Janapriya Yakshagana Kala Mandali bears the unique distinction of being the only mandal that performs the traditional art form in Konkani apart from Kannada, Tulu and even English! The group had performed in Kurla Balaji Mandir on 28th February. We are glad to bring to you some colourful snaps of the ballet.

Uppinakuduru is a town near Kundapura, Karnataka, which may not gain instant recall unless you are an ardent lover of Yakshagana Puppets. For over 6 generations, the Uppinakuduru Kamath’s family has been the pioneer and torchbearer of the Art of Yakshagana Puppetry. Bhaskar Kogga Kamath is currently the lead “Sutradhar” of this invaluable heritage art and Saraswat Pride. We bring to you a slide show of few photographs of their show at Kurla Balaji Mandir, and an earnest appeal to donate for a great cause…. read on..

There couldn’t be a bigger Vijaya Dashami celebration at Radio Idli. Shri Raghavendra Mallya, a maestro at pakhawaj and an ardent music lover embarked on a project to launch “Raak Re Venkataramana”, filled with divine lyrics and compositions of Shri Santosh “Madhav” Kudva. The album consisting of eight melodious bhajans was released yesterday at the hands of Shri Puttur Narasimha Nayak who generously came all the way to Mumbai from Bangalore, just for the release.The album is graced with great performances by Shri Kiran Kamath, Shri Vinayak Prabhu, Akshata Mallya and Shri U. Padmanabh Pai. We are glad to present two songs from the album, and present you a divine opportunity to book your own copy complete with the lyrics of the bhajans.

Puttur Pandurang Nayak-maam rendered a divine concert at Vashi, during the last Chaturmasya of Shrimad Sudhindra Teertha Swamiji. He kept the audience spellbound with a collection of is best songs.

Our friend Chetan Hegde got married recently and on the eve of his marriage he had a memorable performance. The artist was none other than the grooms uncle – Shri Prashanth Bhat-maam, son of the revered Shri Bhaskar Bhat-maam of Mulki. (listen to the audio in the complete article)

Konkani Sammelans held by our Saraswat Brethern in the US have been the most popular events in bringing together our community in a country far away from their roots. The “Proud to be Konkani” song has been very memorably preseted at the Sammelan, and we are thankful to have a copy of it, to be shared with Saraswats worldwide!

Pravin Kamath, affectionately known as Pravin Da amongst our founding members has always been an encouraging supporter.
Pravin Da’ brings to us an interview that he took of Shri Kochi Ananth Bhat, duly videographed by his son Neeraj at the Vashi Balaji Mandir, where  Chaturmasya celebrations of Shrimad Sudhindra Teertha Swamiji of Shri Kashi Muth Samsthan [...]

Tale of the Honest Cow
contributed by Shri Ramesh Pai, Abu Dhabi

Editor’s note: Shri Ramesh Pai, from Abu Dhabi, (photograph at left) brings to us yet another generous contribution – a Treasure of Konkani culture and literature,
recorded in 1992 at Kerala. This treasure is for all of us to hear, imbibe, and share with [...]

Introduction of our new contributor:
 
Roshan Pai Ramesh is the Chief Editor of the Konkani Dictionary Project (www.savemylanguage.org). His passion is researching and documenting the Konkani Language. He also maintains an extensive collection of Indian coins (pre-british era). Professionally he’s the Director of an IT Consultancy company based in the UK. He does occasionally fancy [...]

Ever imagined a Konkani song on a Hindi Karaoke track ? Listen to this song – original is a Hindi film song from ‘Meraa Saaya’ released in 1966, and sung by Smt. Lata Mangeshkar. But here we have a devotional song in Konkani. Perhaps some of you have heard a portion during some bhajan sessions, [...]