By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: The seamlessly conducted week-long 30th Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra (GKCM) Award Festival 2024 at Rabindra Mandap organised by Srjan-Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Nrityabasa along with the able institutional support of Sri Sri University (SSU), Cuttack, reached its half-way mark on Sunday, with a delightful musical evening by SubraMania, led by the brilliant and young violinist Shri Ambi Subramaniam and vocalist Smt. Bindu Subramaniam, who are carrying on the rich musical legacy of their father, celebrated violin virtuoso Dr. L Subramaniam.
After the entrancing Carnatic vocal recital of Kalaimamani Dr. OS Arun, whose voice resounded the soul of music and bhakti, leaving audiences spellbound on the auspicious occasion of Ganesha Chaturthi, SubraMania’s musical fusion concert added immensely to the cultural extravaganza.
With their trademark punctuality, Srjan commenced the evening at 7 pm, with the auspicious lighting of the lamp. The esteemed guests for the evening included Shri Yogesh Bahadur Khurania, Director General of Police (DGP) and Head of Police Force (HoPF), Odisha; Shri Subodh Chandra Acharya, Joint Director-cum-Joint Secretary, Department of Odia Language, Literature & Culture, Govt of Odisha; Smt. Adyasha Satpathy, CEO, Dharitri and OrissaPOST; and Guru Ratikant Mohapatra, Director, Srjan, and Dean, Faculty of Arts, Communication and Indic Studies, SSU.
It was an evening of musical celebration as the band SubraMania, led by Shri Ambi Subramaniam on the violin, Smt. Bindu Subramaniam on vocals, Shri Frijo Francis on the keyboard, Shri Anirudha Bhat on the mridangam, Shri Prashanth Gnanamuthu on the guitar, Shri Karthik Mani on the drums, captivated audiences with their contemporary world music, a fusion of traditional Indian music with elements of pop, rock, and jazz, with their breakthrough track “Days in the Sun.”
Hailed as “India’s Itzhak Pearlmann,” by Ozy Magazine, Ambi is a Carnatic violin prodigy, music educator, and UN youth delegate, while Bindu, hailed as third-generation prodigy, is an entrepreneur, singer-songwriter, and educator. Together, they run SaPa–Subramaniam Academy of Performing Arts, while teaching music to over 30,000 students in India annually through the SaPa in Schools programme. Their band SubraMania has performed globally, and collaborated with Grammy winners Hubert Laws and Ernie Watts, tuba virtuoso Oystein Baadsvik, Blues harmonica legend Corky Siegel, Flamenco guitarist Carlos Blanco, Bollywood music director Aadesh Srivastav, Indi-pop legend Lesle Lewis, and American Idol drummer Russ Miller.
With a unique musical arrangement using the violin, mridangam, drums, and guitar, SubraMania presented a unique harmonic blend of different sounds, tonality, and pieces. Each track had a distinct element including Spanish Flamenco, Hungarian gypsy, and rhythmic intricacies. The band weaved the intrinsic classicism of Carnatic music into the contemporary milieu, making for harmonic world fusion. It is their interpretation of the inherent classical elements that made the concert an auditory delight.
After this celebration of world music, Srjan awaits performances by world-renowned musicians Pt. Rakesh Chaurasia and Shri Ojas Adhiya, a Kathak performance by exponent Guru Ashimbandhu Bhattacharjee and the Upasana Centre for Dance on the subsequent days, and Guru Ratikant Mohapatra’s very own Srjan ensemble, in addition to the prestigious award ceremony on the final day.
Srjan, with the institutional support of Sri Sri University, Cuttack aims to foster the crucial inter-connectedness of academia and performing arts in classical realm. The entire festival is meticulously curated and designed by Guru Ratikant Mohapatra, with seamless programme execution by Shri Debiprasad Mishra. The light arrangement by Shri Debiprasad Mishra and Shri Dilip Kumar, with the able sound engineering of Shri C Anand Krishna, and Shri Bharath Krishna provided a visual and auditory delight of audiences, while Shri Mrutyunjaya Rath conducted the proceedings for the evening.
The 30th GKCM Award Festival has received patronage from MGM Minerals Ltd. and Shalimar Chemical Works Pvt. Ltd. Supported by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, and the Department of Odia Literature Language and Culture, Government of Odisha, the gold sponsor of the festival is Odisha Mining Corporation Ltd., and its festival sponsors include Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd., Shalimar’s Coconut Oil, NALCO, SBI, IMFA, Priyadarshini Handloom, and Paradeep Phosphates Limited. The Royale Midtown Hotel is its hospitality partner. Dharitri and OrissaPOST, and Narthaki.com are the media partners and web partner respectively.
