. Aruna performed in Hyderabad after a long long time so the crowd who turned up for the concert was pretty huge and most of the people stood back till the end.
The concert began with the famous krithi, Sri Vigna Rajam, followed by a short round of kalpana swarams. The Ganamoorthy piece was rendered well, some how I really like the way Mrs.Aruna sings this song. The short alapana in Atana, followed by the well known "Bala Kanakamaya" with a detail kalpana swaram which was captivating. Aruna then gave a decent essay for the raga Panthuvarali, followed by Ramadasa's "Ennagaanu Rama bhajana" and the neraval was done for the line "Raama Raama Raama Raama" The rendition was very detail and beautiful. This was followed by Dikshitar's Navavarana krithi in Anandabhairavi. The song which followed this was Purandaradasa's "Ranga Baro" The song was set to tune in Sudhdha Saveri and it was good to listen to a Dasara pada before the main item, unlike the general way, where in dasaranamas and annamacharya keerthanams come as post-main items. The main piece of the evening was Thodi. The alapana and the kalpana swarams lasted for a very short while. She mentioned before singing Thodi, that the main piece would be brief, for the number of requests she kept getting. She condensed the duration for alapana and kalpana swarams. The Thaniavarthanam which followed was something worth mentioning. Sri Vaidyanathan and Sri Murali were wonderful. Then followed a huge list of post main items which were all requests. The Venkata chalapathi kavacham was something I never heard before. Aruna mentioned that it was a contemporary writer's work. It included all the weekly sevas, monthly sevas and vahana sevas which the Lord of Tirupathi gets. The last line of the kavacham was sung in Anandabhairavi and she then shifted to Annamacharya's piece.
Finally, the concert was really satisfying. There have been not many concerts in Hyderabad during the past few months and this concert was well attended by the rasikas.

[arasi]

Revanth,
Was wondering why there were no reviews from you of late, but then remembered that you don't 'have' many concerts there in Hyderabad! A pity, Andhra Pradesh can take pride in the fact that most compositions in CM are in telugu, and by major composers. It beats me why there are not enough concerts, even in a mega city like Hyderabad!. Chennai cannot be topped, but BengaLru is catching up, and Kerala is next, I suppose, but AP? What's the reason?
No wonder, you get big crowds for concerts which are far and few. When that's the case, of course an Aruna Sairam concert would have drawn more crowd than any other. I bet the 'standing room only' listeners didn't mind it at all! Some couldn't even get in, I suppose.

[sivakami]

Thanks Revanth..Must have been one of those awesome concerts.. I could not come that day.....felt bad.......
hoping not to miss the kalasagaram ones atleast...

[srikrishna]

Arasi,

It is indeed a sad state of affairs. A good number of compositions are in Telugu and yet folks from AP do not seem to care as much for either the compositions or the music.

A good Sanketi friend of mine is a Vocalist in his early twenties and he recollected the following incident: He told me that he was practicing a Tyagaraja kriti in his room and a fellow student (from Vijayawada area) walked in. She heard him singing and remarked to him that he was singing a song written in her mother tongue. To this remark, my friend told her that it was indeed the case and went further by asking her to guess the composer. She said she did not know; more surprising than that, she could not recognize the composer even after the name was revealed.

I personally experienced the following incident: A (Hindu) friend of mine grew up in a place very close to Sankar mutt in Hyderabad and recently, during some conversation with him, the topic of Adi Sankaracharya came up. I asked him whether he knew about Adi Sankaracharya. He told me that he was unaware. I told him that his parents lived only a stone's throw away from the mutt and that he should know. He told me that he was under the impression that Sankar mutt was Siva's temple or something of that sort. Perhaps, one can stretch and admit the truth in his statement, but it was clear that he did not know who Adi Sankaracharya was.

I also know that Voleti or Pinakapani or Dwaram would not be a recognizable name in an average household (and it is a fair bet that this is the case in 95-99% of the households in AP) and one may forget about SSI or other such stalwarts that are not from AP. At one point in time, there were people interested in Telugu language, but I can see now that that fraction of the society dwindling faster by the day. By and large, people seem to be much more interested in computer languages and filmy type music.

[squims]

The main piece of the evening was Thodi. The alapana and the kalpana swarams lasted for a very short while. She mentioned before singing Thodi, that the main piece would be brief, for the number of requests she kept getting. She condensed the duration for alapana and kalpana swarams.

