Enchanting Kerala

KERALA TOURISM NEWSLETTER

Nishagandhi Monsoon Ragas Music Festival 2019

Monsoon reveals the hidden melodies of Nature. The chirping of crickets, the pit-a-pat of raindrops, the distant rumble of thunder over the city, all work in harmony to create an ecstatic mood in our hearts. The cozy cadence and concerto of monsoon are back this year, and so is the Nishagandhi Monsoon Ragas Music Festival – a grand gala that is a glorious celebration of the classical and folkloric musical tradition of India. Nishagandhi Auditorium, situated in the premises of Kanakakkunnu Palace in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India hosted this celebration from July 20 to 24, 2019.

Five serene evenings of rain, ragas and talas, graced by seasoned performers, left the listeners inebriated by music. The show started with a bamboo symphony by Unnikrishna Pakkanar. The highlights of this celebration of music included a concert by the Sangeetha Samrat Chitravina N. Ravikiran, a ghazal evening by maestro Jaswinder Singh, a duet by Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt on Mohana veena and Samrat Pandit Salil Bhatt on Satwik veena, a contemporary flute fusion by Rajesh Cherthala, and a classical fusion band performance by ‘Shiva-The Musical Thunder’. The music lovers in the city also got an opportunity to listen to Krishnaa Ajith on the violin, Carnatic vocalists Vidushi S. Sowmya and Anantha Sai A. S.

As evening rain clouds rolled over the Kanakakkunnu Palace, awakening new moods with their raining symphonies, the vibrant and diverse ensemble of musicians bewitched the melophiles. Nishagandhi Monsoon Ragas Music Festival was a precious occasion for the music lovers to take a break from the mundane evenings and embrace the sublime tranquillity of Indian music.

The legendary classical musicians Padma Shri Parassala B. Ponnammal and Padma Bhushan Dr T. V. Gopalakrishnan received this year’s Nishagandhi Sangeetha Puraskaram, an award instituted by Kerala Tourism to honour musicians.