Mohana Krishna And The Beauty Of Carnatic Music

A blind artist is in the limelight, and classical arts go hi-tech! Mohana Krishna gave a performance good enough for one to look forward to the two CD ROMs released on Carnatic music titled, 'The Beauty of Carnatic Music'. He has had a major part to play in its content - from vocals to advice, he has offered all. So, a good performance from him had made one optimistic about this novel concept. Blue Lotus Infomatics came up with this unique idea of conveying the basics as well as the spirit of the genre, to the connoisseurs.

Mohana started with the evolving melody of Hamsadhwani - "Vatapi Ganapatim Bhaje" -, a popular composition of Muthuswamy Dikshitar. His rendering of Sri Ragam (a raga of the 'Ghana Raga' category), composed to the Pancharatna Keertana of Thyagaraja, was an elaborate and ornate number that saw the audience reacting with applause to every instance of ornate frames. Dharma Rao provided able rhythmic support for Thyagaraja's "Samaja Vara Gamana'", set to the melody of Hindola. Here, the poet describes Lord Rama, carrying the grace of a majestic elephant. Mohana Krishna brought out these poetic phrases with apt base and royal intonation.

The other artists of the evening were percussionist Jayakumara Charya and Kanjeera artist Ananth. Veteran musician Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana, violinist Neti Srirama Sarma and percussionist Yella Venkateswara Rao were the chief guests of the evening. They all appreciated the work in the CD-ROMs, and that lends added credibility to it. So, here's wishing the best for this enterprising piece of work!