Swathi Sangeethotsavam
Rama Varma performing at Swathi Sangeethotsavam
DatesEvery year from 4 January to 13 January
Location(s)Thiruvananthapuram, India
Organised byPrince Rama Varma and Sir Rama Varma Maharaja of Travancore Trust

Swathi Sangeethotsavam (Swathi Music Festival) is a ten-day festival of music celebrating the compositions of Maharaja Swathi Thirunal. The festival is held from 4 to 13 January every year at Kuthira Malika, Trivandrum, where the Maharaja is believed to have composed many of his works. The festival is a tribute to Swathi Tirunal and is exclusively dedicated to his compositions.[1] The concerts are not ticketed. The festival is conducted by Rama Varma Maharaja of Travancore Trust under the helm of Prince Rama Varma.[2]

History

The Government of Kerala used to conduct the festival in Kuthiramalika in memory of Swathi Thirunal. In the late 90s, after they decided to hold it in different places all over Kerala and discontinued the festival at Kuthiramalika, Rama Varma Maharaja took the initiative to continue the annual festival under the Travancore Trust.[3] The festival is organized by Prince Rama Varma, Carnatic musician and direct descendant of Swathi Tirunal.[4]

List of events

Year Date Headliners
2004[5] 6–12 Jan. Ranjani & Gayathri, Aswathi Tirunal Rama Varma, Kudamaloor Janardanan, M.S.Sheela, Ajoy Chakrabarti, P. Unni Krishnan, Dr. M.Balamuralikrishna
2005[6] 6–12 Jan. Kudamaloor Janardanan , Aswathi Thirunal Rama Varma, Kiranavali Vidyashankar, Pantula Rama, V.Vamanan, Pandit Venkatesh Kumar, T. M. Krishna
2006[7] 6–12 Jan. Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Pandit Virabhadriah Hiremath, V.V. Subramanyam, Gayathri Venkataraghavan, Malladi Brothers, K. Omanakutty
2007[8] 6–12 Jan. Sanjay Subrahmanyan, S.K.S. Hariharasubramanian, Sangeetha Sivakumar, T. M. Krishna, Trichy B. Sivakumar
2008[9] 6–13 Jan. Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Prince Rama Varma, Manasi Prasad, Prof. Venkatesh Kumar, Master Balamuralikrishna, Parasala B. Ponnammal, Lalgudi GJR Krishnan and Vijayalakshmi (violin duet), Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna
2009[10] 6–15 Jan. Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Malladi Suri Babu, Pandit Venkatesh Kumar, Parasala Ponnammal, Prince Rama Varma (Veena), Amrutha Venkatesh, Kunnakudi M. Balamuralikrishna, Prasanna Venkataraman, Thamarakkad Govindan Namboothiri, Ranjani & Gayathri
2010[11] 6–12 Jan. Mavelikkara Subrahmanian, Pandit Venkatesh Kumar, Balasai, Aswathi Thirunal Rama Varma, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Seetha Rajan and Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna
2011[12] 6–12 Jan. Ajoy Chakraborty, violin duet by siblings S.R. Mahadeva Sharma and S.R. Rajashree, Vidya Kalyanaraman, R.K. Padmanabha, Aswathi Thirunal Rama Varma, Amrutha Venkatesh
2012[13] 6–12 Jan. Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Bangalore S. Shankar, Prof. Venkataramanan, Abhradita Banerjee, Aswathi Thirunal Rama Varma, Master Abhilash, Akkarai Sisters
2013[14] 4–13 Jan. Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Aswathi Thirunal Rama Varma, Master Siddharth, J.B. Shruthisagar (Flute), Amrutha Venkatesh, Sikkil Gurucharan, Ranjini Guruprasad, Ramakrishnan Murthy, Avaneeswaram S R Vinu, Venkataramanan, Debapriya Adhikary, Vighnesh Easwar, O.S. Arun
2014[15] 4–13 Jan. Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Prince Rama Varma, Amrutha Venkatesh, Parassala B. Ponnammal, Prof.Venkataramanan, T.V. Gopalakrishnan, S. Varadarajan(violin solo), Saurabh Kadgaonkar, Seetha Rajan's Bala Brundam, O.S. Arun
2015[16] 4-13 Jan. Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Prince Rama Varma, Amrutha Venkatesh, Perumbavoor G. Ravindranath, Avaneeshwaram S.R. Vinu (violin solo), Carnatica Brothers, Ashwath Narayanan, Sandeep Narayan, Pravin Godkhindi (Flute), O.S.Arun
2016[17] 4-13 Jan. Amrutha Venkatesh, Prince Rama Varma, Kruthi Bhat, J.A. Jayanth (Flute), Uttara Swaminathan, Kashyap Mahesh, Ramnath Venkat Bhagwath, O.S.Arun, Vani Ramamurthi, Sanjay Subrahmanyan
2017[18] 4-13 Jan. Prince Rama Varma, Amrutha Venkatesh, Aditi Prahlad, O.S. Arun, S. Mahadevan (Veena), Surabhi Pusthakam, Brindha Manickavasakan, Thamarakad Govindan Namboothiri, Amit Nadig (Flute), Kashyap Mahesh, Sanjay Subrahmanyan
2018[19] 4-13 Jan. Palghat R Ramprasad, Manda Sudharani, S Ashok, M B Hariharan, Tamarakkad Govindan Namboodiri, Amith Nadig, Amrutha Venkatesh, Prince Rama Varma
2019[20] 4-13 Jan. Prince Rama Varma, Bangalore Sri S. Shankar, Sri Vishnudev Namboodri, Smt Nisha Rajagopalan, Tamarakkad Sri Govindan Namboodri, Sri Sanjay Subrahmanyan

See also

References

  1. ^ "Swathi Sangeethotsavam begins on January 6". The Hindu. 30 December 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  2. ^ "Swathi Sangeethotsavam @ Kuthiramaika". swathithirunal.in. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  3. ^ "Royal musical treat". The Hindu. 4 January 2008. Archived from the original on 8 January 2008. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  4. ^ "The sound of music: Meet Rama Varma, the man behind Thiruvananthapuram's Swathi Festival".
  5. ^ "A rare musical treat". The Hindu. 3 January 2004. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  6. ^ "Rich music fare on the cards". The Hindu. 5 January 2005. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  7. ^ "On the wings of music". The Hindu. 20 January 2006. Archived from the original on 26 October 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  8. ^ "Lyrical homage". The Hindu. 19 January 2007. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  9. ^ "Celebration of melody and rhythm". The Hindu. 18 January 2008. Archived from the original on 30 January 2008. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  10. ^ "When music reigned supreme". The Hindu. 16 January 2009. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  11. ^ "Festive treat of Swati kritis". The Hindu. 22 January 2010. Archived from the original on 23 January 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  12. ^ "Vintage melodies". The Hindu. 21 January 2011. Archived from the original on 9 July 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  13. ^ "Swathi Sangeethotsavam begins on January 6". thiraseela.com. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  14. ^ "Swathi sangeethotsavam 2013". thiraseela.com. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  15. ^ "Swathi Music Fest Begins Today". newindianexpress.com. The New Indian Express. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  16. ^ "Swati fete". thehindu.com. The Hindu. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  17. ^ "Brimming with devotion". thehindu.com. The Hindu. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  18. ^ "Swaras in the soft glow of oil lamps". thehindu.com. The Hindu. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  19. ^ "Capital city gears up for a royal music treat". Times of India. 8 January 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  20. ^ "The sound of music: Meet Rama Varma, the man behind Thiruvananthapuram's Swathi Festival". The News Minute. Retrieved 24 October 2019.

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