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SUFFUSED WITH DEVOTION

Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations’ Thyagaraja Aaradhana was redolent with the spirit of supplication
Among the many Thyagaraja Aaradhana Utsavams organised in January, was the Sri Thyagaraja Aaradhanotsavam Bantureethi Ghana Raga Pancharatna Kirtanalu programme organised by the local chapter of the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations at Shivam in Hyderabad.

The choice of the title itself was interesting. Bantureethi Koluveeyavayya Rama is a well known Hamsanaadam raga composition wherein Thyagaraja beseeches Lord Rama to give him the honour of being in his service like an attendant.

The Bantureethi title was not only in keeping with the ‘Service to Man is Service to God’ motto propagated by Sri Sathya Sai Baba. The musicians too performed as if they were seeking the privilege of singing the exquisite Pancharatna Kirtanas as a service to Rama and the composer himself.
It was an evening of mellifluous music by well-known artistes with hundreds of music-lovers, both the laity and the learned among the audience, joining in with the on-stage musicians.

The event commenced with Unchhavritthi with Kota Sivakumar donning Thyagaraja vesham , followed by a procession of devotees and artistes performing. Bhajans followed. Vasireddy Amarnath, Founder-Director, Slate, the School and musician Padmasri Dr.  Sobha Raju graced the occasion.

The auspicious Nadaswaram was rendered by A Purushottam and his team of musicians. An ensemble of veena artistes led by Rayaprolu Sudhakar put up a melodious show called Panchaveena Jhari. The other vainikas were Veluri Lakshmi Geeta, DVLN Sastry, Avadhanam Srilakshmi and LVSS Devi.

Then followed the Pancharatna Goshti Gaanam aka Brindaganam. Among the lead singers were well-known musicians Seshulatha Vishwanath, Shanti Mylavarapu, Lavanya Latha, A Purushottam, Vasa Gopinadha Rao, Gyanambal, Sheikh Khaja Imdad, etc. The vainikas also joined in.
Seshulatha began the group singing with a hymn in praise of Thyagaraja beginning with Vyaso Naigama Charchaya.

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The accompanists for all the music programmes were P Durga Kumar (mridangam), SV Ramana Murthy (violin), Gurazada Sivaram (flute) and Bulusu Ravi Kumar (ghatam).
The rendition of the Pancharatna Kirtanas was punctuated by commentary on the same by Kota Sivakumar, one of the lead singers. He gave a brief explanation of the background to each composition.
Sivakumar also provided interesting snippets of information on Thyagaraja’s life as well as the generous patronage provided to Carnatic music by the spiritual guru Sri Sathya Sai Baba.
The Pancharatna Goshti Gaanam ended with Seshulatha rendering a mangalam Kakarlavamsha Sambhootha (Suruti) written by Walajapet Venkataramana Bhagavathar and tuned by ‘Sangeetha Kalanidhi’ Nedunuri Krishnamurthy. Musician Padmasri Dr. Sobha Raju paid tribute to Thyagaraja with herHarathi.