That seems to be exactly the kind of behaviour that will draw more flak from her detractors. I really enjoy Aruna Sairam's music, but she shouldn't be doing that. Why is it even a main piece if she is condensing the content, that too if it's to make room for the numerous tukkudas?

The Venkata chalapathi kavacham was something I never heard before. Aruna mentioned that it was a contemporary writer's work. It included all the weekly sevas, monthly sevas and vahana sevas which the Lord of Tirupathi gets. The last line of the kavacham was sung in Anandabhairavi and she then shifted to Annamacharya's piece.

I've heard a recording of this viruttam. She branches off to a Manirangu piece in it though.

[Suji Ram]

A pity, Andhra Pradesh can take pride in the fact that most compositions in CM are in telugu, and by major composers. It beats me why there are not enough concerts, even in a mega city like Hyderabad!.

Ha Arasi, you mentioned the place I was raised. There were hardly any concerts when I was growing up. May be a few would take place in Secunderabad (a place populated by tamil folks). When I was growing up a lot of my neighbours would tell carnatic music is something tamizh people sing (oh yes, the Tyagaraja kritis.) Even my teacher who was a telugu speaking lady would always complain that many of her students leave after sarali varisa and only we aravam pillalu stayed with her for 3 years.

I thought things changed over the years. I can relate to what srikrishna says here.

[revanthv552]

@arasi,

I always wondered the same arasi. The rasikas in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad are huge in number, but most of the times people do not turn up to the concerts. One thing I noticed is that the singers with a lot of fame are the ones who are most entertained here. People want for musicians and not music. So we never get to listen to a few wonderful musicians who are not having that "so-called celebrity" status. Musicians originating from the city are also not encouraged much by the people here. Recently I attended a concert of Hyderabad sisters, The concert was a learning experience and one of the best concerts I attended in my life! (Pranavapriya was sung for the submain and Mohana kalyani for the main) But the number of people who turned up was very less. I never understand why! Even the musicians who come here from other parts of the country, come after long intervals. However, one cannot blame them! The rasikas need to make themselves more active and make it a point to encourage all sorts of music. And one more thing I noticed here, majority of the population who attend the concert don't really enjoy new innovations or experimentation! That does not mean that they want purely traditional stuff! I see that in 5 concerts, one concert has a Ragam thanam pallavi. Other times we hardly get to listen to them! The fact is people want more bhajans-abhangs and don't enjoy RTP much. For learners and enthusiasts, its not a great experience just to sit and listen to the thukkadas. All those famous pieces which people request for are already available in the market! We wait for long intervals and have great expectations. But the kind of requests the artiste gets, totally changes the plan for the day. They change their mind and agenda so that the rasikas are disappointed. A couple of times I've noticed people staying back in the concert to meet the Artiste and ask them why they did not oblige to their request whereas they did someone else's! So thats the scene here!
When it comes to Secunderabad scene . Yes, Secunderabad is the place where most of the concerts take place. As it was mentioned by a fellow rasika above, thanks to the Tamizh population in the Sec'bad area, the best concerts happen there!
I just hope the scene changes and the attitude of people towards music changes. But all we can do is expect and hope! From the past few years I have been seeing the scene! Its always the same.
I seriously envy the rasikas of Bangalore and Chennai! They always get the best! Or if not always let me say most of the times

[revanthv552]

I thought things changed over the years. I can relate to what srikrishna says here.

Nothing has changed except for the way the stages are decorated and the cars in which people come.

[srikant1987]

I also know that Voleti or Pinakapani or Dwaram would not be a recognizable name in an average household (and it is a fair bet that this is the case in 95-99% of the households in AP) and one may forget about SSI or other such stalwarts that are not from AP. At one point in time, there were people interested in Telugu language, but I can see now that that fraction of the society dwindling faster by the day. By and large, people seem to be much more interested in computer languages and filmy type music.

You've said about someone not having heard of Thyagaraja! Voleti, Pinkapani and even Dwaram would be a far cry then! The interest in computer languages we can still understand, because programming offers better professional prospects than poetry. But people in AP are desperately, very, very badly into movies and this takes away a lot from them. In TN and probably even Karnataka, there are many people obsessed with movies ... but the more "refined" people take to reading, music or some sport. In AP, the masses watch Telugu movies, and the so-called "refined" people also watch Hindi and English movies only, by and large.

