VYALIKAVAL: What has mostly been considered an accompanying instrument over the years, will reign centrestage this Friday at Chowdiah Memorial Hall at the Journey of Harmony concert. Led by the harmonium by Ravindra Gururaj Katoti, one of Bengaluru’s most famous harmonium exponents, the concert will also feature a 20-piece orchestra, comprising strings and percussion.
“The point of this concert is to explore hitherto unexplored facets of the harmonium. Some of these experiments are what will mainly feature at the concert. It’s not often that the harmonium gets to perform the lead melody and we’re trying to bring back the instrument into mainstream music,” says Ravindra.
The orchestra will be conducted by Sax Raja, who has for over three decades been composing music and conducting orchestras for film music. While the concept and music have been created by Ravindra Katoti, the music has been arranged by Mandolin Prasad and Sangeeth Thomas.
The concert is being presented by the Bijapure Harmonium Foundation, which was founded by Katoti himself in 2003, to honour his guru, the legendary harmonium maestro, Pt R K Bijapure. “He has accompanied over four generations of vocalists and musicians over the years. He has taught over 15,000 students through the Shri Ram Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, which he started in 1938. To the very end, he dedicated his life to harmoniums and music,” says Katoti.
Katoti himself started playing the harmonium at the age of eight. The 45-year-old musician attributes his love for music to his parents’ early encouragement and to his guru who taught him for over 30 years.
Journey in Harmony, Chowdiah Memorial Hall, on Friday at 6.30 pm. For passes, call: 98457-93012, 94824-42209.