Natyasruti, Bangalore presents special Music programme

[arasi]

An interesting series of four lectures is being hosted by Natyasruti, a dance and music school run by Sumitra Nitin in Bengaluru.

Venue: Heritage Academy Hall, Koramangala
Time: 6 PM

1: Saturday 25th June
Vikram Sampath: The Lords of 33 Villages--Mysore under the Vodeyars (1399-1950)

Vikram Sampath is the author of ''Splendor of Royal Mysore--the Untold Story of the Wodeyars" and "My Name Is Gauhar Jaan!--the Life and Times of A Musician".

2: Saturday 2nd July
Pradeep Chakravarthy: Saraswathy Mahal--India's Best Kept Secret!

Pradeep Chakravarthy is a prolific journalist who has more than a hundred articles to his credit, many of them about temples.

3: Sunday 3rd July
Dr. Chithra Madhavan: Chidambaram--its History, Art and Architecture

Dr. Chithra Madhavan is the author of The Culture of Tamil Nadu and other books on the Vishnu temples of India.

4: Saturday 9th July
V. Sriram: Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan--His Life and Times

V.Sriram writes regularly for newspapers and magazines. He is the author of "Carnatic Summer" and other absorbing books. He is also an engaging speaker.

[arasi]

Wonder if any from Rasikas.org attended. I remember that Vikram Sampath himself is a member.
There are three more lectures. Hope we get write ups about them.

[arasi]

Until I saw Braindrain's blog, I didn't realize that I had left out another feature of the lecture series
Students of Natyasruti present a short program relevant to the topic before each lecture. Children's performance adds more interest to the events. Wish I were there...

Sappri,
Hope you'll attend a few of them.

[Vikramsampath]

Thanks for posting this Arasi ! Yes it was a beautifully arranged programme, all thanks to the efforts of Sumitra Nitin, her husband Nitin and all the enthusiastic members of Natyasruti. As mentioned by you the students presented Muthiah Bhagavathar's Sri Mahaganapathe in Raga Malahari and danced to Veene Sheshanna's famous Chenchurutti Tillana 'Dhirana tana dhim ta dhirana' setting the mood of the Mysore court almost ! Looking forward to the other lectures in the series and hope Sumitra is able to have many more of these in future

Regards,
Vikram.

[arasi]

Nice to hear from you, Vikram! Glad you enjoyed being there as a speaker.
If Natyasruti does not mind and you don't, is it possible for you to share the event with us--your speech and the dance?Thanks!

[kssr]

Natyasruti’s unique Music programmes in Koramangala, Bangalore.

Smt. Sumitra Nitin is a well known carnatic musician and Bharatanatyam dancer in Koramangala. She heads the organization to promote both classical music and dance aptly named Natyasruti.

Over the last few years , Natyasruti has been conducting a variety of programmes including a recent lecture series by renowned persons.

One of their pioneering efforts, has been a special workshop on the Magnum Opus of Carnatic Music namely the 72 Mela Raga malika composed by Sri. Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan. It started during last year when veteran vocalist from Chennai, Sangita Kalanidhi Smt.R.Vedavalli was invited to Bangalore to teach a select group of students, the 72 Melaragamalika of Sri.Sivan. The teaching itself was carried out in two halves.

On completion of the course, the first half consisting of 36 Suddhamadhyama ragas were rendered by Smt.Vedavalli’s students on 27th June 2010. Smt.Vedavalli herself was present during the presentation and spoke about the intricacies of the ragamalika. Each raga consists of the lyrics which has the name of the raga embedded in it, followed by a brief chittaswara in that raga. This is linked to the chittaswara of the second raga followed by the sahitya of the second raga and so on.

On 9th July 2011, Natyasruti had arranged a lecture by eminent musical historian Sri.V.Sriram from Chennai who talked for more than an hour about the greatness of the author of the musical piece, Sri.Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan. It was a biographical presentation covering his family, musical career and achievements. After the lecture, the students of Smt.Vedavalli presented the second half of the Melaragamalika consisting of 36 pratimadhyama ragas.

Such unique efforts to promote and popularize difficult and rare carnatic music pieces, by organizations like Natyasruti and specifically Smt.Sumitra Nitin needs the appreciation and support of all music lovers. The entire event was a treat to the Bangalore rasikas of carnatic music.

Participants in the group rendering of the Melaragamalika on 9th July 2011 are (as seen in the photo from L to R):

Sri. Sudarshan Chakravarthy- Mridangam, Sri.Kiran- Kanjira, Sri.R.Vasudevan, Master Vikram, Smt. Harini Raghavan, Smt. Sumitra Nitin, Kumari. Sriranjani,
Smt. Chitra Srikanth, Smt. Ramya Narasimhan and Smt. Annapoorni Subramanian – Violin.

[arasi]

Good to see your post, kssr. Thanks for the photograph too. Congratulations to Sumitra Nitin and to her students at Natyasruthi and thanks to the speakers who gave the lectures. I have seen her students dance (very impressive) in your hall once.

Mods,
There is already a thread on this where Vikram Sampath who was one of the speakers had posted. If someone else who was present at some (or one) of the other lectures wants to post, bringing the two threads will help.Thanks!

[vasanthakokilam]

Merged.

[arasi]

Thank you, VK!

[sappri]

Arasi - So sorry that I saw your post of the 27th only now - Sumitra had emailed me - bad traffic and bad health kept me away from this fantastic series.