It is the time of the year when the Navarathri Mandapam turns all decked up with flowers and oil lamps ready to welcome devotees, music lovers and musicians before goddess Saraswathi. The idol was brought from Padmanabhapuram Palace to the Mandapam near the eastern entrance of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple on Sunday. The nine day Navarathri Music Festival this year is from October 15 to October 23.
“The only change in this year is that unlike previous years the concert will end at 9 pm instead of 8:30 pm,” said Prince Rama Varma, musician and member of the Travancore royal family, who organises the annual event. “This is because the Navarathri festival is coinciding with the Padmanabhaswamy temple’s annual ‘Alpashi’ festival. This co-occurrence happens in about once in three years.”
Performing for the first time in the Navarathri Mandapam is Chennai-born vocalist Neela Ramgopal, who has been conferred the title of ‘Sangitha Kala Acharya’ by the Madras Music Academy. She will render the ‘Bharathi Mamava’ in ‘Thodi’ raga on October 18, the fourth day. The final day’s performance, ‘Pahi Parvatha Nandhini’ in ‘Arabhi’, will be by Carnatic musician Vaikom Jayachandran, who will also be giving his first performance at the Mandapam.
Trichur V Ramachandran, Prince Rama Varma, and Sanjay Subrahmaniyan are some of the other well-known vocalists performing. They will sing on the second, sixth and eighth days respectively. Parassala B Ponnammal, the first woman to sing in the Navarathri festival in 2006, will perform the ‘Janani Pahi’ in ‘Sudha Saveri’ on the seventh day.
“The other female performer is Amrutha Venkatesh, the second woman to sing in the Mandapam after Parassala Ponnamal,” said Prince Rama Varma.
The annual festival started on Monday with the ‘Devi Jagath Janani’ in ‘Sankarabharanam’ by T V Gopalakrishnan, accompanied by S Varadarajan (Violin), Trichur KMS Mani (Mridangom), Trippunithura Radhakrishnan (Ghatom) and Uduppi S Sreekanth (Ginjira).