I have earlier hoped I was guessing too much having only seen Hyderabad, but it sadly doesn't seem that way. I still think maybe Tirupati is a little better off, but that's not such a big city ...
---
Revanth reminds me of one very obvious observation I made -- in Carnatic concerts held in Hyderabad, the whole crowd is Tamil! Indeed, even the speeches are made in Tamil (and English), where as in Bangalore, the crowd has mostly Kannadigas and announcements are made in Kannada.

[srikrishna]

I can say that the carnatic music scene in Hyderabad would pretty much have been far worse (closer to zero) but for the Tamilians. The type of attitude (i.e., this kind of music is sung by Tamilians) very nicely put by Suji Ram is indeed very prevalent.

From my personal experience, I have been exposed to good classical music by my Tamilian friends in the US. I think there are a lot of people who may be interested/cultivated to be good rasikas, but this requires a considerable (Herculean) effort.

To many that have some inclination to carnatic music but are not exposed to it, the alapana, neraval and swara kalpana seem completely out of place with their not knowing what is being done. In fact, I have had my relatives complain that they should cut it out and just sing songs. This is the prevalent mood and I am sure Smt. Aruna Sairam catered to her audience very well in this regard.

[arasi]

Suji,
You are a surprise indeed, coming from such an arid CM area!

Revanth,
It's young people like you who are the hope, I guess. As srikrishna in the US says how he has been drawn into CM because of his freinds, may be you should start encouraging your friends at college to listen to CM as well, and even approach the student cultural organizations to hold at least one CM concert at the university. If they can do it in Slovenia! (I am assuming you are still a student).
Then there is that commendable sabha run by women which has a series of concerts once a year (in Feb?). As you say, even the longer series which I saw posted today for November mostly has popular musicians and tamizh dramas and yes, Hyderabad bros are there, for a change! I also know you have to be satisfied with an RTP-less concert most of the time!

[rajeshnat]

Revanthv552
Thanks for your review.The carnatic sabhas and software companies in india have one thing in common,infrastructure of a hall is a prerequisite that needs to be built first and then only one can have more concerts . Just curious how many halls are available in hyderabad , I counted chennai it came to 15 to 20 halls or sabhas that are perennially available throughout the year. I am sure that is the key apart from obsession to CM from few patrons .

[Sathej]

But people in AP are desperately, very, very badly into movies and this takes away a lot from them. In TN and probably even Karnataka, there are many people obsessed with movies ... but the more "refined" people take to reading, music or some sport. In AP, the masses watch Telugu movies, and the so-called "refined" people also watch Hindi and English movies only, by and large.

While lack of audience in concerts is something to rue, isn't it a bit naive to classify people as 'refined' or otherwise based solely on choices such as movies/reading/music? I have known very 'refined' people (as perhaps meant in the above connotation) who have the slightest interest in reading, music or sport, but rather take to say some other art form, or maybe not even art (for that matter, a serious movie lover may also be justified in calling himself/herself a lover of art). 'Refined' may not quite be the right word to use here..

Sathej

[revanthv552]

Revanthv552
Thanks for your review.The carnatic sabhas and software companies in india have one thing in common,infrastructure of a hall is a prerequisite that needs to be built first and then only one can have more concerts . Just curious how many halls are available in hyderabad , I counted chennai it came to 15 to 20 halls or sabhas that are perennially available throughout the year. I am sure that is the key apart from obsession to CM from few patrons .

There is one auditorium in the heart of the city, Ravindra bharathi. But most of the concerts happen in the Keye's High School grounds, Secunderabad. There is Thyagaraja Gana Sabha which was very popular once, but now hardly any concerts happen there. Lalitha Kala Thoranam in Public Gardens is another venue. Hari hara kala bhavan, Taramathi Baradari, Chowmohallah palace, Shilpa Kala Vedika are the other places where events happen.

[arasi]

Sathej,
Yes, I was also wondering about the word 'refined'!This may distance CM more to some, who already think of it as a fare for elitists.

[sureshvv]

No sweat... We have mega hordes of "unrefined" people in Chennai into CM to make up for it

[isramesh]

The discussion about lack of interest in AP towards CM reminded me of this incident.

