Commemorating the 446th death anniversary of Purandhara Dasa, who not only sang thousands of lyrics extempore displaying his devotion to Lord Purandhara Vithala but also formulated systematic syllabi for Carnatic music, members of Kannada Sangha organised his aradhana at their auditorium Kaveri last Sunday. Lighting of the lamp by the president of the sangha, G. Sri Rama, followed by rendering of bhajans individually and in groups by the members, marked the morning session.
The evening session got off to a devout start with the musical rendering of lyrics of the saint singer by young sisters Lalitha and Lavanya. Then followed a two-hour recital of the lyrics of Purandhara Dasa by Swetha Venkatesh from Bangalore. She had excellent support on violin by J.V.S. Prasad and M. Sridhar on mridangam.
A scion of a family of musicians, Swetha, after initial training from M.S. Vidya and Dr. T.S. Satyawathi, honed her skills under the able guidance of one of the Rudrapatram brothers, Tyagarajan. A graded vocal artiste of Akashvani, she rendered many a concert all over the South.
Swetha chose to sing as many as one and half dozens of keertans of Purandhara Dasa in as many ragas. Expansive expatiation of Venkataramana Baro (Saveri), Yenu Dhanyalo Lakumi (Todi) and Jagadodharana (Kapi), scrupulously following the format of exposition of Carnatic music stood out attracting loud applause. Her expression of manodharma by way of alapana of the raga, neravu in the two tempos followed by swarakalpana on similar lines not only was assertively erudite but also invigoratingly surfaced the emotions embedded in the compositions.
