Music of the Gods

The city’s longest-running classical Music Festival.

The 73rd edition of the annual Ramanavami National Music Festival starts tomorrow at the Fort High School in Chamarajpet. An enormous pandal, measuring 260 ft by 150 ft, has been erected for the occasion. “No other music festival held anywhere in the country is of this magnitude and scale,” says Ram Prasad of the Sri Ram Seva Mandali, the charitable trust which organises the festival. With 275 artists from all over the country performing over 36 days, it is certainly the city’s longest running music festival.

So prestigious is it that most major classical music artists, past and present, have performed at this festival. K J Yesudas has not missed a single year since being introduced to the festival by his guru 42 years ago. And he will be performing for free, as will most of the other artists. He will also be honoured with the Narayanaswamy Rao National Award on April 10.

The award is named after the founder of the Sree Ramaseva Mandali, who started the music festival because he felt that culture, especially music, played a vital role in spreading the message of secularism. And so deeply entrenched is the spirit of religious harmony that Ustad Amjad Ali Khan is said to have once demanded before his concert: “Where is my share of the holy water and prasada?” The festival is now managed by S N Varadaraj, the son of S V Narayanaswamy Rao. Varadaraj is said to be very particular about who he gets to perform at the festival.

The festival is also noted for the awards it confers. Past recipients of the Narayanaswamy Rao National Award include Bhimsen Joshi, M Balamuralikrishna and R R Keshava Murthy. There is also the Prathibhakankshi Awards for the best child artiste. Senior musicians are also felicitated on April 17, the founder’s day. M S Sheela, T Rukmini, M A Krishnaswamy, B K Anantram, M S Anantaraman and Rajkumar Bharati will share this year’s honours.

The festival, at which at least 400 people are fed daily, has seen a budget of around Rs 60 lakh, of which the government provides around Rs 20 lakh (it also owns the grounds). The rest comes from sponsors.