The marathon classical music concert by young vocalists, K V Krishna Prasad and S R Vinay in Bangalore recently was a fitting tribute to the tutelage of their Guru Vidwan R K Padmanabha. The concert garnered interest and stretched beyond anybody’s expectations with a knowledgeable audience sending requests for one of their favourite ragas or kritis of famous musical composers. As part of Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations, the musical event was organised by the Anjaneya Temple Trust, Poorna Prajna Nagar.
The disciples, who usually accompany their Guru for his performances, displayed their versatility during the rendition of difficult ragas with soulful alapanas and swar prasthara. Sharing the alapanas and swaras by turns, they sang the famous compositions of Tyagaraja, Purandaradasa and well known, popular devarnamas, suiting the ocassion and enthralling the small audience. If Krishna Prasad delighted music connoisseurs with his rendition in the lower octaves, Vinay mesmerised one and all in the higher octaves.
The duo complimented and matched one another with the delivery of difficult sangatis and elaboration of the raga. Krishna Prasad impressed the appreciative audience with his innate command over the lower octaves again and again that was a soothing balm after a hard day’s work. It was a pleasure to listen to the mellifluous bass tones flowing in the darkness of a festive night.
The Devarnamas and the Purandaradas kritis flowed like a river in spate what with the duo displaying their mastery over some of the rare ragas. The famous and often heard musical composition Yendaro mahanu bhaavulu in Raga Sri which one usually associates with maestros like Dr Balamuralikrishna, was sung with great effort with an attempt to reach greater heights. The Thyagaraj composition Maru gela ra in Raga Jayantashri was beautifully rendered with lyrical grace and one could see how much the young duo had practised to give a flawless performance. Vatapi ganapathim bhaje in Raga Hamsadwani was a visual treat for the audience as they were in festive spirits after the grand Ganesh Utsav. The duo was accompanied by Anand Vishwanathan on the violin and V Ravishankar on the Mrindanga.
The song Devadi deva Shri Vasudeva beginning with a profound alapana by Krishna Prasad and followed by many other bhajans touched the heart strings of one and many music lover who had gathered in the precincts of the Anjaneya Temple to hear these young masters who have given performances in many cities as well as on regional radio and television channels.