BENGALURU: The 76th Sree Ramanavami National Music Festival that started on April 5 ended on Friday on memorable note with Dr Kadri Gopalnath’s performance on the saxophone that left audiences wanting for more. They held onto his every note and each piece was followed by a never ending applause.
Energized by the audience, he lost track of time to such an extent that the organizers had to ask him to stop, much to the disappointment of the audience.
Jugalbandi with Audience
One of the most memorable moment of the last day was the audience participation. As the artists played a tune,the audience would imitate the beat by clapping. Such a musical ‘jugalbandi’ is normally seen between two musicans. However at the fest it was seen for the first time between artists and the audience. “It was wonderful that they included us in their performance.It completely heightens the experience,” remarks 47 year old Sahan B.
As people entered the festival for the last time this year,a big difference in the seating was noticed. The barricades that separated each section according to the price of the tickets were gone. People could freely move between seats. A regular, Sripriya V says. “I like it without barricades better it seemed to bring the entire audience closer together. We all connected as one.” At the end of the festival,the organizers revealed the poster for next years music festival. Venky PL who has been coming to the festival for over ten years says,”I am sad that the fest has ended. All the artists this time were remarkable. As 2018 is the 80th year, I hope that the festival will be bigger,”
The music festival went smoothly as usual but a common request was for a better music system, shorter periods of sound check.