Vishwa Sangeeta Dinaacharane, the World Music Day Festival (June 21), was celebrated on Saturday by the Karnataka Sangeeta Nritya Academy (KSNA) and the Department of Kannada & Culture with variety music, preceded by talks on ‘the role of music’ at the Kannada Bhavana. “Dedicating the day to R.K. Srikantan and R.R. Keshavamurthy, T.G. Narasimhamurthy, registrar, KSNA, said: “This get-together is for sincere contemplations and celebrations on music.”
After formally inaugurating the event, the chief guest, renowned nonagenarian flautist B. Shankara Rao said: “If there is one common language understood by the entire world, it is that of music. This calls for a dedicated commemoration.” Mr. Rao explained that our classical genres are rooted in Jaanapada Parampare and the divine melodic derivatives are a panacea for ills of the human body and mind, just as music enhances personality development in an individual. “The toddler in my house stops crying when I play the flute,” he said.
“But do we really require such ‘commemorative days’ that push us into following a thought which sounds more engineered than natural?” wondered R.V. Raghavendra of Ananya Cultural Academy, in his keynote address. “Music is deeply ingrained in every household in India. It is our responsibility to nurture and propagate the same in responsible academic ways, rather than formalising our actions into patterned events,” he said. He emphasised the importance of disseminating the sumptuousness inherent in our classical genres.
K.A. Dayanand, Director, Dept. of Kannada & Culture, said we are falling in line with the thought introduced in France in 1982 to make music reach the common man on the street.
It was KSNA President Gangamma Keshavamurthy’s enjoyable Gamaki presentation with ‘Saangatya Padya’ that transported people to India’s melodic ancestry, setting the stage for the cultural programme presented by Ramanna Bhajantri (shehnai), Ratnamala Prakash & Srinivas Udupa (sugama sangeeta), Jyotsna Manjunath (violin) and G.H. Amrutavarshini (Carnatic vocal).
