Category Archives: Records, All

Mangalore musicians Ashwin Shriyan and Nishith Hegde come up with new single

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

Ashwin and Nishith, apart from composing jingles, have worked with several Hindi film singers

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Ashwin Shriyan and Nishith Hegde have known each other since 2010. The two were a part of their respective metal bands then. The former as a bassist-producer-composer and the latter, primarily a guitarist. And, they have been working together on and off until last year when they started Nash Productions that primarily makes ad jingles. The musicians from Mangalore never released a single. One wonders why it took a decade and a pandemic to release their first, ‘Ye Pal’, which will be out on major audio streaming platforms in the first week of June.

Ashwin clarfies, “We were actually done with composing a year ago. We planned to make a bunch of songs, approach a director and get into film music. We had some ad work, which stalled the release. When we saw a lot of independent musicians releasing their tracks, we got inspired and decided we’ll release this one.”

He got the idea for ‘Ye Pal’ after watching The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) wherein the protagonist Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller), who is used to a monotonous life, sets out on an extraordinary adventure. The song, too, is kind of a dream-realising act for Ashwin and Nishith.

Nishith, who has sung the song, says, “I immediately liked the idea of the song when Ashwin told me about it. We have always been working on others’ ideas or creative inputs. For the first time, we were doing something that was our own.” Ashwin’s friend Shardul Yadav wrote the lyrics and another friend, Prasanna Suresh, programmed the song.

“It was easier for us to work on a song than to make jingles,” says Nishith. “Song-writing is something that comes naturally to us. With jingles, the message is more important. You are supposed to convey a certain emotion within a short time. A song on the other hand gives you more freedom.”

Ashwin and Nishith have worked on jingles for brands including Mastercard, Cadbury India, Renault and Van Huesen. The duo, apart from composing jingles, have worked with several Hindi film musicians including Amit Mishra, Siddharth Mahadevan, Akasa Singh, Jonita Gandhi and Nikita Gandhi.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Entertainment> Music / by Praveen Sudevan / May 26th, 2020

Tulu poems and renditions trending on Facebook

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

A screenshot of the #Tulukabhite campaign started by writer-cum-artiste Shashiraj Kavoor on Facebook.

A screenshot of the #Tulukabhite campaign started by writer-cum-artiste Shashiraj Kavoor on Facebook.

It Is not just #samyochane [a campaign initiated by music composer Pravin D. Rao] that is trending on Facebook. #Tulukabithe, by writer-cum-artiste Shashiraj Kavoor, is catching the attention of poets, writers, singers and music lovers on the social networking site.

The campaign was started by Mr. Kavoor on April 23 inviting writers to upload their poems, to which musicians are responding in their style.

The campaign features not just new poems but even those of well-known writers such as Kayyar Kiyanna Rai, Amruth Someshwar and Mandara Keshava Bhat.

Mr. Kavoor, an advocate and who has been a lyricist for many Tulu films and has two Tulu poem collections to his credit, said that the idea of starting the campaign came to him after he saw how two of his Kannada poems were rendered by four singers in the #samyochane campaign.

“This made me start the present campaign to showcase the richness of Tulu literature. Apart from a new touch to the popular Tulu poems, singers have presented new poems in a way that reflects the ethos of this land,” he said and appreciated the support of 20,000 friends [on Facebook] for the success of the campaign.

“Some of the videos of the songs posted on my FB wall have more than 2,000 views,” he said.

Among the songs with a good number of views include the Tulu lullaby Tunkuve Tottil… by Narayana Kille sung by Supriya Raghunandan. Songs by Pallavi Prabhu, Ravindra Prabhu, Muralidhar Kamat, Pramod Sapre and “Mime” Ramdas have also been well received.

“I am continuing this campaign till the end of the lockdown. Anybody with interest in Tulu art and music can take part,” he added.

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Shashiraj Kavoor started #Tulukabithe after two of his poems were rendered on #samyochane campaign

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source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / by Raghava M / Mangaluru – May 29th, 2020

NLSIU alumni help migrant workers travel from Mumbai to Ranchi

Education, Records, All

Arrange charter flight on Sunday; another to Bhubaneshwar planned for Wednesday

Joining in citizens’ efforts to help stranded migrant workers reach home, alumni of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru successfully sent home 180 workers from Mumbai to Ranchi on Sunday. This was the second chartered flight arranged by the alumni between the two destinations; the first one on May 28 helped 174 people reach home.

The ‘NLS mission aahan vahaan’ was conceptualised by the NLSIU Bengaluru batch of 2000. One of them, Priyanka Roy, who now has a corporate law practice in Mumbai, told The Hindu that they decided to focus on regions that are not easily accessible from Mumbai.