It was in 1997, I was returning from Bombay to Vizag by train. A colleague (he was also from AP) was accompanying me - he can be safely placed under the so called "refined people" category - he was an engineering graduate and with a well educated family background. It was a long journey about 36 hrs or so. But I was happy as I could listen to CM without any interruption during such journeys. As usual I was busy listening to BMK, Voleti, etc on my walkman. That man got furious as I was neither talking to him nor sharing the walkman with him. Seeing his trouble, I had to tell him that I was listening to classical music and he might not like it. He was offended by that remark (being in the "refined category" he must be considering himself as the "class" audience) and said, "what's so big in it, I also listen to such things" and advised me to keep some good stuff as well (he meant latest film songs). I was apprehensive but anyway I gave him the walkman. The moment he put the headphones, he started shouting "hey, what is this you are listening to... " and like that. To my dismay, when I told him classical music, he thought that it would be film songs based on CM like those from Sankarabharanam and Sagarasangamam.

Such was the situation of CM in AP then and it is no different now or even it might have worsened. In my opinion, genuine CM lovers are dwindling day by day in AP. Most of the people listen to film songs; Next comes the devotional songs and light classical (like Annamacharya keethanas thanks to the efforts of TTD); and CM never comes in the picture for more than 90% of the population.

As for the future, the situation may be different, but whether we can hope for the better or not, I do not know. The number of people (mainly children) learning CM is increasing, but the reason behind it is certainly not any new found love for CM. Parents simply want their kids to learn CM so that they get a good foundation to participate in contests like indian idol, etc, win prizes, become "successful" film singers, etc. But even if a few of these kids develop a liking for CM in their hearts and continue to listen to it, I would be very happy.

For my part I make my son (11 yrs old) listen to CM everyday as I regularly play CM in the morning for a couple of hours (actually I do not get time after that so it has become a habit since many years). I do not know whether he genuinely likes it or not but he never expressed anything against it. In Telugu they say "when you go on eating, eating, the neem would also taste sweet", and I hope one day he would cherish CM as I do.

[sivakami]

perhaps it will be a good idea to start a new thread to discuss this sad issue about the dwindling interest in carnatic music in AP. ..
As a tamilian brought up at Hyd( residing for almost 4 decades), its true like the others have pointed out, that CM kucheris are filled with tamil-crowd most of the times. There used be a set of families of mamas and mamis who, by default were regulars. Now many of them have grown old( some have even passed away!) and hence the numbers have been declining.. Some of us, the 2nd generation people try to attend as far as possible.
I have many times tried(still keep trying) to coax some of my telugu-friends and -colleagues to attend atleast one (free) kucheri that takes place during the Thyagraja aradhana music festivals. But they always have a readymade- lame-excuse not to come.. Week-days are difficult because the children have to go school/college/coaching whatever, the foll. day. Weekends, they say they are busier taking care of their domestic & other needs. As if the others who go for kucheris donot worry about their children and the household affairs....They also add " avunandi, chaala mattikki krithulu telugulo unna kooda, ee telugu vaalu interest choopicharandi", perhaps referring to the the others excluding themselves .. I have been pained to see this..
AS a coincidence, I saw in the Hindu on saturday(30th Oct) about the proposal for a Music Academy at Hyd in similar lines to the MA at chennai (http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp ... 858711.ece)... So I a hoping for some betterment soon, if not the best immdtly....

[srikrishna]

As Srikant1987 said, the vast majority of people are ``into movies''. In fact, I cannot participate in any of the ``coded'' conversations with my friends or relatives. The pointers in their codes are to some movie characters or dialogues, which I am blissfully unaware of.

Much more than that, the question is what can one do to improve the situation and increase the number of rasikas. I am hopeful that the programs such as the likes of Nada Niraajanam would help at the grassroots level. I pray to god that such a program would not be a victim to politics. I also believe, that a good carnatic channel on TV/internet would help (not just those in AP but also those in US). A good introductory program on TV by a young or a popular artist would help - for example, artists such as Sri Nedunuri or Malladi brothers or Sri TM Krishna. This program should be along the lines of Nada Nirajanam and can take popular Tyagaraja kritis or Tarangams or any other kritis in Telugu/Sanskrit language. I can guess that this may have been the intent of Sri Voleti when he started those radio classes on AIR.

Without any such active measures to propagate/encourage classical music in AP, the interest would dwindle.

