 of talent which makes their season tally of 3 wins all the more galling for Chooks fans. They have had too many distractions this year and are the epitome of a side that has climbed the mountain and just couldn't get up for another gruelling NRL season. Like fellow recent Premiers in Manly, Souths and the Dragons the Roosters are finding out the hard way that all the juice can be squeezed from the Orange in scaling that mountain. Whilst there are plenty of senior players that have a lot of pride and would be hurting the Roosters have lost their edge. They are marking time before the end of the season but will want a win or two to avoid a complete embarrassment.
The Broncos started the season like a house on fire and firmed in everyone's market as the Premiership favourites. However there recent performances have been alarming and they look nothing like the force they were. The Sharks, Storm and Cowboys have left them behind are are unlikely to look back. Both a lack of confidence in the Broncos playmakers and a lack of size in their pack has led to a number of substandard performances of late. This culminating in a dreadful humbling at home at the hands of a youthful Panthers outfit last Friday Night. Whilst the Broncos remain locks to make the finals they will do so limping in waiting to be put of their their misery if performances don't take a sharp upturn. A victory over the Roosters might be just the tonic to propel them back into the Top 4 as they have a favourable draw over the last month of the regular season.
Verdict - I hate to do this but I am tipping the Roosters here. They look like a side that been been building up to a win for a month or so whilst the Broncos look a team totally bereft of confidence. So poor have the Broncos last few performances been that I think the Roosters can expose them on the edges and out wide defensively. The Broncos are missing Sam Thaiday and there pack will be further stretched here. I think this will be quite and open game with plenty of points as both sides are a long way from the defensive powerhouses's they staked their reputation on. Roosters by 4.In mid-August this year, Google announced a long-term collaboration with Prasar Bharati, under which the former will host livestreams and digitise content for the public broadcasting agency. What is interesting and important is that the tech giant will aid Prasar Bharati to digitise over two decades worth of content with Doordarshan and All India Radio, across 12 Indian languages, and this will be hosted on Google Arts & Culture. It will indeed be a big step in bringing the best of Prasar Bharati’s programmes on India’s rich history and culture to digital users across age-groups to a wide range of global audiences. It certainly augurs well for Indian art and culture.
Another commendable development in the storage and archiving of Indian art is the donation of the mammoth Mohan Khokar Dance Collection (MKDC) to the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) in New Delhi. The collection, preserved with care by dance writer Ashish Khokar, was initiated several decades ago by his father—the famous writer, performer and arts administrator Prof. Mohan Khokar (1924-1999)—with the grand vision of documenting dance. The treasure trove comprises a mindboggling number of photographs, paper clippings, publications, posters, artefacts and memorabilia of dancers over the decades. It is heart-warming that the MKDC has finally found a befitting space at IGNCA where a team guided by Ashish Khokar has already begun sorting, sifting, and categorising the material with the long term plan of digitising and setting up a gallery-museum. Sruti is well aware of the pioneering collection of Mohan Khokar who was a good friend and used to contribute articles with rare photos quite regularly to the magazine. In fact when N. Pattabhi Raman and Mohan Khokar (who had relocated to Chennai) decided to collaborate, the Sruti Foundation played a small role in helping to transport the MKDC collection to Chennai.
The past month has seen the sad demise of two veterans dedicated to the arts. RajalakshmiParthasarathy, popularly known as Mrs. YGP, Dean & Director of the PSBB group of schools, visionary educationist, and patron of art and culture, passed away in Chennai on 6 August 2019 at the age of 93. She was a multifacetedwoman who, apartfrom playing a pioneering role in education, has left her mark in journalism, theatre, women’s welfare, social causes, restoration of temples, and talent promotion. A major contribution of Mrs. YGP is that she propagated art and culture among the young in a big way because she believed in developing a holistic approach to education with emphasis on all-round personality development. Braving her illness, she was an inspiring presence in Chennai art circles. She received several awards; Sruti too honoured her with the M. Venkatakrishnan Memorial Award for her role as‘sabhanayaka’ of Bharat Kalachar.
To those who have seen the Ramayana dance-dramas of Kalakshetra, C.K. Balagopalan is synonymous with Anjaneya. From his teens till the very end, “Balagopal” remained the dedicated, enthusiastic, sprightly dancer who poured his heart and soul into the diverse roles he played on stage and came up with a memorable performance every time. He was an integral part of Kalakshetra. After his retirement, the veteran dancer ran his own dance school, took part in dance productions, workshops, and mentored dancers at Kalakshetra. The dance world has lost a great artist in his sudden demise on 24 August in Chennai.
In the September issue we offer varied fare with articles on Bhajan Sopori— veteran Hindustani santoor maestro, an interview with young but established Carnatic musician Amritha Murali, and the second article in the series on art pioneers in the Indian diaspora focussing on Houston-based classical dancer Rathna Papa Kumar. Apart from several news reports you can also read the first of a three-part article on Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan’s Melaragamalika.
The annual 'MDR Day', celebrated under the banner of 'Kedaram', at Tripunithura has found an important place in Kerala's cultural calendar. Krishnamurthi, organiser of the event, who is noted for infusing new ideas to make the memorial event outstanding every year, had a Rasikas Forum this time to enable them to share their experiences of the music of the late vidwan M.D. Ramanathan. There was a very good turn out of music lovers.
The chief guest, mridanga vidwan Palghat T.R. Rajamani, made a brief speech highlighting the brahmalayam innate in MDR. He also pointed out that it was necessary to understand the basics of the Carnatic idiom to appreciate it properly.
(L to R) Krishnamurthi, Mavelikara P. Subramaniam, Palghat Rajamani, P.R. Kumara Kerala Varma, Sreevalsan J. Menon and Santhala Raju.
A book containing 20 compositions of M.D. Ramanathan, aptly titled Varadadaasyam, and notated by Tripunithura-based musician Santhala Raju, was released. The first copy of the book was received by veteran vidwan P.R. Kumara Kerala Varma, one of the senior most disciples of Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. The foreword has been written by vidwan T.V. Gopalakrishnan, who had a long association with MDR. The book contains compositions including the popular Hariyum Haranum (Athana), Sagara sayana vibho (Bagesree), and rare songs like the one on Lord Poornatrayeesa and on Madurai Meenakshi.
The open forum on MDR's music in which several admirers, including musicians, participated, was moderated by musicians P. Subramaniam and Sreevalsan J. Menon. Several admirers in the audience, including musicians, enthusiastically shared their views on MDR's music and the great yet simple man that he was. I too spoke about the experience of having listened to MDR's sublime music at the Trivandrum Navaratri Mandapam for about 20 years in a row during the 1960s to 80s.
The concert in the evening featured the Mysore Brothers (violin duo) with K.V. Prasad (mridangam).
The 10th annual Sri Jayanti Music Festival of Sri Thyaga Bramha Gana Sabha was inaugurated on 17 August 2019 at Vani Mahal in Chennai. The sabha honoured V. Shankaranarayanan (vocal), B.U. Ganesh Prasad (violin), Mannarkoil J. Balaji (mridangam). J. Suryanarayana Murthy (Bharatanatyam) and Malathy Sampath (Theatre) with the title ‘Vani Kala Nipuna’.
Justice Prabha Sridevan inaugurated the festival and K. Harishankar, Secretary, Narada Gana Sabha, felicitated the artists.
Vishnu