Its that time of the year when Sri Narayana Tirtha jayanthi is celebrated with an evening concert conducted by R. A. Puram based Thirupoonthuruthy Sri Narayana Tirtha Swamigal Trust. If this were any other year, you would see Late Thirupoonthuruthy V. Venkatesan’s daughters – V. Neela and V. Lakshmi co-ordinating with artists, sabhas, printing, catering and other logistics aspects. The coronavirus pandemic however has made this year a little different.
Determined to do something for this year’s jayanthi, numerous discussions were held on what could be done. Swathi Ravichandran, Venkatesan’s grand-daughter came up with the plan to host a ‘Tarangam series’.
Soon a list of artistes that could be reached through social media platforms was made and the work began. The digital logistics was quite challenging though. Artists were asked to send in their choice of Gitam (a song from 12 Chapters / Tarangams of Sri Narayana Tirtha’s Krishna Leela Tarangini), the sahityam was shared followed by a video recording from their side. The team from the trust would later edit it and it would be sent back to the artists for review. Once all the groups were convinced, the video is uploaded on various social media platforms. All this was coordinated across different time zones too.
The result – 20 different Tarangam Gitams, rendered by 20 different artistes have been uploaded so far. Two 45 minute namasankeerthana performances will be held on Jayanthi Day today (July 1).
#TarangamSeries songs are uploaded at 10 a.m. on weekdays and at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekends on Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. The trust is located at 10/2, 2nd Main Road, R. A. Puram. For details contact the trust at narayanatirtha@gmail.com. Visit http://www.narayanatirtha.org.
