February 26 was a golden day for young musicians of Karnataka. It was the day of the release of Sangeetha Dhara – an audio compilation brought out by Ananya, Bangalore, featuring 29 young artistes from Karnataka. It is commendable to note that these artistes have excelled in music as well as in their chosen profession.
The chat show on AIR the previous day with Dr Raghavendra and two dynamic young artistes – Bharadwaj Sathavalli (percussionist) and B Lakshmi (violinist) had given a nice build-up to the event. As I rushed to Gayana Samaja beating the blues of a Sunday morning, my efforts seemed worth it to land amidst a bunch of friends who share the common love for music! It was our day, and hence the stage was ours too! Quickly polishing off the delicious breakfast, we rushed backstage to take things into our hands. Everything on stage was to be managed by us – right from the invocation to the vote of thanks. As the senior artistes began to arrive the heart thumps and the goosebumps took recedence backstage! Whispering pep talks amongst ourselves, we got into action.
The day’s programme began with a vocal concert by Kalavathy Avadhoot. She was accompanied by Nalina Mohan (violin), Krishna (mridangam) and Guruprasanna (khanjira). Music soothed the butterflies in our stomach to some extent. The concert was followed by the audio release. Two huge inspirations for the aspiring musicians of today in Karnataka, Mysore M Nagaraj and Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma were the dignitaries on stage. After invocation by Amrutha Venkatesh, Sahana Ramachandra welcomed the gathering. Manasi Prasad provided an insight into Sangeethadhara project. Renuka Prasad spoke on behalf of young artistes on music and young generation. Nagaraj released the CDs and cassettes. Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma presided over the function. To hear them vouching their support for Ananya’s ventures involving the youth was a reassuring feeling. Yours truly was pushed on stage for a hurried vote of thanks!
This was followed by a performance by Bellari M Raghavendra. He was accompanied by Mysore R Dayakar (violin), Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma (mridangam) and M Gururaj (morsing).
Sangeethadhara comes from Dr Raghavendra’s belief that young talents should be protected, nurtured and encouraged so that they blossom and spread the fragrance of music all around. Sangeethadhara attempts at fulfilling social responsibility at two levels – nurturing the young talents, and fulfiiling our responsibility towards the seniors who have served the field, through the proceeds of Sangeethadhara feeding into Ananya’s Arogyadhara (Ananya’s health help line for musicians).
It would have been nice if more young artistes had been present on the occasion. Each one of us who spoke on stage and to whom I spoke off stage that day echoed the same thoughts: a big thanks to Ananya and Dr Raghavendra. To have an organization like Ananya backing us is a huge morale booster for us, youngsters. This has filled in all of us a new enthusiasm to work together for the good of the field and to help ourselves grow as artistes… the satisfaction of having supported a worthy cause like Arogyadhara adding an extra glow
For CDs and cassettes, contact: Ananya Sangraha, 94/1, 16th Cross, West Park Road, Malleswaram, Bangalore – 55. email:gml_1980@vsnl.com
