Category Archives: Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Kalamkari art museum comes up at Pedana

April 2, 2018Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, World Opinionadmin

Visitors at the Kalamkari art museum at Pedana in Krishna district. | Photo Credit: T_APPALANAIDU

It has three galleries; traces link with Dutch and British

Former Union Minister for Textiles K. Sambasiva Rao and Professor N. Sridharan, School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, on Saturday inaugurated the ‘Kalamkari art museum’ here. The museum, developed by Pedana-based Pitchuka Srinivas and his son Varun Kumar, traces the history of the art and displays the process of extraction of natural colours from various sources. The museum has three galleries — wooden blocks, natural colours and history — which establish the connection with the Dutch and the British.

President of India award recipient K. Gangadhar inaugurated the history gallery in which the “Tree of Life” design was on display along with the other older works done in Machilipatnam and Pedana. The art has been flourishing in Pedana since the 1970s having been introduced by Pitchuka Veera Subbaiah. Machilipatnam was known for the art before that.

Give up chemicals

Speaking to newsmen, Mr. Sambasiva Rao appealed to the production units to give up the practice of using chemicals and use the natural colours. “The units need to understand the demand for the products across the globe and attempt to explore the market instead of killing it with unnatural practices,” he said.

He lauded the efforts of Mr. Srinivas in developing the museum. Professor Sridharan opined that the museum would serve as an education centre of Kalamkari and was arguably the country’s first one dedicated to the art. Mr. Sridharan played an instrumental role in developing the museum by extending academic and research support to the artisans.

“The idea of coming up with the exclusive museum has been realised now. It is a result of my serious effort to keep it alive in its true format,” said Mr. Srinivas.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Staff Reporter / Pedana (Krishna) – March 31st, 2018

CM releases book on Andhra cuisine

March 31, 2018Arts, Culture & Entertainmentadmin

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu releasing the coffee table book at his residence on Friday. | Photo Credit: CH_VIJAYA BHASKAR

Appreciates efforts in organising cookery contests

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Friday released a coffee table book on the 50 best dishes and recipes of Andhra Pradesh, a marketing initiative of The Hindu in association the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Department. Mr. Naidu appreciated the effort that has gone into the series of cookery contests in the 13 districts and the grand finale in Vijayawada on Wednesday.

Visual documentation

He wanted The Hindu and the Tourism Department to collaborate in promoting tourism spots, art and crafts and dance traditions of Andhra Pradesh.

Parkala Prabhakar, Adviser, Communications, Government of Andhra Pradesh was present.

A hard cover, the 115 pages of the coffee table book, “50 Reasons Why the World Will Remember AP Forever”, is a visual documentation of an amazing array of Andhra cuisine that comes in categories of snacks, main course, accompaniments and desserts.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Special Correspondent/ Vijayawada – March 31st, 2018

Neeraja Kona to launch a clothing label, Kaluva

March 30, 2018Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economyadmin

After movies and restaurants, the stylist ventures into the retail sector

She hobnobs with the top brass in the southern film industries, styling them for their film projects, endorsements and public appearances, and her social media feeds provide pointers to fashion and beauty trends. In the course of styling for her projects, Neeraja Kona found herself developing a deep liking for breathable fabrics in comfortable silhouettes. She might wear designer labels now and then but most often, she says she’s at ease wearing handloom cotton kurtas. “A store like Fabindia would be my go-to place for workwear clothes. And, I’m aware that for many women, comfortable clothing is of utmost priority,” she says, talking to us a day after announcing her forthcoming clothing project, Kaluva (lotus), on social media.

She’s been doing the groundwork for a year. Her fascination for block prints took her to Jaipur where she began working with the craftsmen. Pockets of Rajasthan are known for their intricate block print designs, from the Anokhi museum in the vicinity of Amer Fort to the bylanes of Jaipur where one would find several block printers busy at work. Kaluva will have a range of cottons and muls block printed in Jaipur. Certain colours have become synonymous with block prints. Neeraja wants to present a broader colour palette, “Apart from the vegetable dyes, indigos and reds one associates with the bagru prints, we will have a variety of pastels; the plan is to use natural dyes and a mix of chemical colours to arrive at new shades. It would be good to have colours like mauve.”

