By T.M.ANANTHARAMAN

The Sree Ramakrishna Bhajana Sabha was established back in 1951 as a mini Bhajan group with five active members. It has grown into a vibrant organisation hosting mega cultural events. When Kunnissery Subramnayam Ramnathan, known to many as Ramnath mama , became president of the Sabha in 1969, it was still a fledgling group with less than a dozen members. Mama and his close-knit group felt the need to expand the scope of the sabha. He expanded the core team to about 40 members in a couple of years and registered the Sabha as a trust. He worked hard and transmuted his enthusiasm to others and carried the conviction that the Sabha can thrive only if it catered to the cultural needs of the masses. With a core team dedicated to the cause, he expanded the activities from mere bhajan singing to a big bhajan congregation by launching audio-visual aids to the activities of bhajan singing.

“We introduced live dance-drama-like situations into the bhajan singing by getting somebody to act the role of a God or Goddess and by direct representation of the characters through appropriate costumes. For the invocatory bhajan piece we had a young Ganapathi, elephant head, tusk and all, walk into the audience bowing and bobbing his head, acknowledging the namaskarams from singers and the crowd. In the bhajans of Markandeya charitram, the highlight was Siva Tandavam in all its awesome glory,” says Mama , a gleam in his eyes while recalling those wonderful days.

For him the master- piece was the depiction of the Narasimha avatar on the stage.

Hiranyakasibu, Prahlada as Narayana upasaka, Naradar all acted their role well but it was when Narasimha appeared breaking the column and tore away the guts of the demon king that the audience was spellbound with the gory spectacle. Says mama: “Those were memorable days and these audio-visual displays became so popular that our team of bhajan singers took the mythological characters and the stories to be performed in bhajan sessions at Delhi, Bombay, Hyderabad, Palghat and Coimbatore and other places in the South.”

But as the years passed, mama found the audience reach through bhajan sessions was limited. The Bangalore Cantonment area had been a military camp under the British rule and the “club culture” was prevalent. Something had to be done to check this and bring back Indian culture and heritage to the people. Mama chose classical music as the medium that could attract the people, especially the young and give them a sense of belonging to the roots of the country. Thyagaraja, Shyama Sastri, Muthuswami Dikshitar, Purandara Dasa and others had left a rich legacy in Carnatic classical music. And Mama decided to bring the richness of the musical culture to Bangalore’s Cantonment area. He began organising classical music concerts of famous singers. This was in 1990 and soon the musical scene expanded and became a regular feature of the sabha. A brand image was required for the musical concerts to make them more popular among both the audience and the supporters of the sabha. So Mama coined the name -“Kala-Utsav” and since 2000 the music festivals are being held at the scenic Ulsoor Lake area in the Odukathur Mutt Hall under the title Kalotsav.

This year Kalotsav 2005 celebrated the 54th Annual Mahashivarathri Cultural/ Vedic/ Bhajan series, which began from February 27. Padmabhushan T.N.Seshagopalan inaugurated the festival. The Sabha honoured Sangeetha Kalanidhi vidwan Sri R.K.Srikantan bestowing the title Sangeetha Kala Ratnam and a cash prize of Rs 5,000/-. The occasion was also marked a personal milestone for Mama. Unknown to him the committee members had decided to honour him as well for the dedication he brought to the services of the sabha for over three decades. Vidwan Seshagopalan did the honours, presenting the plaque carrying the title “Kala Sevaka Ratna” and an emotional Mama acknowledged by saying the progress of the sabha was due to dedicated team work and the award belonged to all the team. He concluded saying “I accept it with humility and pride.” A nice way of acknowledging the honour bestowed on him on the occasion of the Mahashivarathri festival.

Vidwan Seshagopalan who presided over the inauguration of the Sabha festival on February 27 noted that the word "music" was inadequate to fully reflect the Tamil-Indian concept of "Sangeetham". Namasmaranam, he said, which enabled one to reach God, had sangeetam in it while merely saying it had music didn't quite convey the innate beauty of namasmaranam. He gave the example of a rat which accidentally hit the wick of a temple lamp and lit it which pleased the Lord who blessed it saying it would become a king in the next birth. This was Mahabali chakravarthy (emperor).

Seshagopalan recalled how Thyagaraja gave prime importance to Lord Shiva as truly representing sangeetham. The Lord known as Omkara swaroopa and repository of the fruit called Gnanam (knowledge) is praised by Thyagaraja in the kriti "Nadatanumani sam Sankaram".

It is such sangeetham which lifted the spirit and inculcated a respect for tradition, Seshagopalan said, was epitomised by Sangeetha Kalanidhi and Vidwan R.K.Srikantan and it was fitting that the Sree Ramakrishna Bhajana Sabha chose to honour him this year during the inauguration of the Mahashivarathri cultural, vedic and bhajan festival series. A respect for tradition was vital to preserve the rich legacy of the sangeetham culture eventhough one cannot discount the fact that innovation was required. Such innovation is quite possible within the ambit of preserving the traditional values. This would lead to more respect for sampradayam (tradition) and no one would feel cheated that its values are being negated in the name of inventing new things and introducing freshness to sangeetham. A singer can make the job of singing his profession but not a mere business proposition. If it is taken to be a mere business it would kill the very spirit of the art.