Over 25 years ago, when I was in class 3, my mother took me to almost all concerts that were held at Sree Ramaseva Seva Mandali. The series of music concerts encouraged me to take up lessons in Carnatic classical music. I still remember waiting for this music festival to begin and it is nothing but a feast for the music connoisseurs,” recalls 42-year-old Pooja Rao, a professional who is passionate about music. Music lovers owe to S V Narayanaswamy Rao for the series of concerts held during Rama Navami festival since 1939. “Initially, my father provided the platform for artistes who sang Harikathe and Bhajans. In the first 10 years, opportunity was given only to the young and upcoming artistes,” said Ram Prasad, managing trustee of Sree Rama Seva Mandali. Narayanaswamy’s introduction to stalwarts of Carnatic classical music T Chowdiah, violinist, mridangam artistes Palghat Mani Iyer, Madurai Mani Iyer and T R Mahalingam, flautist gave a new outlook to the sabha. “They introduced Narayanaswamy to eminent artistes in Chennai and helped us in treasuring some of the most memorable concerts. Chowdiah persuaded the leading vocalists to sing at the mandali by offering to play as accompanying violinist,” said Ram Prasad.
This mandali grabs the prestige of featuring stalwarts of Hindustani classical music like Ustad Badegulam Ali Khan, Ustad Bismilla Khan, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Allah Rakha, Pandit Basavaraj Rajguru, Pandit C V Jog, Begum Parveen Sultana, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and others. Ram Prasad explained with great delight, “M S Subbulakshmi has performed on 31 occasions of Rama Navami festival. Many established musicians have a great fervour of the mandali. Yesudas once said that performing here gave him mental peace. He also said that his grand-daughter would make her first stage presence in Sree Rama Seva Mandali.” The mandali which started hosting its concerts in Chamarajapet was then shifted to Fort High School grounds in 1968 with the cooperation from Government of Karnataka and Department of Kannada and Culture. This stage provides a platform for over 300 artistes every season. The slots are planned in such a way that young artistes get an opportunity to sing in the presence of established artistes. Regretting over the decline in the quality of music, he said, “Many young and talented artistes from Karnataka are now moving to Chennai in search of an opportunity. Also, the quality of music lovers is gradually declining over the years.Narrating one of the incidents, Ram Prasad said, “Once T R Mahalingam’s concert was held in the mandali and over 5,000 people were eagerly awaiting for his concert to begin at 6.30 pm. But Mahalingam was caught up in Selam due to some reason. People had so much patience that they waited till 10.30 pm and enjoyed his music till 1.30 am. But today, people lack such patience.” In memory of the founder of Sree Ramaseva Seva Mandali, it confers S V Narayanaswamy Rao National Award to those who have rendered selfless service to the world of music.
The event begins on 11 April 2013 and goes on till 16 May 2013.