By Dr. Rama V. Bennur

November of 2018 was unique with regard to music. Apart from celebrating the Kannada Rajyotsava, three music conferences marked the beginning of this month. While two conferences were held in Bengaluru, one was held in Mysuru. Karnataka Ganakala Parishat’s annual music conference and Veenatattva Prakashika-2, the second international Veena conference were held at Bengaluru. It was a moment of joy for Mysuru music lovers as two reputed musicians from Mysuru were the conference Presidents held at Bengaluru. Mysore A. Chandan Kumar was the President of Young Musicians Conference of Ganakala Parishat and Dr. S. Vijayaraghavan was the President of Veena Conference.

Samskara Bharati, an all India cultural organisation aimed at preserving Indian culture, tradition and all art forms, held its Rashtriya Yuva Sangeetotsava from Nov.1 to 4 at Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Aashrama of Mysuru. This young musicians conference was aimed at bringing all young artistes of India together with the theme of ‘Universal Harmony and Environmental Conservation.’ This conference, which was held in association with Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Ashrama, did attract many youngsters from different parts of India. It was indeed a rare opportunity to listen to various forms of Indian art.

The conference was inaugurated by Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar in the divine presence of Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji and Sri Datta Vijayananda Teertha Swamiji and Padma Shree Baba Yogendraji,  Sansthapak Sangathan Mantri of Samskara Bharati,  presided. Minister of Higher Education G.T. Devegowda, Krishnadevaraya of Anegundi, MP Pratap Simha, renowned Film Director T.S. Nagabharana, Ameerchand, All India General Secretary, Samskara Bharati and Dr. Deepak Shantharam Kirawadakar, Director, South-Central Zone, Ministry of Culture, Government of India, were the chief guests. In all, 13 eminent artistes were felicitated during this occasion.

This musical extravaganza included both Hindustani and Karnatak classical, Instrumental, ensembles, Harikathe, Bhajan, Gamaka and other art forms.

Among the instruments, saxophone and tabla tarang were included apart from the usual veena, sitar and violin. There was also a rare instrument ‘Taar Shehnai’ played by young Isher Singh Namdhari, accompanied by Nishanth kumar Singh on tabla. This instrument was a combination of sarod, sitar and shehnai!

The rich voice of Anjali Gayakwad, child prodigies like Soorya Gayathri and Rahul Vellal stole the show. All the four days were studded with programmes. Young artistes, local and from outside participated whole heartedly and made the conference a grand success. There were two panel discussions too.

Kudos to all the organisers who have worked hard to achieve ‘Universal Harmony and Environment Conservation.’