Hindustani Vocal By Jayateerth Mevundi

The Andhra Music Academy is organising its 8th Annual Music & Dance Festival from 1st to 7th February, at the Ravindra Bharathi auditorium. The week-long festival has some of best music vidhwans and most talented artistes of the current and the past generations performing, notably violinists Dwaram Mangatayaru and Dwaram Satyanarayana Rao, Bharatanatyam dancers Rajeshwari Sainath and Leela Samson, Carnatic vocalists Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Nityasree Mahadaven and the Malladi Brothers, and Hindustani vocalists Jayateerth Mevundi and Sangeetha Kulkarni.

Today, the 2nd day, upcoming Hindustani vocalist Jayateerth Mevundi from Hubli will be performing. Assisting him are Sridhar Mandre on the tabla and Ustad Fayaz Khan on the Sarangi.

Born in 1972, Jayateerth Mevundi hails from the Kirana Gharana, which produced some of the great vocalists and maestros of Hindustani classical music like Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Dr. Gangubai Hangal, Pt. Mallikarjun Mansur, Pt. Basavraj Rajguru and Pt. Kumar Gandharva. Jayateerth received his initial training in music from Sangeet Ratna Pt. Arjunsa Nakod of Gwalior Gharana for about 10 years. Currently, he is under the able guidance of Pt. Shripati Padegar, who has been a disciple of Pt. Bhimsen Joshi since 1994.

An A-grade and staff artiste of the All-India Radio, Panaji, Goa, Mevundi has given several public and private performances all over the country. He has also won many accolades and awards, such as the second prize in the AIR Hindustani Classical vocal competition during 1988-89, the first prize in the Karnataka Kathak Kendra competition held at Dharwad in 1989-90, and the first prize in the Sangeet Research Academy competition organized at Calcutta. He was awarded a scholarship for 3 years (1986-88) by the Karnataka Sangeet Nrutya Academy, Bangalore. He is also the recipient of the Pt. Jasraj Gourav Puraskar for the year 1995.

Mevundi has participated in several music conferences, including the ones at the Mysore Dasara Festival, the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival, the Alladia Khan Music Conference and the Kumar Gandharva Music Conference.

The Andhra Music Academy was formed in 2001 to particularly sponsor, support and patronise music. In this endeavor, the academy has roped in some eminent musicians into its advisory panel, like Dr. Mangalampalli Balamurali Krishna, Dr. Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana and Nedunuri Krishna Murthy. The academy organises and conducts various music festivals every year, and plans to soon organise these every month.

Every year, the prestigious awards of Sangeeta Vidyanidhi and Natya Vidyanidhi are conferred upon music and dancing legends. Dr. Balamurali Krishna, Nedunuri, Nookala, M S Gopalakrishna, Annavarapu Ramaswamy, Pt Jasraj and Puranam Purushottama Sastry received the Sangeeta Vidyanidhi, while Vempati Chinna Satyam, Nataraja Ramakrishna and Vendantam Satyanarayana Sarma were the Natya Vidyanidhi awardees during the previous festivals.

The entry to all the programs is free. Please contact 94401-93582/98480-59020 for further details.