The food of love: Carnatic vocalist Manasi Prasad hopes to keep the classical tradition flourishing through her live concerts

Rithu Dravid

A seasoned Indian classical Carnatic artist, Manasi Prasad, has performed worldwide and connects with the audience through the rendition of her melodious voice. She infuses this classical style of music into contemporary rhythms soulfully. Performing live devotional music has always been her passion. She feels spreading devotion and the love of music through her renditions brings harmony and peace both to the audience and her. “Live concerts are performed not only to entertain but also to revive music in diverse styles to make it vibrant,” says she.

On Sunday Manasi is performing with Shri Mattur Vishwajith on the violin and Shri Anoor Vinod Shyam on the mridangam. The event is organized by Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira, one of the oldest music organisations devoted to promoting classical art in the city. Manasi explores the components of melody, harmony, rhythm and timber in her musical compositions.

A traditional Carnatic classical concert or kacheri begins with a a composition called varanam which is a bright opening piece. Manasi will be opening her performance by Naa Jeevadhaara, by saint Thyagaraja. This composition is unique because it has seventeen variations or sangathis, expressing the saint’s devotion. “It’s a challenging composition and rarely sung keerthi which I will be presenting to the audience,” she says.

“The idea of a good Carnatic concert is to have a variety of raagas. Besides the Thygaraja composition, I am also performing the compositions of the Mysuru maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar which has a unique rhythm.” She feels artists of Karnataka should sing compositions by our own composers.

The concert will also have Meera bhajans, a sixteenth century Hindu mystic poet and a devotee of Lord Krishna. As a celebrated bhakti saint and an empowered woman, Meera Bai has taught many inspirational lessons. Manasi feels this needs to brought out. “This rendition is a special and I will perform it in honour of March being women’s month,” she says.

She is able to perform and team up with different artists because of the shared language of the raagas and thalas in musical compositions. “One is able to strike a rapport with artists even if one has not performed with them in the past,” says she.

As music is the food of love and essential to our lives this classical artist through her live renditions entertains her audience. “Music must be relevant to current times. In the recent past, I have teamed up with pianists to bring out Carnatic classical music with a contemporary touch, a lot more context setting, and explanation,” she concludes.