61st Heritage Music Festival at 8th Cross V.V. Mohalla

By Dr. Padmavathi Narasimhan

The 61st Heritage Music Festival of Sri Prasanna Vidya Ganapathi Mahotsava Charitable (SPVGMC) Trust — popularly known as 8th Cross Ganesha Music Festival — is ready with its artistes for the year. Established in 1962, the Trust has been celebrating Ganesha Festival in a meaningful way. The Trust has acquired the hues of a prestigious Sangeeta Sabha over the years.

The skeleton of the Ganapati pendal here is a permanent one occupying a small stretch of 8th Cross in V.V. Mohalla. Every year the pendal is constructed on this skeleton, into a rain-proof auditorium. Ganapati is installed in this pendal in front of which artistes perform on the platform.

8th Cross artistes span genres — D.K. Pattammal, Madurai Mani Iyer, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, K.V. Narayanaswamy, G.N. Balasubramanyam, S. Ramanathan, T. Chowdiah, R.K. Srikantan, N. Ramani, MSG, Kadri Gopalnath, T.N. Krishnan of the past have performed here. T.N. Seshagopalan, T.M. Krishna, Ronu Majumdar, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Bombay Jayshree, Nithyasree Mahadevan, Hyderabad Brothers, Malladi Brothers… and the list continues… Name the artiste and they have performed here. The flood of quality music is on here. Artistes yearn to come and perform here, not only for the prestige of the dais but because of the Mysuru audience who eagerly sit till 11 in the night to listen to the music. The artistes are prescribed the list of main items by the Secretary Himamshu to avoid repetition of the raga. RTP is a must and the artistes exhibit their talent enthusiastically before the eager audience. It is now the 61st year of this Heritage Music Festival.

As usual, the Festival is from the day of Ganesha Chaturthi, Aug. 31 and continues till Sept. 11. The concerts start at 6.45 sharp every evening. From Sept. 2 to 11, Gamaka Vachana is organised by various artistes across the State between 5.30 pm and 6.30 pm.

Like every year, the first day of the Music Festival begins with the auspicious Nadaswara Vadana by Vid. Rangaswamy who is a recipient of ‘Karnataka Kalashree’ award.

August 31

6.45 pm: Nagaswara by Vid. Rangaswamy. He will be accompanied by Keshava Mohan (violin), Vid. R. Nagesh (tavil) and Vid. Sai Shivu (mridanga).

September 1

6 pm: Inaugural Function. Shantakumar, Director, The Printers (Mysuru), Publisher, Prajavani and Deccan Herald, will inaugurate the music series. Jagannath Shenoy, President, SPVGMC Trust, will preside. Vasu, former MLA and patron, SPVGMC Trust, will be present. Ramesh Narasaiah, Assistant Commissioner, Commercial Tax, Mysuru, first recipient of the Chief Minister Tax Service Award, will be felicitated.

6.45 pm: Vid. T.M. Krishna will present a vocal concert with Vidu. Akkarai Subhalakshmi (violin), Vid. K.U. Jayachandra Rao (mridanga) and Vid. Vazhappally Krishnakumar (ghata).

September 2

5.30 pm: Rannana Gadayuddha – Bheemasena Pratignye. Vaachana: Ganesh Udupa and Vyakhyaana: Dakshinamurthy.

6.45 pm: Vocal recital by Akkarai Sisters — Vidushis Akkarai Subhalakshmi and Akkarai Swarnalatha. They will be accompanied by Vid. Vittala Rangan (violin), Vid. K.U. Jayachandra Rao (mridanga) and Vid. Vazhappally Krishnakumar (ghata).

September 3

5.30 pm: Rannana Gadayuddha-Duryodhana Vilapa. Vaachana by Annapoorna Nagendra and Vyakhyaana by Dakshinamurthy.

6.45 pm: Malladi Brothers — Vidwans Malladi Sriram Prasad and Malladi Ravikumar — will present vocal duet. They will be accompanied by Vid. Embar Kannan (violin), Vid. Arjun Kumar (mridanga) and Vid. G.S. Ramanujam (ghata).

September 4

5.30 pm: Shivatatva Chintamani – Ardhanareeshwara leele. Vaachana by Khasim Malligemaduvu and Vyakhyaana by Morabada Mallikarjuna.

6.45 pm: Piano-Bansuri concert by Vid. Anil Srinivasan and Pt. Pravin Godkhindi accompanied by Ananth R. Krishnan (mridanga).

September 5

5.30 pm: Mohana Tarangini – Kandarpaharaninda Bendudu. Vaachana by Dhanya and Vyakhyaana by Srinivasa Phani.

6.45 pm: Vocal concert by Vid. Abhishek Raghuram. He will be accompanied by Vid. H.N. Bhaskar (violin), Vid. Mannargudi Vasudevan (tavil) and Vid. Ananth R. Krishnan (mridanga).