The city was awash with colour and life came to a grinding halt as people celebrated Holi on Wednesday.

A festive mood prevailed in the city throughout the day. Shops, business establishments and hotels downed shutters, and public and private vehicles were off the road until evening, as youngsters and revellers took to the streets in the morning itself.

No untoward incident was reported anywhere in the district.

The government had not declared a holiday on Wednesday and attendance at its offices was thin.

Nationalised banks suspended operations for the day.

Competition

Bidar Special Correspondent writes:

Holi was celebrated with joy across the district on Wednesday. Some residents set up temporary shelters to provide drinking water to revellers. Several NGOs distributed buttermilk and lemon juice, while yuvak mandals put up tents and served snacks.

The members of a youth club organised a ‘dahi handi’ competition in the old city.

Official reception

Government employees gathered at Durga Darshini, the Deputy Commissioner P.C. Jaffer’s residence, to play Holi.

There, they were met by Dr. Jaffer, Ujjwal Kumar Ghosh, zilla panchayat Chief Executive Officer, and Sunil Panwar, Deputy Conservator of Forests, among others.

Bandeppa Kashempur, MLA, joined a group of Lambani women in their dance in the celebrations organised outside his house. Residents of villages and tandas in the taluk participated in the celebrations there.

Rahim Khan, MLA, played Holi with villagers who visited his house on Ring Road.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> National> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Gulbarga, March 28th, 2013

Tribute to music

The ESSAE Music foundation had organised music concerts – a veena and a vocal – by young artistes of Bangalore.

First Ashwin Anand opened his Veena recital with the Kambodhi swara jathi. It has charana and is practised on a daily basis by artistes of Mysore School. The Karnataka Kaapi Swara Jathi is known for its very difficult sangathies, set to khanda atha thala and ‘Ateetha Edupu’! ‘Neerajakshi’, the Saveri varna in jhampe thala is shining with datu swaras. The keertane ‘Inthashodha’ is one of the best compositions in the raga Rishabhapriya. He concluded his veena recital with the legendary jinjoti thillana. It was a classical treat sans gimmicks.

Impactful rendering

S Ramani and K S Giridhar, disciples of S Shankar, senior musician, opened their vocal with the Bhairavi swarajathi. ‘Mayamelara’, the Natakuranji varna in Khanda Triputa, was full of ‘Ragabhava’. ‘Rama Ninnu’, the Anandabhairavi keertana, was small in size but was rendered with good impact. ‘Nadiridiri Dheem’ – the Thodi thillana is a less-known composition and concluded with ‘Shiriye’ in jinjoti. These young artistes presented compositions of Veena Seshanna impactfully. M P Aditya on violin and B R Srinivas on Mridanga supported them.

Pleasing vocal

The Bangalore Ladies’ Association had organised music and dance programmes on Saturday evening in connection with its Golden Jubilee celebrations.

Triveni Saralaya and Kavitha Saralaya, popularly known as ‘Saralaya Sisters’, who gave a vocal duet, were accompanied on the violin by M S Govindaswamy, on mridanga by V S Rajagopal and on ghata by M A Krishnamurthy. Their opening piece itself had the right tempo and the ‘Akhilandeswari’, the popular kruthi on Devi, was also pleasing. Their treatment had a touch of class and the ‘Rama Rama Guna Seema’ reverberated with good sangathies.

With their good voices and neat presentation, they earned the appreciation of the assembly. ‘Hari Kunida Namma’ was lively and the ‘Maitrim Bhajata’ is a favourite patriotic song.

Hunnime Sangeetha

It was the turn of Dr Vaishaly this time to perform in the series ‘Hunnime Sangeetha’ at the ‘Kadu Malleswara Udyanavana’. Clear rendition of raga with subtle ambience and the subsequent aesthetic articulation for Rageshree showed her prowess and competence.

Her methodical approach to the raga (Vilambit Ek Taal and Drut Teen Taal) with an aesthetic touch brought a composite picture of the melody. A number of Kannada compositions – both devaranama and vachana – followed, with popular appeal. Maadi Maadi Kettaru (Basavanna), Aadalu Pogona Baro Ranga (Sripada Rajaru) Baraiah Ranga (Purandara Dasaru), Kayada Kattaleya (Akkamahadevi) – were bristled with melodious sangathies. Panchakshari Hiremath and Hanumanthappa Hugar accompanied on Harmonium and Thabala, respectively.

Evocative, crisp dance

Nirupama Rajendra, the popular dancer, who is well versed in both Bharathanatya and Kathak, gave a solo Bhara­t­h­a­n­atya recital. A Ganapathi Stuthi gave her a bright start. The opening, with Kannada lyrics, was followed by the well known ‘Mudaka Rathna Mo­d­a­kam’. She performed with gay abandon, in the ‘Lokadharmi’ beautifully.

The piece de resistance, however, was a piece from the ‘Kumara Sambhava’. The well-known story was depicted with lively visuals, and had crisp movement and of course was attra­c­ted by Karnas, a result of intense research by Dr Padma Subram­a­n­yam. The ‘Vatsalya Bhava’ was well-depicted in the evergreen devaranama ‘Jagadodd­a­rana’, dramatising the situations with visual appeal. The concluding thillana in Kadan­a­kutuhala (Dr M Balamurali Krishna) was crisp and evocative.

source: http://www.DeccanHerald.com / Home> Supplements> Art Review / by Mysore M. Subramanya / April 01st, 2013