Symposium on 'Science in classical music'
By Srimatha / Bangalore

The hustle bustle of the 100 ft road melts away into the quiet as you reach Purandara Bhavana of Indiranagar Sangeetha Sabha. Or rather, it turns into music, if you are there in the evenings or on Sunday mornings, with the eager learners of the locality thronging the place for their music lessons.

Starting off with monthly concerts, over 20 years ago, Indiranagar Sangeetha Sabha soon added music classes to its activities. Getting their own space – Purandara Bhavan - in 2004 enthused the organizers to expand their horizon to conduct music festivals and workshops for the benefit of the rasikas of east Bangalore. In 2005 the sabha organized its first annual festival to coincide with the Purandara – Thyagaraja Aradhanas.

This year’s festival sees the welcome addition of a national symposium on Science in Indian classical music, a rare choice and a much needed one. This is in line with the thoughts of Dr Abdul Kalam, His Excellency the President of India, who while inaugurating Purandara Bhavana wished that the sabha grow beyond merely organizing concerts, into a center of excellence, say S. N. S Murthy (President of the sabha) and Dr R. Balasubramaniam (Vice president of the sabha), fondly recalling the biggest moment in the history of the sabha.

Scholars like Dr R. Sathyanarayana, Dr S A K Durga, Dr Kapila Vatsyayan are among the speakers in the symposium. About 200 observers have been registered which includes music students and enthusiasts from different parts of Karnataka such as Mysore, Shimoga, Mangalore and from the neighbouring states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu too. The sabha intends to bring out the proceedings of the symposium.

This year, the sabha has instituted ‘Purandara Award’, an award accredited by the Sangeeth Natak Academy, to be conferred upon a senior musician. The first ‘Purandara Award’ is being conferred on veteran musician R. K. Srikantan. Well known mridangam artist H. S. Sudhindra, will be felicitated on the occasion too.

Besides this, the sabha continues to host monthly concerts. Two concerts, one by a seasoned artiste and another by an upcoming talent, are organised every month. Purandara Bhavana which can seat 600, is a boon to artistes with its top class accoustic facilities, and a rare delight to the connoisseurs of classical music in east Bangalore. S.N.S. Murthy hopes the facility is made use of by other organizations in the locality too. The music classes seem to be quite a hot with the residents of Indiranagar, with a strength of over 280 students, a number that is increasing by the day! Plans to start morning classes to cater to housewives and others who have free time during the day are on board.

The music and dance festival is scheduled from 26 to 31 January 2006. Daily and season passes are available at the venue. The symposium is on 26, 28 and 29 January 2006. Venue: Purandara Bhavana, 8th Main Road, HAL 2 Stage, Bangalore – 08