It’s a unity festival that sings

What began as an initiative for independence in 1939 is today an annual event that the stellar names of the music world mark in their calendars as Sree Ramanavami National Music Festival—now in its 72nd year of existence.

Curtains to the 38-day festival went up yesterday with a performance by renowned saxophonist Padmashri Kadri Gopalnath. If you missed that, don’t worry. There’s more on the music menu. Eminent carnatic musicians KJ Yesudas, P Unnikrishnan, TM Krishna, Sanjay Subramanyam, Nithya Shree Mahadevan, Hindustani musician Pandit Jasraj, mohan veena player Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhat, and mandolin player U Shrinivas are some of the names that will be participating in the festival.  “The late MS Subbalaxmi always made it a point to come for the festival every year,” says SN Varadaraj, general secretary of Sree Ramaseva Mandali.

Famous names apart, a daily programme at 5:15pm, called Prathibhakankshi, has been arranged to encourage upcoming artistes too. Varadaraj says the festival was started by his father SV Narayanaswamy Rao, a musician who at the time was looking for ways to promote national integrity after a disturbing event took place. "One day while he was in Majestic, he saw a man being shot to death by a British. This unsettled him so much that he began to seek ways to spread the message for independence. The musical event began with a few people on the sidewalk. Now it has grown to this level."

The programmes will be conducted in the special pandal at the Fort High School Grounds in Chamrajpet. "The AC pandal is the specialty this year," says Varadaraj. The festival is expected to see attendance by regulars as well as other music aficionados who will make time for the event. "We also see a lot of youngsters from the IT field, etc., especially Kannadigas, coming to enjoy the music." The festival is run on donations by people or sponsored by companies.

But what has kept the fest ticking is the idea of unity that is so intrinsic to music.