Mysuru: While the city’s weather this morning was hot and humid, it was soothing and pleasant at Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda (SGS) Ashrama as renowned Karnatak Classical musicians converged to take part in the inauguration of the five-day 48th Senior Music Scholars and 30th Young Music Scholars’ State-Level Convention.

The Convention is jointly organised by Karnataka Ganakala Parishat, Bengaluru and Avadhoota Datta Peetham, Mysuru. The artistes will be performing at the Nada Mantapa within the  Ashrama premises.

The mega musical event coincides with the 75th Vardhanti of Sri Ganapathy Swamiji.

Sri Ganapathy Seer inaugurated the Convention by playing a gold-plated Veena and later lighting the traditional lamp.

Later, Karnataka Ganakala Parishat President Vid. R.K. Padmanabha, in his introductory remarks, said that the Convention that was restricted just to Bengaluru was being held in Mysuru after a gap of 23 years.

Stating that the respect and encouragement given to artistes by the Ashrama was hard to find in rest of the country, he added that college students must come to hear seminars to learn more about Karnatak music and watch renowned musicians performing at the convention.

Addressing the gathering, Vidu. T.S. Vasanthamadhavi, President of 48th Senior Music Scholars Convention, said that it was important to respect parents and teachers. Stating that they learnt only 300 kirtanas in 18-19 varnas, she said that currently she was able to teach more than 2,000 kirtanas in 65-70 varnas.

Vasanthamadhavi, calling upon music students to cultivate the habit of practising music, mentioned, “Earlier, music lessons were taught 5-days a week but today we have come across the classes being held only once in a week.” She also called upon people to respect and identify talented musicians from our State before learning music from artistes from other States.

Former MLC G. Madhusudhan released a souvenir on the occasion. SGS Ashrama Junior Pontiff Sri Datta Vijayananda Theertha Swamiji, Convention Technical Committee President Vidu. R.N. Srilatha, Senior Karnatak Classical vocalists Vid. Dr. K. Vageesh, Vid. T.S. Pattabhirama Pandit and M.V. Sampath Kumar Sharma were present.

Prior to the inauguration, Vid. R. Rangaswamy and Vid. R. Sridhar presented Naadaswara recital followed by ‘Dolu’ recital by Vid. S. Puttaraju and Vid. P. Vinay. Later, students of Music University recited compositions of Muthuswami Dikshitar and Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji, accompanied by Vid. Keshava (violin), Vid. Raghunandan (mridanga) and Vid. Neetu Ninaad (flute).

The convention will feature renowned senior and young music scholars presenting concerts and taking part in the seminars on various music topics.

Today’s programme will feature Vocal recital by Vidu. T.S. Vasanthamadhavi accompanied by Ganakala Sri Vidu. Nalina Mohan on violin, Vid. N. Vasudeva on mridanga and Vidu. Sukanya Ramagopal on ghata from 4.45 pm to 6.45 pm; Nadaswara by Vid. S. Kasim and Vid. S. Babu; Dolu by Vid. Udumalpet M. Anguswamy and Vid. M. Vijay Kumar – 7 pm to 9 pm.