A series of music concerts and programmes have been lined up by the Nadabrahma Sangeetgha Sabha to mark the 150th birth anniversary of music composer Mysore Vasudevacharya, commencing on Thursday. .
The programmes will feature a music concert by Bellary M. Raghavendra, which will be inaugurated by V. Nanjunda Murthy, Regional Manager, State Bank of India, Mysuru. This will be followed by a Veena Gana Sambrahma on Friday and Saturday as a tribute to M.J. Srinivasa Iyengar, who was one of the exponents of Veena of the famed Mysore school during the latter half of the 20th century.
A release said students, music lovers and family members of M.J.S. Iyengar had instituted an endowment at Sri Nadabrahma Sangeetha Sabha and the fourth edition of the ‘Veena Gana Sambhrama’ would be held on May 20th and 30th. It would feature a concert by B. Shivakumar on Friday and the second day’s concert would be presented by M.K. Saraswathi, on Saturday.
The release said that M.J.S. Iyengar was trained under the master tutor Veena Venkatagiriyappa, who carried forward the Mysore style of Veena recital of eminent musician Veene Sheshanna. Srinivasa Iyengar is credited with bringing in revolutionary modifications in the Veena playing style by adopting techniques leading to more of gamakas, a characteristic of ‘gayakee style’ of music. He was a renowned teacher and trained many illustrious artistes including A.S. Padma, M.K. Saraswathi, Mysore S. Rajalakshmi. Sudha Vadiraj and S.V. Sahana.
On May 31st, the 150th birth anniversary programme would feature a talk on the life of Mysore K. Vasudevacharya by S. Krishna Murthy, retired Director of All India Radio, followed by a rendition of Sanskrit compositions of the musician by Sukanya Prabhakar. This would be followed by a presentation of Ragamalika kritis of Mysore Vasudevacharya by Koviladi R. Kala. There would be a music ensemble by H.L. Shivashankarswamy, followed by Varnas of Mysore Vasudevacharya by Neeraja Achuta Rao. There would be a rendition of the compositions, based on Hindustani ragas, by R.N. Sreelatha, after which Bellary M. Raghavendra would present tillanas of the composer.