Kaluva will launch in a couple of months, first as an online store and eventually as a brick and mortar space. The USP, says Neeraja, will be the affordable pricing, “I might be working with designers for film projects but this clothing line is not going to be ‘a designer range’ so to speak.”

The workshop for Kaluva will be in Neeraja’s hometown Bapatla, where she will be roping in homemakers and single women looking to better their livelihoods. “Block printing will be done in Jaipur, the master tailors in Hyderabad will be working on silhouettes and the stitching will happen in Bapatla,” she informs.

In recent years, several start-ups have entered the handloom clothing space with online stores. Ask Neeraja what will set Kaluva apart and she laughs, “It’s okay if Kaluva doesn’t really stand out from the crowd or offers a few silhouettes one might find in the retail sector. I want women to relate to the brand and be happy wearing the clothes. A few stores in Hyderabad specialise in easy, comfortable cotton clothing. But the rest of the stuff available is generic in terms of colours and patterns.”

There’s always scope for a new clothing line and coming from someone who has worked closely with the fashion industry, Kaluva could be worth the wait.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Life & Style> Fashion / by Sangeetha Devi Dundoo / March 28th, 2018

Dravidian language family is 4,500 years old: study

March 22, 2018About Seemandhra / Andhra Pradesh, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All, World Opinionadmin

The Dravidian language family’s four largest languages — Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu — have literary traditions spanning centuries, of which Tamil reaches back the furthest, resource: .

The Dravidian language family, consisting of 80 varieties spoken by nearly 220 million people across southern and central India, originated about 4,500 years ago, a study has found.

This estimate is based on new linguistic analyses by an international team, including researchers from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany, and the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun.

The researchers used data collected first-hand from native speakers representing all previously reported Dravidian subgroups. The findings, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, match with earlier linguistic and archaeological studies.

South Asia, reaching from Afghanistan in the west and Bangladesh in the east, is home to at least six hundred languages belonging to six large language families, including Dravidian, Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan.

The Dravidian language family, consisting of about 80 language varieties (both languages and dialects) is today spoken by about 220 million people, mostly in southern and central India, and surrounding countries.

The Dravidian language family’s four largest languages — Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu — have literary traditions spanning centuries, of which Tamil reaches back the furthest, researchers said.

Along with Sanskrit, Tamil is one of the world’s classical languages, but unlike Sanskrit, there is continuity between its classical and modern forms documented in inscriptions, poems, and secular and religious texts and songs, they said.

“The study of the Dravidian languages is crucial for understanding prehistory in Eurasia, as they played a significant role in influencing other language groups,” said Annemarie Verkerk of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

Neither the geographical origin of the Dravidian language nor its exact dispersal through time is known with certainty.

The consensus of the research community is that the Dravidians are natives of the Indian subcontinent and were present prior to the arrival of the Indo-Aryans (Indo-European speakers) in India around 3,500 years ago.

Researchers said that it is likely that the Dravidian languages were much more widespread to the west in the past than they are today.

In order to examine questions about when and where the Dravidian languages developed, they made a detailed investigation of the historical relationships of 20 Dravidian varieties.

Study author Vishnupriya Kolipakam of the Wildlife Institute of India collected contemporary first-hand data from native speakers of a diverse sample of Dravidian languages, representing all the previously reported subgroups of Dravidian.

The researchers used advanced statistical methods to infer the age and sub-grouping of the Dravidian language family at about 4,000-4,500 years old.

This estimate, while in line with suggestions from previous linguistic studies, is a more robust result because it was found consistently in the majority of the different statistical models of evolution tested in this study.

This age also matches well with inferences from archaeology, which have previously placed the diversification of Dravidian into North, Central, and South branches at exactly this age, coinciding with the beginnings of cultural developments evident in the archaeological record.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Science / by PTI / Berlin – March 21st, 2018

Now, Sing Thyagaraja Kritis in Malayalam

March 21, 2018Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, Alladmin

Retired principal translates 101 compositions of the saint-poet

The Telugu compositions of Sri Thyagaraja have reached God’s Own Country and are available to music connoisseurs in “His own language”.

