Thyagaraja music fest off to a melodious start

Sri Thyagaraja Sangeeta Aradhanotsavams of Sangeeta Sanmandali commenced on a ceremonious note with a Nadaswaram recital by T Prakash and T Balamurali Krishna at Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao Government Music and Dance College in the city on Monday.

As a musical tribute to the Composer Sri Thyagaraja, Popuri Gayatri Gowrinath presented an impressive vocal concert. He rendered `Anupama Gunambudhi’ in Athana Ragam, `Kaddanuvariki’ in Todi Ragam and other Keerthanas which were well applauded by music lovers.

The concert was ably supported by Popuri Charumati Pallavi on violin and P Srirama Charan on mridangam. It was followed by a melodious flute recital by Jayaprada Ramamurthy of Hyderabad who started off with `Bantu Reeti Koluviyavayya’ in Hamsanadam Ragam.

Peravali Sundarakumar of Guntur and Parupalli Balasubrahmanyam of Tirupati lent instrumental support to the recital on violin and mridangam. The vocal concert of CVP Sastry featured `Ethavunara’ in Kalyani Ragam, `Nee Daya Rada’ in Vasanta Bhairavi Ragam and other Keerthanas. He was ably supported by N Ch Buchayacharyulu on violin and Parupalli Subbaraya Phalgun on mridangam.

The first day of the week-long music festival to commemorate the birth anniversary of Thyagaraja, concluded with a violin duet by Bhavani and Nandakumar which featured `Manavi Alakincha Radate’ in Nalinakanthi Ragam and `Yenta Muddo Yenta Sogaso’ in Bindumalini Ragam and other Keerthanas.

K Anil Kumar on mridangam and Haribabu on ghatam lent good support to the violin duet. Noted musicians Pemmaraju Surya Rao and Kowtha Priyamvada, philosopher Mallapragada Srimannarayana Murthy and others participated in the inaugural function of the music festival.