Musical evening in Bengaluru in honour of Madikeri Nagendra’s birth anniversary

Madikeri Nagendra’s sonorous voice and unique compositions have a special place in Kannada’s Sugama Sangeetha or journey of musical expression. An event titled, Sangeetha Sambhrama, will be a reminder of a bygone era of music that once played a major role in Karnataka’s musical milieu.

The event commemorates Nagendra’s 75th birth anniversary and has been organised by his son, Bharath Nagendra. Born on September 16, 1950, to a culturally vibrant family, Nagendra’s early exposure to classical music, saw him become a household name and a contemporary of Rathnamala Prakash, Malathi Sharma, Shimoga Subbanna.

According to the Bengaluru-based Bharath, the event will bring together musicians, scholars and connoisseurs of music. The evening will begin with the launch of Madikeri Nagendra – Yashogaathe, a book that chronicles the artiste’s journey. This will be followed by the release of an audio album Geethavenna Jeevana, a compilation of 11 original compositions by Nagendra, orchestrated by Praveen D Rao.

Saanidhya, a website documenting the curated knowledge of Sugama Sangeetha, will also be launched on the occasion. Live music will be presented by vocalists Supriya Raghunandan, Meghana Bhat, Srilakshmi Belmannu, Keerthan Holla, Nishchay Vishwasena and Bhargav HC, as part of the celebrations.

Bharath says Saanidhya is an initiative to create a living archive for the next generation. “There is a dearth of information about Sugama Sangeetha on the internet. In the past, singers kept this form alive by singing compositions of writers such as Kuvempu and Da Ra Bendre. Yashwanth Halebandi, for instance, was known for singing Bendre’s songs. This website is an effort to keep this art form from disappearing.”

Madikeri Nagendra, surrounded by his students at the anniversary function of Gurukrupa Sangeetha Kendra, a school he started.
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

According to Bharath, Saanidhya is an evolving website, with information about select singers and poets from Karnataka. “We have enabled an option that allows the public to add content so the website will keep growing.”

For Bharath, Sugama Sangeetha and Gamaka are culturally rich art forms which are vanishing because of a lack of presence in today’s music scene. “We don’t find these songs or compositions in today’s music, which is why I believe the recall value of today’s music is nil. We tend to gravitate towards old songs.”

He hopes the event not only reiterates the relevance of Sugama Sangeetha, but also pays homage to a composer whose tunes have lived on. Madikeri Nagendra passed away in 2005.

Sugama Sangeetha will be held at JSS Auditorium, Jayanagar, Bengaluru on February 7, at 5pm.Entry free.