This was made possible by the efforts of Latha Varma, retired Principal of Madurai-based Sri Sadguru Sangeetha Vidyalayam College of Music and Research Centre. Quite surprisingly, Tamil acted as the bridge in translating the Telugu compositions into Malayalam.

Ms. Varma, who belongs to the royal family of Ernakulam, joined the famed college in Madurai when she was 24 and retired a couple of years ago. As Malayalam is her mother tongue and she gained proficiency in Tamil with her prolonged stay in Madurai, she decided to go the extra mile to learn Telugu literature too. And she did master it with élan through a certificate and diploma course from Madurai Kamaraj University.

Though Thyagaraja kritis are sung world over by people of all languages, many are do not know Telugu and as such miss out on its literary beauty. The mellifluous note and rhythm come in for appreciation, but the ‘Bhava’ (substance) more often than not gets lost. It is this void that the musicologist wanted to fill, at least in Malayalam.

She hand-picked 101 most popular compositions of the saint-poet and gave a word-by-word translation (Prathipadartham) and also a gist (Thathparyam) of each verse. As senior Telugu professor T.S. Giriprakash Rao translated the Telugu verses into Tamil, she picked them up for translation into Malayalam.

An academician, performer cum researcher, Ms. Varma spoke to The Hindu on the sidelines of a seminar on “Group kritis of different vaggeyakaras,”organised by Sri Padmavathi Mahila Viswa Vidyalayam’s (SPMVV) Department of Music and Fine Arts, where she was the key-note speaker.

The translation work, which she calls her “pet project”, lasted for two years. “The copies are now available at the Maharaja’s College for Women and Kerala University, both in Thiruvananthapuram, and the Chittur College in Palakkad. I will soon present some [copies] to the Maharaja’s College in Ernakulam,” Ms. Varma said.

Ms. Varma was felicitated by SPMVV Rector V. Uma, Dean (Social sciences) D.B. Krishnakumari, seminar coordinator K. Saraswathi Vasudev and academic Dwaram Lakshmi on the occasion.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by A.D. Rangarajan / Tirupati – March 21st, 2018

GVMC demolishes encroachments on European cemetery after plaints

March 20, 2018Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All, World Opinionadmin

Visakhapatnam :

On March 18, while touring the historic Old Town, a group of heritage enthusiasts noticed encroachments upon the 17th century European cemetery grounds near the Kurupam market. A five-storey building has come up in the northern side of the cemetery and a boundary wall has also been constructed.

When brought to the notice of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation authorities, on Monday evening, they demolished the wall.

The encroachment has been estimated to be about 8 feet by 60 feet. One of the gates of the new building also opens onto the cemetery. “We brought it to the notice of the GVMC chief M Harinarayanan, who said he would get it examined by the town planning officers,” said Sohan Hatangadi, one of the organisers of Sunday’s Old Town heritage walk.

Notwithstanding the prompt action by GVMC that helped prevent further encroachment, it is interesting to note that the building was under construction since 2016. The GVMC had then given the permission, but had failed to check whether the structure would encroach upon the cemetery.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Visakhapatnam News / by Sulogna Mehta / TNN / March 20th, 2018

An inspiring story of a charitable service in Visakhapatnam

March 18, 2018Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration /Positive News and Features, Science & Technologyadmin

Close your eyes, use other senses to live life for an hour, and you’ll realize how much we take the gift of sight for granted. While vision impairment often has no cure, the helplessness that comes with it can be tackled. Vision Aid Charitable Services in Visakhapatnam shows the way in the world of darkness.

With low vision or vision impairment often transferred genetically from the first to the third generation, the often untreatable condition hampers life right since childhood. Not only does it bring downgrades at school, it also brings down the person’s confidence. Dr. MS Raju understood the magnitude of this problem as he travelled the world, and compared the support that other nations are able to afford to the vision impaired, vis a vis India. And so, in 2004, at the age of 70 years, he initiated a change that would bring in low-cost assistive technologies for them. Vision Aid was thus established.
He shares that in India many aren’t even aware that vision impairment can be a genetic problem without a cure. With training and technologies being expensive, and Braille being limited in usage, he decided to address the challenges. Computers are universal in usage, he shares, showing us how computer keyboards and dialpads on phones are actually equipped to be tactile sensory, something that many don’t know.

