G.V. Krishna Prasad of Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira in Bengaluru.
| Photo Credit: SREENIVASA MURTHY V
Early this 12 months, in February, on the annual Spring Festival of Music organised by Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira, Bangalore, he was unusually lacking on the entrance of the auditorium. He at all times stood there, ushering listeners in together with his attribute heat. It was a shock to see him seated within the first row, even earlier than the viewers had crammed into the auditorium. The man who had dedicated his life to music for over six a long time, stated: “my coronary heart has grow to be weak, I don’t have vitality like earlier than.” Three months later, on May 13, 2023, Krishna Prasad had handed away.
Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira (SRLKM) got here into existence on January 15, 1955 on Sannidhi Road in Bangalore. Vedanta Iyengar, Krishna Prasad’s father, obsessed with music, was a revered trainer and scholar. A man who believed in serving the individuals, he gained the Public Service Medal from the Maharaja of Mysore in 1949.
After Vedanta Iyengar handed away, his youngsters continued to serve the reason for music. As a outcome, Krishna Prasad and his two sisters, G.V. Ranganayakamma and G.V. Neela, took cost of working the establishment established by their father. While Krishna Prasad had a day job on the Town Planning division and dedicated all his evenings to music, his sisters taught music and carried out concert events. They spent all they earned to music.
Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira in Bengaluru.
| Photo Credit:
SREENIVASA MURTHY V
Krishna Prasad introduced one of the best artistes of Carnatic music to Bangalore. Apart from the Spring competition, SRLKM conducts a bunch of different programmes which embody common concert events and lecdems. From Semmangudi Srinivas Iyer to Maharajapuram Santhanam and from M.S. Subbulaksmi to the current day musicians, the Institution has hosted all of them. SRLKM instituted an award for younger musicians, Raga Laya Prabha and Sangeeta Vedanta Dhureena for senior artistes. Krishna Prasad additionally organised Tyagaraja Aradhane on January 26 yearly and invited veteran and younger artistes.
Ten years in the past, Krishna Prasad launched a music journal, Lalitha Kala Tharangini, and hoped to create a wealthy supply of data for the longer term generations. . And rightly so, the painstakingly well-produced journal has made its manner to the archives of essential establishments, together with the Music Academy in Chennai. “I had casually talked about to Krishna Prasad that I stop my job and hoped to spend my time in music,” remembers Anand, little figuring out that Krishna Prasad would come to his house the next day and make him the editor of the journal. “I’ve learnt so much on this journey,” he says. In the final ten years, the journal has produced particular editions on legendary musicians. Krishna Prasad made helpful ideas and proofread each situation earlier than it went to print. “He was very explicit about high quality and expenditure hardly mattered to him,” says Anand.
“Each time I got here to go to him and left for house, he would say, ‘you have to care for the Mandira’. It rings in my ears,” says M.R. Yoganand, Krishna Prasad’s nephew, and treasurer of SRLKM.
Krishna Prasad might go to any lengths to join individuals and music. Hope Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira continues to promote Carnatic music.
