Tiruvananthapuram, January 2: The 10th edition of Swathi Sangeethotsavam will begin in Tiruvananthapuram on January 6. The festival will last till January 15. The festival is conceived to pay homage to the royal composer Maharajah Swati Tirunal. Swathi Sangeethotsavam is unique and has a character of its own. It will be held at Kuthiramalika Palace in Tiruvananthapuram, near Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple. The Palace provides the divine ambience for these concerts. This is a special music festival in the sense that it shuns all ‘plasticity’ that has unfortunately become a part of most concerts of today.

The organizer of Swati Sangeethotsavam, Prince Rama Varma ( also known as Aswathy Thirunal Rama Varma), is a descendant of Maharajah Swati Thirunal. Prince Rama Varma is affectionately described as “"Prince among musicians and a Musician among Princes" by his rasikas. The significance of the festival lies in the fact that it is the best tribute to pay Swati Tirunal, who is, perhaps, the only one to have composed in both the Carnatic and Hindustani styles of music. Hence, it is befitting that the festival, which revolves around the compositions of the Maharaja, be held on the premises of his palace.

The concerts are not ticketed. And, they are open to all music lovers. (This news piece is collated by Sangeetha Shyam)

The concert schedule is given below

January 06, 2008 (TUE)
06.00 PM	Sanjay Subrahmanyan - Carnatic Vocal S.Varadarajan - Violin Mannargudi A. Easwaran - Mridangam Dr.S.Karthick - Ghatam Payyannur Govindaprasad - Morsing
January 07, 2008 (WED)
06.00 PM	Malladi Suribabu - Carnatic Vocal S.Varadarajan - Violin P.Satheeshkumar - Mridangam Dr.S.Karthick - Ghatam Payyannur Govindaprasad - Morsing
January 08, 2008 (THU)
06.00 PM	Prof.M. Venkateshkumar and team - Hindusthani Vocal
January 09, 2008 (FRI)
06.00 PM	Prasanna Venkataraman - Carnatic Vocal S.R.Vinu - Violin Cherthala Ananthakrishnan - Mridangam Adichanalloor Anil Kumar - Ghatam
January 10, 2008 (SAT)
06.00 PM	Smt.Parassala B.Ponnammal - Carnatic Vocal Dr.Hemalatha - Violin Kallekulangara Unnikrishnan - Mridangam Kannur Santhosh - Morsingh
January 11, 2008 (SUN)
06.00 PM	Prince Rama Varma - Veena B. Harikumar - Mridangam Manjoor Unnikrishnan - Ghatam Kottayam Murali - Morsing
January 12, 2008 (MON)
06.00 PM	Ms.Amrutha Venkatesh - Carnatic Vocal Madhavan - Violin Nanjil Shri A.R.Arul - Mridangam Manjoor Unnikrishnan - Ghatam
January 13, 2008 (TUE)
06.00 PM	Kunnakudi M.Balamuralikrishna - Carnatic Vocal S.R. Mahadeva Sharma - Violin Palakkad K.S. Mahesh - Mridangam P.L.Sudhir - Ghatam
January 14, 2008 (WED)
06.00 PM	Thamarakkad Govindan Namboothiri - Carnatic Vocal Edappalli Ajith - Violin Cherthala S.Dinesh - Mridangam Udippi S.Srikanth
January 15, 2008 (THU)
06.00 PM	Smt.Ranjini and Gayatri - Carnatic Vocal Mysore Srikanth - Violin Arun Prakash - Mridangam Udippi Sridhar - Ghatam

For details, contact: kuthiramalika@gmail.com