QUEEN'S ROAD: Haridasamrita, an event to celebrate the heritage of the Kannada musical saints, will bring to the audience rare Haridasa compositions this Thursday onwards.
The event is being organised by VedAtma Animation Studios, which strives to preserve dasa sahitya, in association with Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, where it is being hosted.
“Purandaradasa, who is called the father of Karnatak music, has composed 4,75,000 padas. We’re left with just a few thousands of them now,” says CEO B S Srinivas, adding that the ones known today should not disappear too.
So the company unearths compositions from books, by travelling to places the saints lived in or journeyed through, or from village and family elders who might remember parts of this rich oral literature. And these are contributions of many, often unheard of, dasas.
“There are so many. There’s one, Sarvesha Vitthaladasa, who is still alive,” he says. For some of the compositions, they find that only the sahitya has been passed on, so his team sets a tune to them. These are then visualised through animation and brought out in the form of DVDs with English subtitles.
“So far, we’ve come out with one, Daasa — The Fables. We will show clips from this and trailers of the second part, which will be launched during the latter half of the year, during the event,” says Srinivas.
The opening concert on Thursday will have Ananth Kulkarni, a popular singer from Bagalkot who is known for his rendition of devotional songs like Haridasa Nidhi, Harikathamruthasara Bhushana and Harigana Mohana, performing at 6 pm on Thursday.
Friday evening will feature the Saralaya Sisters, Vidushi Kavitha and Vidushi Triveni. The Karnatak vocal duo have performed at concerts around the world and have won prizes like the Ambujam Krishnan Award and Maharajapuram Vishwanath Iyer Award, apart from the titles Gana Ratna and Gana Kalashree.
Karnatak vocalist Vidyabhushana, who has sung hundreds of devotional songs in Kannada, will perform at 6 pm on Saturday. He is also the founder trustee of Bhakti Bharati Prathistana, a trust that renders service to the community. Ganakalabhushana Vidwan R K Padmanabha, recipient of the title ‘Haridasa Sangeetha Samrajya Makutamani’, will perform on Sunday.
The New Indian Express is the media partner for the event. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan chairman N Ramanuja will be the guest of honour at the concert, while director H N Suresh will be the special guest.
Haridasamrita, from February 12 and 15, at Khincha Auditorium, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Race Course Road, 5 pm onwards. This is a free event. For details, call 98450-13791, 98451-54274.