Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore's Rabindra Sangeeth was instrumental in giving birth to light music, and stalwarts like K.L. Saigal, K.C. Dey and Pankaj Mallik being introduced to film music, according to All India radio Station Director M. Aditya Prasad. Speaking at the inauguration of the Regional Light and Folk Music Festival-2011, organised by Broadcasting Corporation of India, at G.V.R Government Music College grounds on Saturday, Mr. Prasad said the festival was conceived to introduce folk and light music of different languages and dialects. “In this festival, we have featured light music in Telugu and Malayalam, and folk songs in Telugu. This programme will be broadcast in the national programme of regional light and folk music on September 5 at 10 p.m.,” he added.
The evening began with light music compositions in Telugu by AIR's music composer Kalaga Krishna Mohan. Mr. Mohan, a top-grade composer, won many awards for his musical features. Garimella Balakrishna Prasad and N.C. Sridevi rendered songs such as “Ekkadidhi Entha Hayi”, “Komma Komma”, “Eruthalapula Elanamma” and “Yenimishaniki” which were well received by the packed audience. Rajakumar on Sitar, Rakesh and Baji on Keyboards, D. Samuel Raju on guitar and A. Venkata Ramana on electronic pads along with Israel and Prabhakar gave instrumental support.
Native fervour
Later, the audience enjoyed songs in Malayalam composed by K.V. Abooty, a graduate in both Carnatic and Hindustani style of music for over 40 years. Chengannur Sree Kumar and G.J. Roshini gave vocal support with N. Hari, M Saji, B. Pramodh Shenoy and M.K. Ramakrishnan offering instrumental support. Dr. Patri Kumara Swamy presented a couple of folk songs with native fervour, much to the delight of the music lovers. Mr. Swamy, an “A” grade folk music artiste of AIR performed number of folk music concerts in India and abroad.