As someone else pointed out, the emergence of interest in CM is a consequence of the need for a solid foundation for contests such as Idol etc. It is also true that annamacharyya kritis and film songs based on CM are treated by most as classical music. I can also corroborate the observation of Sivakami - in the two concerts I have attended in Hyderabad (one in Ravindra Bharati and the other at Skandagiri), at least 85% of them are Tamilians.

I was told that the scene was a little better at Visakhapatnam.

[suma]

I agree with the comments about lack of interest in carnatic music in AP. Thyagaraja is attributed as Tamil and only Annamacharya and Ramadas are considered telugu composers by the locals. To the best of my knowledge, I have only seen Brahmins take up this art form. The other category is migrats from Tamil Nadu (before the AP Tamil Nadu Split) still support it. Why music, even Sandhya Vandanam is a forgotten deal there.

Vizag (Vishakapatnam) had some good teachers in the past. Not sure about it now.

Movies songs are well recieved by them.

[vasanthakokilam]

This is all quite a sad state of affairs. I know msakellaji is doing his best in terms of teaching kids CM in those parts.

I know some people in other cities ( e.g. Mumbai ) view Chennai in less than favorable light for its CM short comings in spite of its status as the center of gravity for CM. But given such state of affairs in AP, we should be glad that Chennai is still holding the fort. I suppose in these such cases, it is better to be the big gorilla in the block and take the bashing in stride, than being empty and blameless.

Hope it is not as bad a situation in A.P overall as this thread indicates.

[srikant1987]

The thing about movies is that movies are said to be better if they leave less to the imagination of the viewer.

[sampoorna]

I agree with the assessment of ShriKrishna, SujiRam, and others about the state of affairs of CM in Andhra. While there are a few families still pursuing CM, their number is so low that their voices are not heard. In general, when we were growing up, lots of emphasis was placed on studies and very little on extra curriculars. So study it was! My miniscule exposure to CM when I was little was only sufficient to make me interested but not to master it. CM was something very difficult for me. In college I put in a tremendous effort to practice/learn CM, but I could tell it was just not there. I still enjoyed going to concerts. I doggedly pursued CM and by chance found a great teacher. The thing is that it was just dumb luck that I found the teacher. I realized right away what I was doing wrong. Now I can understand CM much better but I also know the limitations I have due to wrong sadhana so far. Now I focus on exposing my children by providing the right environment for them. They love their teacher, they are exposed in the right way, they are picking up very nicely and I am happy.

Now I realize that unless there is a critical mass of people around you also pursuing CM it is very difficult to get in to it (I don' t mean just learning a few songs). The constant exposure, the true love for it, good peers, a gentle push, all make a difference. Children are so adaptive and can pick up amazing amounts! I am constantly surprised by my children - oh! they got this also without my banging my head!

I hope that somehow the CM culture is revived in Andhra. The movie culture is definitely something that I cannot relate to and I believe that it has caused no improvement in people's lives. Once in a while I suppose its ok, but certainly not to emulate. There are so many nice shlokalu/padyalu in telugu that can be set to music. So some of the litererary people can be roped into music by collaborations. I will try to think of some more ideas. I realize that I have only expresses my feelings and not made any constructive suggestions.

Narayana,

Sampoorna.

[ganeshkant]

While we are all lamenting about the patronization for CM in A.P,should we not also look into the scene in T.N beyond Chennai?Except Trichy,Madurai and Coimbatore where there are concerts once in a while it is very dull in other parts of T.N.Except the concerts at Thiruvaiyaru once in a year during the aradhana,is there anything going in the name of concert there,I mean in Tanjore district ?May be once a year in Tiruvarur also there may be some sort of aradhana.

I remember in 1991 I attended concerts in Madurai for 2 days in Saurashtra bhajanai sabha.Who all sang U know ?Shri R.K.Shreekantan/G.S.Mani/Thiuvengadu Jeyaraman.There were about 30 people in total.What should be the state of affairs now,after 20 years!Just guess.

When we got an alliance for my second elder sister @ Kumbakonam I was very happy since that will give me a chance to go to Tanjore Dt.where I can meet culturally rich people.In fact I was reading Thi.Janakiraman's classic "Malar Manjam" (What a writing!can anyone else write like this !) during my semester holidays at our home in Ambasamudram when our father recd. the letter confirming the alliance.My sister is a grad.in Music from Raja's music college,Thiruviyaru and is a music teacher in a school.Unfortunately her in-laws never had any taste for music or any other art form.To my horror no one knew Thi.JA in their family.

