BENGALURU: After nearly six years, Cubbon Park will once again resonate with the sounds of classical music and dance, as the popular weekend programme Udayaraga (morning raga) returns.
Happening with the support of the Horticulture Department and Heritage Beku, a citizen’s group that aims to preserve the city’s history, the events are held every Sunday at the Bandstand.
Each session feature a mix of performances, including a Carnatic concert, Bharatanatyam recital and choral singing, offering visitors a cultural treat.
The programmes, which had been suspended just before Covid, will continue throughout the year. While the immediate focus is on classical music and dance, plans are under way to gradually introduce bhavageethe, sugama sangeeta, contemporary music and provide a stage for emerging artistes.
Kusuma G, Deputy Director of the Horticulture Department, Cubbon Park, told TNSE that schedules for performances until September-end are already drawn up, and all shows are open to the public for free.
History of bandstand
The bandstand at Cubbon Park has a history as lively as the music once played there. In its early years, it hosted performances by British and Mysore military and police bands, drawing crowds of families and passersby. The popularity of these gatherings created such a buzz that it eventually led to one of Bengaluru’s rare architectural translocations.
Originally built behind what is now the State Central Library, the structure had to be shifted in the early 1900s after the large crowds began causing traffic snarls around the area. What began as a source of entertainment for British families in the Cantonment thus became a landmark that will now again continue to carry echoes of Bengaluru’s colonial past.