Bharath Sangeet Utsav, a music festival by Carnatica and Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, was inaugurated at the Naradha Gana Sabha at Alwarpet in Chennai yesterday.

The chief guest was veteran violinist TN Krishnan. He lauded the contribution of  Carnatica to the field of music. With corporates and sabhas supporting their endeavour, the music festival was bound to be a monthly affair soon, he said.

During the music season, performers were the same and the fare they offered also saw little change. However, rasikas continued to visit the  sabhas because artistes presented the programmes in new forms, said Mallika Ravi, CEO Lancor holdings, and granddaughter of Papanasam Sivan.

The bani and manodharma gave a new form to the song and a totally new experience to the listener. So rasikas travelled all over the city to listen to the artistes. This has resulted in increasing the number of sabhas and induced existing ones to hold more concerts, she said.

She also lauded Carnatica for presenting innovative programmes featuring artistes from all genres of music. Vocalist Sudha Raghunathan presented Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, a  compilation of songs of various languages belonging to different genres.