“There is a huge database of workers from every State. We were largely concentrating on the eastern States because they are not easily accessible from Mumbai. On Wednesday, another flight will carry workers from Mumbai to Bhubaneshwar,” she said.

The alumni ruled out buses and railways as the former would mean long and tedious journeys while the latter would end their intervention with handing over a list of names to the authorities concerned.

“We wanted to make a meaningful intervention and fill in the gap. So we started talking to airlines. We decided to charter flights. The Jharkhand government has been making great arrangements for last-mile connectivity due to which people are able to reach home in 24 hours. We are working with a lot of NGOs too,” Ms. Roy said.

On Sunday’s flight, there were infants as young as 17 days old, as well as a senior citizen, who does not even own a phone but was able to reach the airport after a cab was arranged for her.

The first flight was entirely crowd-funded by the NLS alumni network, but since then they have been getting funding from corporates and others for subsequent initiatives.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Staff Reporter / May 31st, 2020

Two Mangaluru hospitals get ICMR nod for COVID-19 testing

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology

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Experts from both hospitals have been trained at NIMHANS

Father Muller Medical College Hospital in the city and K.S. Hegde Hospital in Deralakatte have received approval from ICMR for conducting COVID-19 sample tests.

The laboratories at both the hospitals have begun conducting RT-PCR method of testing for COVID-19.

Experts from both the hospitals have undergone special training at NIMHANS, which is the mentor institute for COVID testing in the State, the hospitals said in separate press releases.

The release from Father Muller Medical College Hospital said that the test will be done only for suspected cases as per ICMR protocol on prescription by physicians with proper documentation using ICMR RT-PCR app.

A dedicated kiosk for sample collection is also available at the hospital for out-patients. Specimens are transported to the laboratory through proper cold chain and safety protocols, the release said.

K.S. Hegde Hospital said that Amit Kelgi from its Department of Microbiology has been appointed as the Nodal officer of the testing facility The Viral Transport Medium would be provided to all recognised health centres free of cost to collect the throat swab sample. Tests will be done at affordable cost as per government guidelines and test results will be reported by expert staff on the same day, the release said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mangaluru / by Special Correspondent / Mangaluru – May 23rd, 2020

Ananya Cultural Academy celebrates its silver jubilee

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Records, All

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Founder RV Raghavendra speaks of the exhaustive library, the 2,500 programmes in the last 25 years and the help extended to musicians during the lockdown

RV Raghavendra, founder of the Ananya Cultural Academy, which turns 25 today, (May 27) was disturbed by the plight of musicians and performers who had no means of earning a livelihood during the lockdown to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Raghavendra organized financial assistance to deserving artists helping nearly 105 artistes throughout Karnataka. “We will be disbursing around ₹12 lakh to people connected with music, dance, folk arts and light music. We have distributed ₹7 lakh from March.”

The monetary help was possible through donations from Raghavendra, Ananya’s Arogyadhara Medical Help Scheme and through donations. “Just one announcement on Facebook garnered an unprecedented response from the music-loving public.”

Ananya is a self-funded, non-profit cultural organization. It was established in 1995 to propagate and nurture different art forms. Jnanpith Awardee Dr. UR Ananthamurthy was its founder-chairman. Since its inception, Ananya has been working in the fields of music, dance, literature and painting.

“Our activities are multi-dimensional. We organise music, dance and visual art (Ananya Drishya) shows. We have individual performances, festivals, lec-dems, workshops, thematic programmes and interactive sessions. We have a well-defined space for young and upcoming artistes. With artist SG Vasudev as the present chairman, we look back at over 2,500 programmes in the last 25 years.”

After a Masters in Geology from University of Mysore in 1973, Raghavendra obtained PhD in Geo-Chemistry from IISC in Bengaluru. He established Geological and Metallurgical Laboratories (GML), an industrial test house for various industrial materials, in 1980. “The profits from the business helped me run Ananya all these years.”

Born in 1952 in Chitradurga to RN Viprakallachar and Susheela Bai, Raghavendra says though he does not come from a musical background, his mother’s informal renderings of devotional songs at home did have a strong bearing on his personality. “After moving to Mysore for my Post Graduation, I started attending concerts. Coming to Bangalore only increased my craving for all genres of music and dance. I soon became a member of every possible music club in the city.”

Ananya has been publishing Ananya Kalasinchana, a music magazine in English for 23 years. The magazine is now available for free online. “My wife, Pramila Bai, a former professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at IISc, helps me run the magazine. We have articles on music, dance, literature and interviews. We have a 7,000-strong subscription base.”

