Bengaluru: On the birth centenary of the Mysore Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar, the Academy of Music and Carnatic Alchemy Foundation will present a commemorative celebration of the life and legacy of the Maharaja.
Chief guest Bharat Ratna Dr C.N.R. Rao along with members of the royal family, Rajachandra Urs and Maharajakumari Indrakshi Devi, will release a CD of the Maharaja's music sung by Carnatic vocalist and neuroscientist Dr Deepti Navaratna.
H.N Suresh, Director, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, and Rajkumar Upadhyaya, Director, Door darshan, will be the other guests of honour. The event will conclude with a concert of the Maharaja's music performed by a voice, piano, mridangam and violin ensemble led by Dr Navaratna, Director, Carnatic Alchemy Foundation.
The album features rare and popular compositions of the Maharaja, the last monarch of the erstwhile Mysore kingdom. A highlight of the CD, 'Echoes of Royal Mysore', is a rare eulogical shloka written by Sangeetha Kalanidhi Mysore Vasudevacharya, specially composed in honour of his illustrious student and the Maharaja.
Some of the notable, rare compositions in this CD include "Vandeham Sada" in Hamsanatini, "Kamakshi Pahimaam" in Shivakambodhi, "Saraswatheem Bhagavatheem" in Hamsavinodini and "Rajarajeshwareem Bhavaye" in Balachandrika, all in ragas invented by him.
Chiselled poetry in chaste Sanskrit, evoking imagery of the Srividya, is at the heart of all compositions of the Maharaja. His kritis sparkle with the unmistakable radiance of his 'Chitprabhananda" - the bliss that springs from the radiance of an attained soul.
