The long-awaited National-level Festival of Classical Dance and Music of veterans, the 33rd edition Parangathotsava-2019 was inaugurated by Madhuri Thathachari, Managing Trustee of Bhramara Trust of YT and Madhuri Thathachari, Mysuru, on Dec.28, 2019 and Presided by K.V. Murthy, President of VPAC.

After the inauguration, Dr. Vasundhara Doraswamy presented Bharatanatyam in Vasundhara Bani titled ‘Sanmarga,’ adopting the compositions of Vaggeyakaras of Mysore Darbar Vid. Mysore Vasudevacharya, Vid. Veene Seshanna, Vid. Muthiah Bhagavathar, Vid. Venkatagiriyappa and others. During varna, she adopted the composition of Vid. Sadashivaraya here (Emagova Bhodinchar), neatly executed Nritta, Nritya, Abhinaya and Sancharies which was a treat to the Dance Rasikas. Vid. Veene Seshana’s  ‘Kapadu Thaye’ composition was impressive.

The 2-hour solo presentation kept the audience mesmerised and after the programme, the audience voluntarily gave her a standing ovation in appreciation of her presentation. She was accompanied on vocal by Vid. Dr. P. Rama, mridanga by Vid. H.L. Shivashankarswamy, flute by Vid. Krishna Prasad, natuvanga by Vid. Sujay Shanbhog.

The second day, on 29th, Vid. O.S.  Thyagarajan from Chennai, the descendant of Saint Thyagaraja Parampare, said to be the seventh generation disciple, confined his Karnatak vocal to Saint Thyagaraja’s composition and concluded with Saint Bhadrachala Ramadasu composition. He was ably assisted by Vid. Ravishankar (mridanga), Vid. Karthik (violin) and Vid. Sharath Kaushik  (ghata).

On 30th, the world famous Hindustani clarinet player Pt. Narasimhalu Vadavati commenced with Hindustani Classical compositions in Madhuvanti Jap and Teental bandish, continued with Kalavathi Ragamalika. Though clarinet is a western instrument, Pt. Narasimhalu Vadavati has mastered the art of presenting it in the Hindustani Classical style.

To entertain the audience during the end of his performance, he played Meera Bhajan (Mat jaa mat jaa jogi) and Saint Purandaradasa’s (Thamburi meetidava). He concluded his days programme with popular Bhairavi. He was accompanied on tabla Pt. Keshava Joshi, clarinet by Kumara Venkatesha Raya Vadavati and Pt. Narhari. 

On the concluding day of the Festival, Mysore Ananth from USA, a young and an upcoming artiste, rendered Karnatak Classical music accompanied by Vid. Raghunandan (mridanga) and Shruthi (violin). His rendering was receptive and impressive.

The highlight of the day was Gajendramoksham by Vidu. Kalamandalam Prashanthi in Nangiar Koothu (solo female performance of Koodiyattam). This presentation was full of satvika abhinaya and she narrated the story of Gajendramoksham involving the Pandya King Indradyuma and Huhu with several Sanskrit shlokas since the Koodiyattam is a Sanskrit theatre.

Finally, the Lord Vishnu appears riding on the Garuda and rescues Gajendra after slaying crocodile, thus both Gajendra and Huhu attain moksha. She kept the audiences spell-bound with her agile one-and-a-half hour solo performance. Her performance was a moving poetry on the stage.

—Gemini