Vision Aid trains students in using them. Not just this, students are taught to hone their other senses so that they can lead a life as independent as possible. Vision Aid is also one of the few in India to offer access technologies and assistive devices at low cost.

In the line of access technologies, the vision impaired are taught computer skills using audio assistance that reduces the margin of error. The low-cost assistive devices include magnifiers, object sensors, speaking calculators and even a camera mouse.

Their innovations have even earned them recognition like the Nasscom finalist award for social innovations in 2011, RA Rockefeller award as best NPO in Southern India in 2010 and NCP Mphasis award in 2009 among others.

Today this NGO encourages those with low vision to join their classes at no fee. In fact, their teaching model allows a student to join at any point in time and for anyone hour slot during the day. They are however required to complete 55 one on one sessions at the center.

For this, the organization also offers escort services.
Removing the obstacles that stand in the way of learning for the vision impaired, English language skills along with computers are imparted as well. Their helpline is open 24/7. With 20-30% of those they train getting jobs, some go for higher education while many benefits from browsing the Internet. From doing menial jobs, opportunities for these students are improving, and this not just enhances their performance but also boosts their confidence.

Along with creating assistive devices, Vision Aid also disseminates know how on handling vision impairment, with the material readily available for all those who wish to use it. Along with empowering students, they also hone teachers as the number of special teachers is still very low in the country.
Sharing that while the eye cannot be repaired, the helplessness of the visually impaired can be, this NGO shines a ray of hope in the world of darkness.

For details contact: Dr.S. Sam Kumar at 9885765115
Website: www.visionaidindia.org

source: http://www.yovizag.com / Yo Vizag / Home> News-City Updates

His voice, a capsule of tribal histories

January 10, 2018Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Inspiration /Positive News and Features, Records, Alladmin

Ramachandraiah is probably the last such singer left in A.P. and Telangana

Sakine Ramachandraiah could easily have been awarded honorary doctorate by any university. An unlettered man from Koonavaram village of Manuguru mandal of Bhadradri Kothagudem district, Ramachandraiah has oral histories of the Koya tribe on the tip of his tongue.

One only has to mention the story to have it cascade effortlessly from his vocal chambers, in Telugu as well as Koya language.

Belonging to the ‘Doli’ sub-division of the Koya tribe, which has been traditionally ordained with the duty of reciting the tribe’s clan histories, Ramachandraiah is probably the last such singer left in the two states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

“Some times, I cross the State border to perform in Chhattisgarh, where people want the songs in Koya language,” Ramachandraiah says.

He sings at marriages, at funerals, and he always sings at the biennial Medaram Jathara also known as the ‘Sammakka Saralamma Jathara’, which is touted as the world’s largest repeat congregation of tribal communities. The Medaram Jathara is to be held from January 31 to February 3 this year, at Eturunagaram of Jayashankar Bhupalpally district.

Gazette

The Doli community is described as ‘professional beggars’ among Koyas by the Godavari District Gazette of 1896. Though their duties are priest-like and along with ‘Oddis’— the superior priest class — they can be classified as the ‘literate’ in the tribe, their status is still considered ‘inferior’.

Doli men sing oral histories based on the ‘Padige’s or pictorial scrolls inherited by various communities over centuries.

“Earlier, Doli families used to live in a hamlet called ‘Soppala’.

Now, nobody lives there. Few are left who can recite oral histories as accurately as Ramachandraiah,” says Jayadhir Tirumala Rao, academic and researcher of tribal communities.

Prof. Tirumala Rao is spearheading a project to document the oral history of ‘Sammakka-Saralamma’ as told by Ramachandraiah, and he vouches that the story, if fleshed out from the myth it is enmeshed in, could substantially aid historical research.