When she sang "inthakan anandhamemi"in Nalungu the entire group shouted and asked her to sing a film song.I still remember the tear laden eyes of my sister looking at us painfully. This I have narrated to some of my close friends from Tanjore dt.and they empathized with me.

Things are not all that bad.Around 2 years back I went to Swamimalai for a marriage and went to the Murugan temple.The temple nAyana vidwan was playing the end lines of 'muruga murugavendru'in Saveri.I went and sat near him and just started listening.He next played a alapanai in 'Sankarabharanam' with sangathis pouring out like TNR.A group from Tiruvarur who had come for dharshan also joined me.I greeted him after listening for an hour.Just playing at the temple with such an amazing throw of air blended with great music.He may have a rasikas like us very occasionally.at least. Endharo mahAnu bhavulu.

So,I don't think the presence of Tamilians alone will make a conducive atmosphere for CM.Rather we remember and follow our culture more when we are away from our home land. The CM scene in Kerala is also o.k I believe.Apart from Trivandrum there is good patronization in Thrissur,Calicut.Kochi,Kottayam,etc.I don't think here again the cause is the Tamilian population.

[ganeshkant]

I know some people in other cities ( e.g. Mumbai ) view Chennai in less than favorable light for its CM short comings in spite of its status as the center of gravity for CM. But given such state of affairs in AP, we should be glad that Chennai is still holding the fort. I suppose in these such cases, it is better to be the big gorilla in the block and take the bashing in stride, than being empty and blameless.

Why ? I don't know.I lived in Mumbai for 5 years and when compared to Chennai it is nothing.Had it been better,I would have stayed in Mumbai.

[sivakami]

A good introductory program on TV by a young or a popular artist would help - for example, artists such as Sri Nedunuri or Malladi brothers or Sri TM Krishna. This program should be along the lines of Nada Nirajanam and can take popular Tyagaraja kritis or Tarangams or any other kritis in Telugu/Sanskrit language. I can guess that this may have been the intent of Sri Voleti when he started those radio classes on AIR.

Without any such active measures to propagate/encourage classical music in AP, the interest would dwindle..

In addition to NadaNeerajanam, there are 2 other programs in SVBC channel. A half-an-hour program called Nadopasana is telecast on tuesday night 9.30 to 10 PM, where Nedunuri garu teaches a kriti to some of his students - sometimes to the Malladi Brothers or Garimella Balakrishnaprasad or the other disciples - he explains briefly about the raga of that day, followed by the kriti-teaching part by part, finally the rendition of the whole song. next, every thursday night 10.30 -11 PM, SVBC shows Endaro Mahanubhavulu - This program features those who have dedicated their lives to devotional music.( I have not watched this!) .......
Thirdly Bhakti TV also telecasts a program called "Sobillu Sapthaswara" - on saturday and sunday between 8.30 - 9 PM - Here the Hyd Sisters, a Raga Education program as the say, take-up a particular ragam, explain about it, followed by rendition of several kritis in that ragam by both upcoming as well as senior artistes .. Each ragam is covered in 3-4 episodes I think.. This is re-telecast sometimes during late night times (IST), for benefit of people from other countries perhaps. Then there used to be Pahi RamaPrabho again in Bhakti TV, wherein exclusively Bh. ramadasu kritis are taught by Nedunuri garu to Malladi Brothers. It was a 45min. prog, at 12 noon on saturdays & again 4PM on sundays, which also included a Dasaradhi Satakam padhyam sung by malladi Suribabu garu. I am not sure whether its still telecast, as I am away during that time of the day... .I only wonder how many ( & who ) watch these programs......
The Hindu had described about these in an article in july (http://www.thehindu.com/arts/radio-and- ... 540172.ece)..

[srikrishna]

Sivakami,

Thank you. I was unaware of them. Next time I visit Hyderabad, I know what I should be looking for on TV.

[sivakami]

Thank you. I was unaware of them. Next time I visit Hyderabad, I know what I should be looking for on TV.

Fine, but why wait till you visit Hyd next time, you could also spread the word to people at home & other CM-loving friends now itself, because I realise not many are aware about these programs.....

[sramaswamy]

It is the internet age. You can watch the TV anywhere
Goto http://www.yupptv.com/ or http://telugutv.net and both these channels are free.