The Guru Aaradhana of sadgurus Susarla Dakshinamurthy Sastri (99th vardhanthi) and Parupalli Ramakrishnaiah Pantulu (65th vardhanthi) was conducted for five days with great devotion by the Sishyas and Prasishyas of the legendary gurus at Sringeri Peetha Paripalita Sri Sivaramakrishna Kshetram, Vijayawada.
The gurus belonged to the musical lineage of Thyagaraja and Parupalli Ramakrishnaiah Pantulu produced innumerable sishyas in both vocal and instrumental music. In the morning of the first day a large number of Parupalli’s sishya prasishyas went in a procession to the statue of the great guru erected near Alankar Centre, performed ‘guru pooja’ and garlanded the statue.
The music concerts began in the evening. After several junior concerts, the major concert of the evening was presented by D.V. Mohanakrishna of Hyderabad who was supported by B.V. Durga Bhavani on the violin and N.S. Kalyanaraman on the mridangam. During the morning session of the second day the Pancharatna kirtana brinda ganam came as a highlight. Nearly 30 students of Ramakrishnaiah Pantulu participated in the ‘brinda ganam’ (group singing). This was followed by a melodious flute concert by Dronendra Phani Kumar. The evening concerts were rendered by Tulasi Viswanadh of Rajahmundry (vocal) and Annavarapu Ramaswami (violin solo). Veteran vidwan Annavarapu was supported on the violins by his senior disciples B.V. Durga Bhavani and K. Mahathi Priyanka. Percussion support was provided by B.V.S. Prasad (mridangam) and M. Haribabu (tavil). The final concert on the third day was presented by noted singer M. Anjana Sudhakar. She was accompanied by G. Satish Babu on violin and B. Suresh Babu on the mridangam.
Hemadri Chandrakant’s vocal concert also deserved mention. The violin duet presented by Durgabhavani and P.Nandakumar was well received. The duo was followed on the mridangam by K. Sadgurucharan. The vocal concerts by B.V. Vidya Sagar, Ragampudi Amulya and vidwan Modumudi Sudhakar came as highlights on the last day.