Raghavendra has over the years collected books, audio-clips and photos of classical musicians. To make the collection accessible to the public he started Ananya Sangraha, a reference library, in West Park Road, Malleswaram. “People who attended our concerts at Ananya auditorium in Malleswaram were encouraged to make use of the material at Ananya Sangraha.”

The collection includes nearly 15,000 hours of live programmes and rare recordings by yesteryear and present day artistes. “I started collecting music three decades ago. Audio recordings such as composer Mysore Vasudevachar’s vocal rendering of kritis, Mysore composers’ Javalis, pieces by Mallikarjun Mansur, Violin Chowdiah, Veena Doreswamy Iyengar, Rudrapatnam RK Srikantan, Alathur Brothers, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Lalgudi and MSG amongst others are part of the collection. We have digitised almost 6,000 hours of music as of now. Music from South Asian countries including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal in several dialects are part of the collection, which has music in nearly 25 languages.”

Ananya Sangraha also has a vast collection of books — nearly 10,000 titles including rare ones such as a Kannada translation of Subbarama Dikshitar’s Sangeeta Sampradaya Pradarshini by Anandarama Udupa and edited by SK Ramachandra Rao. “This is one of Dikshitar’s greatest works. Practicing musicians, theorists, editors and publishers have continuously drawn inspiration from it. We are lucky to have this monumental work in translation.” Ananya also has the work of nearly 50 composers, books on instrument playing techniques and sahitya (lyrics) ideologies.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Entertainment> Art / by Ranjani Govind / May 27th, 2020

ITI Ltd. makes face shields; to be provided to healthcare setups, local administration

Business & Economy, Records, All, Science & Technology

The company plans to provide face shields to airports, municipal corporations, police departments, state governments, corporates in the second phase

To strengthen the government’s Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan and to prevent the spread of coronavirus, ITI Limited, a public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Communications, has started manufacturing face shields at its Bengaluru-based unit.

The 3D designed face shield provides protection to the facial area including eyes, nose and mouth from sprays and droplets. The indigenous face shield allows for hassle-free respiration.

Commenting on the steps taken by the company, R.M. Agarwal, Chairman & Managing Director, ITI Limited, said, “ITI has joined the fight against coronavirus as the number of positive cases in the country are increasing everyday and being country’s first PSU we have an obligation to extend help to corona warriors across the country. The company is now capable of producing half a million face shields a month which may be extended to 1.5 million face shields per month in the coming days”.

“In the first phase, the company is providing these face shields to various healthcare setups, educational institutes, NGOs and local administrations on complementary basis. In the second phase, we are planning to provide these to various organisations such as airports, municipal corporations, police departments, state governments, corporates etc.,” Mr. Agarwal added.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Special Correspondent / Bengaluru – May 26th, 2020

Free app to help dementia patients and caregivers

Business & Economy, Records, All, Science & Technology

It has been developed by the Nightingales Medical Trust

The COVID-19 pandemic, and the restrictions accompanying it, have been especially taxing for people suffering from dementia and their caregivers, for whom this time has been physically and psychologically burdensome.

To ensure a support system for them, the Nightingales Medical Trust (NMT), an NGO working with the elderly and for those with dementia, has developed Demkonnect, a mobile application which is aimed at providing access to care and support related to dementia. This app is available on Android and iOS and is free of cost.

According to NMT, the nature of the disease tends to cause disorientation and makes those who are affected more vulnerable. This has a direct impact on the stress levels of caregivers. Family members, who have now turned into full-time caregivers, have noticed symptoms of dementia, like memory loss and behavioural changes, but are unable to visit a specialist and seek a formal diagnosis due to the lockdown and the fear of contracting the virus, a release said.

The application has options based on the need of the user.

“The Memory Screening option enables the user to assess their loved ones or themselves through a range of questions which would advise them on how to go forward based on the score. This could then be followed up with a consultation with a dementia care expert, through the chat option or through a video call. This is specially intended for those who are unable to visit a specialist for a diagnosis. Family carers, who are facing challenges at home or have queries regarding care of a person with dementia, can opt for the consult-an-expert option, which would enable the user to chat with a dementia care expert any time between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.,” the release explained.

Users can learn from the experiences of other family carers and share their own experiences through the Communities option.

