Seen 1,500 artistes on stage at a go?
That’s exactly what the 15-year-old music institution -- Sangeetha Sambhrama -- is all set to do with Purandarotsava -- a celebration of Purandaradasa’s 450th birth anniversary. The event will be celebrated on October 10, at 5.30 p.m. in Jayanagar at Shalini Grounds.
Steered by musician P. Ramaa, the exercise of bringing together so many artistes on stage was to “serve the cause of music. This was an informal way of expressing our devotion towards Purandaradasa, who’s considered the father of Carnatic music. At the event we will present his set of “Navarathna Maalika compositions”.
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Ramaa feels that the Pancharatna Kirtana of Tyagaraja is taken up at his Aradhane every year in Goshti Gaana (collective rendering), this year the Purandara Aradhane, she thought, can feature the composer’s “Navarathna Maalika” -- the nine gems that bring forth educative, spiritual and morals drawn from our epics and mythology. “Even during the Tyagaraja Aradhane, as a mark of respect towards our master architect of Carnatic music’s beginner’s lessons, Purandaradasa’s Pillari Geethe precedes the Pancha Rathna rendering. It is this respect of continuity that demands his exceptionally creative nine-song series “Navarathna Maalika” to be taken up for the event. I request Carnatic musicians to popularize him through his masterpieces,” says Ramaa.
It hasn’t been easy for her to take up this “mammoth exercise”.
She proposed the idea to Government schools in Bengaluru where she teaches Carnatic music and managed to get a few hundred students to be a part of the show.
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Music teachers all over Karnataka were also contacted to send in their students, and musicians from Bhajana Mandalis all over the state also came forward.
“We have all practiced together in playgrounds and through recordings for the last six months,” says Ramaa who wished it would set a Limca Record.
“We will also receive some aid from the Kannada & Culture Department.”
“As a huge stage was a pre-requisite for this kind of mass rendition, we contacted Jayanagar MLA Vijaykumar and Corporator Malathi Somashekhar who allotted Shalini Grounds at the Chandragupta Maurya Stadium in Jayanagar for the show,” she explains.
The event will be telecast live by Shankara TV Channel.