After a gap of nearly two months, cultural activity in Vijayawada took off in full swing with the 22nd anniversary music festival of Swarajhari Sabha. The three-day musical feast was arranged at Sri Sivaramakrishna Kshetram. The anniversary function was presided over by versatile scholar and president of Swarajhari, T.S. Ramachandra Rao, and the other guests were Jandhyala Shanker, former mayor of the city, and C.V.K. Prasad, a patron of arts.
The highlight of the inaugural function was the felicitation of veteran vocal vidwan K.V. Brahmanandam, a senior disciple of late M.S. Balasubramanya Sarma. In his distinguished career, Brahmanandam received many titles and accolades from many sabhas in the country. With his vibrant and strong voice, he inherited the style of his guru. Brahmanandam gave an extensive but a fitting reply to his felicitation.
The function was followed by an engaging concert by K.V. Brahmanandam who began with a fine varnam in Gambhira Nata composed by Balamuralikrishna. The varnam was followed by his guru's composition in Revathi, Sri Balasubramanya , with a brief alapana. He next sang the Pancharatna kirtana Endaro in Sriragam with fine lyrical clarity.
Brahmanandam revealed his best in the main item, a composition of Valajipeta Venkataramana Bhagavathulu, said to be the seniormost disciple of Thyagaraja, in the ragam Jyothiswaroopini, a pratimadhyama melakarta raga. The raga, niraval and swaras were rendered with admirable command over the vivadi raga. He was finely supported on the violin by Palaparthi Nageswara Rao and M. Vijayakumar on the mridangam. Towards the close of his concert Brahmanandam rendered several devotional songs including Govinda Govinda in Brindavani, Bhajare Guru Daivam (Sindu Bhairavi) and the Annamayya keertana Venkatachala Nilayam .