With day care centres closed, the Demkonnect app has a few brain games to keep patients engaged and a Reminiscence album, which can help the user reminisce by discussing memories and past experiences using prompts such as photographs. The app aims to remove the stigma associated with dementia by educating users about the disease, the release added.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Staff Reporter / May 26th, 2020

Corona Bandaite Jopaana: Folk Song On Coronavirus Goes Viral

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

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Mysore/Mysuru:

A song written, composed and sung by a College Lecturer with a folk touch on Coronavirus has gone viral. Dr. Vijayalakshmi Manapur, a lecturer working in Maharaja’s College in city, has not only written the song titled ‘Corona Bandaite Jopaana,’ she has also composed music and sung the folk song much to the delight of people living in rural areas and as a result, the song has become an instant hit in social media.

Her husband P. Premkumar Wellington, whose mother-tongue is Tamil, has also translated the song into Tamil (Coronavin Karappu Nilal) and has sung the Tamil version. And their son P. Pranil has sung the Hindi version (Corona Mahamari Ka). All the three versions of this composition are popular now.

Dr. Vijayalakshmi is an expert on folk and teaches folk subjects in her College. “Over 80 percent of our population live in rural areas. I wanted to create awareness about this deadly virus among rural folk. I thought folk tune would be a good idea and hence wrote the song, composed the music with folk touch and sung it. This song has now reached rural households in Karnataka,” she said.

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The Tamil version of the same song has also been a hit. Her husband Premkumar, who works in Mysore Akashavani, is delighted about this. Interestingly, the Hindi version of the song sung by their son  Pranil has now reached other parts of the country through their friends in Delhi, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / May 24th, 2020

Writer Shantadevi Kanavi dead

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

Veteran short-story writer and thinker Shantadevi Kanavi died at the KLE hospital in Belagavi on Friday. She was 88. She was the wife of writer Channaveera Kanavi.

Her stories have been translated into English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. They routinely found their way into anthologies that became part of university textbooks.

She hailed from Vijayapura and settled in Dharwad after marriage to Mr. Kanavi. She received awards from Karnataka Sahitya Akademi and the Dana Chintamani Attimmabbe Puraskara of the State Government.

She leaves behind nonagenarian Mr. Kanavi, five children, several grandchildren and great-grandchildren and friends.

Mangala Metgud, president of the Belagavi zilla Kannada Sahitya Parishat, has expressed grief at the death of the senior writer.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Belagavi – May 23rd, 2020

Bengaluru-based gardener’s idea makes way to France

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, World Opinion

Deepthi Chandra B made two visits to France in January and February to carry out the execution of her design, which is now open to public till November 1 this year.

Garden designed by Deepthi Chandra BGarden designed by Deepthi Chandra B. (Photo| EPS)
Garden designed by Deepthi Chandra BGarden designed by Deepthi Chandra B. (Photo| EPS)

Bengaluru :

Deepthi Chandra B’s fairytale moment came complete with a castle. The city-based landscape architect was among the 20 winners at an international garden festival, which takes place in the castle of Chaumont sur Loire, Blois, near Paris.

“There were 400 entries from across the globe and this is the first time an Indian team won in 28 years,” says Chandra, who adds that other winners this year belonged to Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and USA. She made two visits to France in January and February to carry out the execution of her design, which is now open to public till November 1 this year.

The theme for the 2020 edition of the festival was Return to Mother Earth. For her submission of the design, which Chandra called Dharitri: The Garden of Mother Earth, she decided to rely on something that would represent Indian culture, borrowing ideas from the harvest festival. The entrance to the 2,000 sq ft space begins with a walkway of bamboo and flowers one would normally use for worship, like rose and jasmine.

“These are also flowers that are used extensively by the French perfume industry,” explains the 30-year-old. As the view opens up, the visitor notices a circular water body, which was inspired by the Rig Veda’s concept of “Father sky and mother earth being complementary,” says Chandra, adding, “This way, one can see the reflection of the sky in the water.” The small pond is surrounded by step terraces that double as benches for visitors to take in the view. This part of the design was inspired by Indian paddy fields.

“If you climb them you can get a top view of the garden. The pathway finally leads to the exit point thereby completing the Pradakshina path as seen in Indian temples, thereby paying tribute to the sacredness of Mother Earth,” she says.

Chandra’s first visit to France in January involved a meeting with the local contractors. During her second trip, her architect friend Chandrakanth GM, accompanied her to execute the design. Besides a slight language barrier, the duo also had to brave temperatures as low as 7 degrees Celsius while constructing the garden.

“But we also got to see the transition to spring, which came with beautiful views of cherry blossoms,” says Chandra, adding that all the teams getting together for meals was a good cultural experience. “The culture there was different. They construct everything themselves. It was nice to see the other winners coming in with their friends, family and neighbours to build the garden together.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Express News Service / May 24th, 2020