Marking the 69th anniversary of Sangitha Vidwath Sabha, the annual Sankranthi Music and Dance Festival wasorganised at Suryakala Mandiram in Kakinada. With the sudden demise of Munuganti Srirama Murthy, 90, founder secretary of the sabha a couple of days before the commencement of the festival, the event began with a commemoration meet to recall the services rendered by the founder secretary to the field of classical music. Senior as well as up and coming artistes from South India participated in the festival that witnessed two performances a day. Besides the classical music concerts, Harikatha and classical dance performances also enthralled the audience.
Two separate troupes performed dance ballets in ‘Bhajan’ tradition that gave an entirely new experience to the connoisseurs. ‘Rukminikalyanam’ performed by Hyderabad-based J.S. Eswar Prasad and troupe depicted the love that blossomed between Lord Krishna and Rukmini and how their weddingwas performed. Unlike the Kuchipudi dance ballets, the artistes here had not gone for makeup and jewellery. Clad in dhoti and shawl, three artistes played all the roles, while the singers and instrumentalists rendered the vocal support. Eswar Prasad’s performance as Rukmini is noteworthy.
Another ballet in the same tradition was the most famous Nowka Charitra performed by Rajahmundry-based Y. Lalitha Sindhuri and troupe. The troupe depicted the voyage of Lord Krishna into Yamuna in a boat along with the gopikas. Here, the artistes opted for makeup. Though it was like a Kuchipudi ballet, Lalitha Sindhuri said that she herself choreographed it in the ‘Bhajan’ tradition. ‘Thyagaraja Charitra Kathaganam,’ a Harikatha performance by M.V. Simhachala Sastry of Tirupati won accolades from theatre lovers.
Among the music concerts, Chennai-based T.M. Krishna’s vocal and Varanasi-based Partho Choudhury and troupes ‘Nada Ganga Hindusthani Vadya Sammelan’ received louder applause from the audience. The event began with M.M.M. Praveen Kumar’s vocal concert. Senior artistes like Subhashini Parthasarathy of Chennai and youngsters such as Ch. Ramya Kiranmayi of Visakhapatnam and P. Charumathi Pallavi of Vijayawada enthralled the audience with their vocal performances.
