Atlanta, Jan 2013: Nrupathunga Kannada Koota (NKK) hosted ‘Dasara Aradhane’, a Carnatic musical rendition of numerous Dasa compositions for the third consecutive year on Saturday, Dec. 8th at Hindu Temple of Atlanta, GA. Over 130 participants from music schools in and around Atlanta representing the Telugu and Tamil communities along with the Kannada community offered their tribute to Haridasas of Karnataka. Mridangam artists Sri Guruswamy and Avinash Ananth from Alabama, also part of the ensemble, enriched the performance.

Starting with “Pillaari geetegaLu”, followed by “Sharanu Gajamukha", a Vijayavitthala Daasa composition, the event proceeded to present works of numerous dasas such as Purandara Dasa, Kanaka Dasa, Vijaya Dasa, Vyasatirtha, Gopala Dasaru to name a few. Dasa Sahitya is the literature of bhakti movement composed by devotees in honor of Lord Vishnu or one of his Avatars. “Dasa” is literally servant in Kannada and “Sahitya” is literature. Haridasas ("servants of God") were preachers of bhakti to Lord Vishnu or one of his avatars. The bhakti literature of these Haridasas is collectively referred to as Dasa Sahitya. It is in the Kannada language.

Avinash, is a disciple of Sri. Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan. He has performed at a prestigious scientific conference at UCLA in 2008 and a few Sabhas in Chennai during December Music festival in 2009 and at saint Tyagaraja’s abode in Thiruvaiyyar. He has performed on numerous occasions in the US with leading artists and continues to accompany local and visiting artists.

Prashant Kallur, an invited Flute artist performed at the event. Prashant has been awarded the prestigious “Center for Cultural Resource and Training (CCRT)”, Delhi and a disciple of Vidwan Sri A.V.Prakash. He accompanies various classical dance performances such as Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Kuchupudi.

NKK Secretary, Aruna Gadekar thanked everyone for their participation including co-ordinator of the event, Hema Nagendra for organizing the event. The program ended with a group song “mangalaarati tandu belagire ranganaathanige” followed by Aarthi to lord Krishna.

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