Mridangam Recital By Dr. Yella Venkateshwara Rao

Neeharika Institute Of Dance And Music is organising its annual music & dance festival on 21st, 22nd and 23rd of March, at the Lalitha Kala Thoranam in Public Gardens. The 3-day festival will feature some top musicians in whistle wizard K Shiva Prasad, the Hyderabad Sisters, legendary mridangist Dr. Yella Venkateshwara Rao, and dancers in Dr. Alekhya Punjla, Vyjayanthi Kashi and Vedantam Ramalinga Sastry.

Mridangam maestro Dr. Yella Venkateswara Rao will be performing a mridangam solo recital this evening, the first recital for the last day of the festival. Dr. Yella is a child prodigy born in 1947, and gave his maiden concert at the age of 7, even before any formal training in mridangam. Noticing his talent and interest, his adopted father Yella Somanna, the mridangam maestro and disciple of late T S Palghat Mani Iyer, taught him the art, and he has gone on to become one of the ultimate performers of the instrument.

Dr. Yella has accompanied a galaxy of top Carnatic vocal singers like Chambai Vaidyanadha Bhagavathar, Semmangudi Srinivas Iyer, G N Balasubrahmanyam, M S Subbulakshmi, D K Pattamammal, T R Mahalingam, Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu, Eemani Sankara Sastry, Balachandar, S P Balasubrahmanyam and T N Krishnan. He has elevated the status of the mridangam from a mere accompaniment for vocal music or for instruments like violin, veena and sitar, to that of an independent instrument with a place of its own on the music firmament. He made it the king of rhythmic instruments. The excellent coordination of his right with his left is commendable. His clear articulation of the jatis is a rare accomplishment.

Neeharika Institute Of Dance And Music has been started by Vanaja Uday, a Kuchipudi dancer, teacher and a choreographer, in Chikkadpally. The institute teaches several students in the dance form of Kuchipudi. Vanaja is a senior disciple of Dr. Uma Rama Rao, and is a Lecturer in the Department Of Dance at the Telugu University. A renowned Kuchipudi dancer, she has performed all over India, and in USA, Canada, London, South Africa, Malaysia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Sri Lanka and Maldives.

Please contact Vanaja Uday at 2763-1205/98490-62103 for further details.