Karunbithil Shibira: Encountering Carnatic music at her inner chambers

Karunbithil Shibira: Encountering Carnatic music at her inner chambers 

Mangaluru: Fourteen year old Varun is thrilled about meeting Bombay Jayashree as she is going to perform at Karunbithil Shibira, being held at Nidle village near Dharmasthala 80 kms away from Mangaluru, and Jayashree will perform when the curtains are drawn for the annual concert on May 19.

“Do you know, she has sung a beautiful song in Bahubali movie”, he strikes a casual interaction. “At this concert, one can meet any vidwans even if they are internationally renowned and I am glad”, says the boy who has been attending the event for last 13 years, because his grand parents brought him as a child even when he was one-year-old.

Karunbithil house, situated in the Western Ghats, is a typical ancestral home of Dakshina Kannada and Vittal Ramamurthy who settled down in Chennai and became a famed musician, has started the Shibira at his ancestral house twenty years back with handful of people which now attracts more than 200 people starting from children to elderly. And, renowned musicians shed all their usual selves come and mingle with everyone from veterans to novices in this event.

On Thursday afternoon, Lathangi sisters, Archana & Samanvi are performing a vocal and as the music flows, the participants give attentive response. One thing that strikes at the concert is it is not usual one confined to a musical setup one usually sees in Carnatic concerts. It is a house with its own beauty and everyone is so informal and casual in their surroundings. Even as Archana and Samanvi continue singing, there are other participants who have come far find a place in the house to sleep and refresh.

“I would say, it is a flabbergasting experience and such concerts don't take place anywhere at all. It is totally different experience. I came after seeing this in facebook last year and returned this year too”, says Mohan Putty, a musician from Bengaluru.

Vittal Ramamurthy says that it was an effort to do something at his ancestral village after attaining lot of fame elsewhere. “It is like homecoming and we keep it informal while the stage events are only kept for the scheduled performances. There are competitions, medleys at the lawn later in the evening, some trekking around the hills in the evenings and more music by night”, he explained.

People come from different places mostly from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and some from United States too. Kasinath Anupindi, a financial expert from New Jersey has come exclusively for the event. “I am coming for the second time and got to know it after my daughter Pavani started learning violin from Vittal Ramamurthy. He is a Guru who teaches with positive reinforcement and the same emotion is in the air at this concert”, he explained.

Language or cultural barriers disappear in this ancestral home and everyone feels like returning to their relative house, is the common opinion of participants. “I come from Chennai and was initially thinking there will be language barriers. But music is the common language here”, says H Vishwas, a young mandolin player from Chennai.