This is the most melodic month in Bangalore

This is the most melodic month in Bangalore

Ranjani Govind
The Sri Ramanavami festival, cooling panaka-kosambari and great music render the April scorching heat sublime
Music lovers look forward to some of the best artistes

There are 60 sabhas promoting classical music

— Photo: M.A. Sriram

Cool respite: Other than distribution of panaka and kosambari, Ramanavami has evolved into a platform for great music in Bangalore.


Bangalore: “Ramotsava for us is Jnana Gana Sudhe. Knowledge and melody permeate the air in Bangalore during this time and we have, since 70 years, tried to create a ‘temple of music’ here,” says S.N. Varadaraj, general secretary, Shree Ramaseva Mandali, Chamarajpet.

The mandali’s three-foot-long programme sheet for its annual six-week Ramanavami National Music Festival itself speaks of its stature in the Ramotsava music scene in the city.

April for Bangalore is the “melody season” and Ramanavami is the facilitator. Classical music lovers look forward to some of the best artistes across the country for the Bangalore jamboree.

The city has nearly 60 sabhas promoting classical music, apart from 35 other organisations choosing important festivals for running a parallel concert series. Among these stand out some notable ones for their cultural contribution.

Music is festive here
Why has Ramanavami evolved into a platform for such great music? Simple, its energy and verve is infectious with street-side temples also plunging into the spirit.

Recalls Arvind Shrinivas: “As a schoolboy in the late 1960s, I used to accompany my parents to the Seshadripuram Ramseva Samiti concerts. Our passion didn’t allow us to return before midnight. T.R. Mahalingam’s flute concerts had the open auditorium and the opposite Nehru Park (with special speakers) brimming with people even at 2 a.m.! We had to leg it back home to Malleswaram every day and that explained the Ramanavami spirit in us.”

“Festivals are good for celebration as we need a reason to assemble and enjoy,” says S.V. Raghavendra of Ananya Cultural Academy. “Bhajans were the mainstay for a long time, but eventually it has created a platform for classical music. The festival becomes an excuse to bring the best artistes. It’s a healthy feature as long as the exercise doesn’t end up diluting serious music,” he says.

“Music is intrinsically woven with Ramanavami as our scriptures say Hanuman was a musician who also learnt the Vedas from Surya,” says Doreswamy Iyengar, president, Malleswaram Sangeetha Sabha. “Some of Tyagaraja’s kritis too have references to this, so music being a part of Ramanavami is a time-honoured practice.”

Says Kamalnath, former president, Gayana Samaja: “S.V. Narayanaswamy Rao and Ghatam K.S. Manjunath’s passion to propagate meaningful music is etched in everyone’s memory. Their pioneering effort was an encouragement to Seshadripuram Ramaseva Samiti and Shankarapuram Ramaseva Mandali. Narayanaswamy Rao flagged it off in Chamarajpet and today we have almost every area reverberating with music during Ramanavami. April is holiday time for schools, and it is also the onset of spring beckoning people to congregate for music and fresh air!”

Routine concerts don’t just make up Ramanavami at Chamarajpet Mandali, says Varadaraj, as religious discourses by scholars bring in thousands for the morning sessions as well. “It was Rajaji’s advice that Ramanavami had to have open-air pandal celebrations and we continue to do this,” he says.

The real habba
Well-known writer L.S. Seshagiri Rao, who has soaked in the Ramanavami music season for decades, says: “If anything should be called the Bangalore Habba, it is the Ramanavami celebrations.”