If you thought Bengaluru and Mysuru were cities that offered maximum opportunities in the classical Carnatic genre, think again. For, Dakshina Kannada district is fast catching up. Which, perhaps, explains the finalists of the ‘Sangeet Yaatra’ TV reality show on Sri Sankara TV; six out of the 10 finalists are from Dakshina Kannada.
The 10 finalists, in the Junior and Senior categories, would be “on their exam platform” at Gayana Samaja in Bengaluru on April 4. Conceptualised by the World Music Conservatory (WMC), this classical music competition for Karnataka, being aired since January, is a trend-setter aimed at taking classical streams to a wider audience.
Says Sangeetha Srikishen, who heads WMC, “Even as we announced the competition in classical Carnatic, we were besieged with thousands of applications that forced us to conduct auditions in Bengaluru, Mysuru and Udupi. Hundreds were from Dakshina Kannada that today boasts of some diligent, modest teachers and musicologists silently training young enthusiasts. Although the finals would be telecast only in May, we thought a live audience would add a qualitative difference to the show, if not a zing to the tunes of the young.”