“Sammakka-Saralamma story is about the war waged against the Kakatiya dynasty by tribal women who challenged king Prataparudra when he had levied tax on them for the tanks he had got constructed in their forests. The Koya tribe had then lived on hunting-gathering, and never cultivated any land.

So, the king sought to send outsiders into the forest for cultivation, which was the last straw on the camel’s back. This story comes out very clearly from the song recited by Ramachandraiah,” Prof. Tirumala Rao says.

Apart from ‘Sammakka-Saralamma’, the balladeer sings the stories of tribal warriors such as Gari Kamaraju, Pagididda Raju, Irama Raju, Gaadi Raju, Bapanamma, Musalamma, Nagulamma, Sadalamma and others. He also knows and recites the stories behind the endogamous tribal sub-divisions and their surnames. “Now, nobody wants to sing the stories. Even my own son refuses to follow the tradition,” Ramachandraiah laments.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Telangana / by Swathi Vadlamudi / January 10th, 2018

Anantapur: Famous thespian Bellary Raghava remembered

January 5, 2018Arts, Culture & Entertainmentadmin

The fete began on Tuesday at Arts College Grounds and Lalita Kala Parishad here to recall great services of Kala Prapoorna Bellary Raghava.

Anantapur :

Main circles and roads of Anantapur appeared with posters remembering noted playwright, thespian and film actor Bellary Raghava as part of the Bellary Raghava state-level cultural fete being held in Anantapur. The fete began on Tuesday at Arts College Grounds and Lalita Kala Parishad here to recall great services of Kala Prapoorna Bellary Raghava, who hails from Tadiapthri in the district.

As part of the Praja Natya Mandali’s ninth state-level maha sabha, the three day fete is being held to remember Raghava, who was born on August 2, 1880. He finished his Metric in Bellari High School and graduated from the Madras Christian College and practiced law after graduating from the Madras Law College in 1905, historian Appireddy Harinath Reddy recalled and further added, “From the age of 12, Bellary Raghava founded the Shakespeare Club in Bellary and played Shakespeare dramas. Raghava portrayed main characters in various dramas in Sreenivasarao Kolachalam’s group called Sumanohara in Bangalore. Raghava has founded the Amateur Dramatic Association of Bangalore.”

Tadipatri Raghavacharyulu was his works predominantly in Telugu theatre and cinema after his uncle Dharmavaram Ramakrishnamacharyulu initiated him on the stage. Former Lalita Kala Parishad secretary and veteran artist A. Narasimha Murthy observed that Raghava acted in noted dramas of Harischandra, Padukapattabhishekamu, Savitri, Brihannala, Ramaraju charitra, Ramadasu, Tappevaridi, Saripadani Sangatulu among others.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / Deccan Chronicle – January 03rd, 2018

Teenager aims for the Guinness record

January 3, 2018Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All, World Opinionadmin

Rahath Malladi will sing in 100 languages

Young Rahath Malladi, an upcoming singer, will make an attempt to enter the Guinness Book of World Records by staging a musical concert in which he will be singing songs in 100 languages at Sri Rama Function Palace at Gandhinagar on January 6.

He will be aiming to enter the book under ‘most languages sung in a concert’. He will be singing from 11 am. to 9 pm.

The 14-year-old singer is recipient of awards such as Bala Ratna, Smart Champ, State‘s Best Child, Uthama Bala Ratna and Golden Child, for his achievements in singing, acting and oration. He was the anchor for Bol Baby Bol and has acted in a children’s film.

Deputy Speaker Mandali Budda Prasad, Minister for Tourism Bhuma Akhila Priya will be the chief guests.

Kuchibhotla Anand, Chairman, Kuchipudi Natyaramam, D. Vizia Bhaskar, Director, Department of Language and Culture, Golla Narayana Rao, secretary, Andhra Arts Academy, E. Siva Nagi Reddy, Chief Executive Officer, Cultural Centre of Vijayawada and Amaravati, are some of the distinguished guests.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States>Andhra Pradesh / by Special Correspondent / Vijayawada – January 03rd, 2018

Andhra Pradesh First

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