‘Yuva Chetana – The power of youthful music’ an exceptional initiative by Suswaralaya College of Music, in association with ISKCON Bangalore was held in the temple campus. It was an enchanting world where the rich, but disappearing genre of Carnatic music was given its due importance of revival, where young and aspiring artists in the field of classical music were given a unique platform to challenge their potential to excel.

The inaugurating ceremony of the two-day event was held on 20 August and was revered by distinguished guests like Vidwan Sri Vidya Bhushan, renowned Mridanga artist Vidwan Sri Arjun Kumar and Vidwan Sri H S Sudhindra who is the Principal and Managing Trustee of Suswaralaya College of Music. The event was also presided by Sri Chanchalapati Dasa, Vice President, ISKCON Bangalore and Sri Tiru Dasa, Director, Sri Krishna Kalakshetra. The distinguished personalities took to the stage and marked the beginning of the event with the lighting of the lamp.

Sri Chanchalapati Dasa took the opportunity to speak about the wonderful youthful pastimes of Lord Sri Krishna . Emphasizing on music as a means to please Krishna, he said “Music is an expression of Bhakti and means of offering our worship to the Lord”. Vid. Sri Vidya Bhushan spoke about the importance of guidance and said “Adequate guidance or margadharshana is essential to one and all. This was demonstrated even by Krishna as He was also given guidance by His teachers when he was a young boy.”

The evening was showered with more grace of an overwhelming 60 minutes of dance recital by Kumari Manjari Chandrashekar. This was followed by another dance recital ‘Vasudevamupaasmahe’ by Vid. Veena Nair and Vid. Dhanya Nair. The Nair sisters were accompanied by a group on the Nattuvangam, Mridanga, Veena and Vocals.

‘Yuva Chetana’ was organized to commemorate Suswaralaya’s ten years of humble service in the field of Carnatic music. The event was presented with the thought that young artists need a platform to challenge themselves to perform complicated pieces which are rarely ventured into in the normal concert structure, revival of the almost diminishing legacy of culture-rich Carnatic music being the greater vision.

The agenda consisted of a paper presentation by several participants in the gracious presence of some senior artists in the field of Carnatic music. The event was conducted in the presence of these senior musicians to show respect and offer gratitude to them for carrying forward the rich legacy of Carnatic music passed on to them by their seniors.

The first day of the event saw presentations by budding artists on topics such as ‘Vaara Krithigalu’, ‘Effective and Rational approach to Neraval’, ‘Sangeetha Sampradaya Pradarshini- its insight and relevance’, ‘Bhairavi, Muhari, Huseini, Manji and other allied Ragas’, ‘Vanishing forms of Dasa Sahitya – Sooladis and Mundige’, ‘Laya Vinyasa in Chandas Tala’, ‘Rational analysis of Musical Compositions’, ‘Laya in Ragalapana’, ‘Tiruppugal’ and ‘Spontaneity and Mathematics in Swarakalpana’. Several young artists presented a demonstration of their skills on these topics. Each of their presentations were assessed by experts in the field of Carnatic music like Vid Padma Gurudutt, Vid S Shankar, Vid R K Padmanabha, Vid Dr R K Srikantan, Dr M Suryaprasad, Vid B K Chandramaouli, Vid Dr Sukanya Prabhakar, Vid Dr T S Sathyavathy, Vid R A Ramamani, Vid Mysore M Nagaraj. Their comments and analysis of the presentation opened a world of innovative learning for the budding artists and music lovers present. The day concluded with the melody of Vidwan Lakshmanashastry Memorial program, a concert with Vid Ravichandra Kulur on the flute, Vid H N Bhaskar on the Violin, Vid Neyveli R Narayanan on the Mridanga and Vid S N Narayanamurthy on the Ghatam.

The paper presentations continued on the next day as well, covering topics like ‘Varna as an Abhayasa Gaana and Sabha Gaana’, ‘ Classical Ecstacy of Dasa Sahithya I concerts’, ‘Insight into Pada’, ‘Tana’, ‘Insight into Javalis’, ‘Tillanas of Mysore Composers’, ‘Lord Krishna as seen by different composers’, ‘Violin as a solo and an Accompanying Instrument’, ‘Status of South Indian Percussion Instruments in Global Music Scene today’, ‘Effective rendition of RTP in a short duration’. Expert opinion was given by Vid Kanakaswamy, Vid Dr Vidyabhushan, Vid Dr R N Taranathan, Vid Dr Suma Sudhindra, Prof. Mysore V Subramanya, Vid Dr R N Srilatha, Vid R N Thyagarajan, Vid D Balakrishna, Vid T A S Mani, Vid M S Sheela.

The grand finale of the 2-day program was the Sri K Ramaswamy Memorial Concert with vocals by Vid T S Pattabhirama Pandit, Vid Balu Raghuram on the Violin, Vid Srimushnam V Raja Rao on the Mridanga and Vid G S Ramanujam on the Ghatam.

ISKCON Bangalore’s Krishna Kalakshetra, glorifying Lord Krishna through music, was instrumental in the event being a success. They have organized several such events related to music and art with an agenda of 285 events this year.

To stage events in music or for more information, contact Sri Krishna Kalakshetra, ISKCON, HK Hill, Chord Road, Bangalore on phone 23471956 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it