Music Festival to be Held in February

BANGALORE, 20 Jan 2009: The 4th annual national-level Bharat Ratna M S Subbulakshmi Memorial Music Festival will be held from February 1 to 4 at Prashanthi Kuteeram, Svyasa University campus, near Electronic City.

In memory of legendary vocalist MS Subbulakshmi, the festival is celebrated every year by Sri Lalithakala Academy Foundation. "It's a tribute to her. We want the younger generation to know her contribution to music,'' said B S S Rao, academy secretary.

Leading artistes will be honoured during the festival. The Sangeetha Ratna award, which was instituted for MS, will be given to vocalist Sudha Raghunathan this year.

The four-day festival will kick off with a concert by Sudha Raghunathan. On the second day, Gayatri Venkataraghavan will perform. Uttar-Dakshin `Dasavani', the devotional composition of all saints of Karnataka in both Hindustani and Carnatic style, and a few bhajans will be recited by Manasi Prasad and Smita Bellur on February 3.

On the last day, there will be a lecture on `Music therapy - Effects of ragas on human ailments' followed by a violin duet by Mysore Nagaraj and Manjunath. Kumari Janani, 18, the youngest disciple of Balamadhurkrishnan, will present a programme on the concluding day of the festival.

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The seminar titled "Bhagawad Gita and Mental Health" is part of the ongoing "Sri Srimad Bhagawad Gita Abhiyana" in the State.

Giving details to mediapersons in Bangalore on Thursday, Sonda Samsthana seer Sri Gangadhareshwara Saraswathi Swami said, Bhagawad Gita is an excellent treatise on Psychology. Primary and Higher Education Minister Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri, who heads the seminar's reception committee, was present.

Swami said: "It is nowhere mentioned in Gita that it is a book for Hindus. It has knowledge beneficial to all human beings for improving their life. It is time to apply this knowledge to society and find remedies to increasing criminalization and growing psychological problems in the modern world."

Over 300 scientists, scholars, research students and other enthusiasts are expected to participate. Scholarly sessions on interpretation of Gita in traditional, scientific and modern perspectives, its relevance to modern psychology, techniques found in Gita for mind analysis and for solving modern day psychological problems will be held.

The seminar is jointly organised by Sirsi's Sri Sonda Swarnavalli Samsthana and Sri Swarnavalli Seva Pratistana, Sri Vivekananda Yoga University and NIMHANS of Bangalore at Ashwini Hall, NIMHANS premises on Hosur Road. The inauguration is at 9.30 am on September 20. Entry is free.

DH News Service, Bangalore