400 students display their musical abilities

[sajiv]

400 students display their musical abilities

MYSORE: It was a mellifluous rendering of bhajans by students participating in the district-level bhajan competition, organised by the Avadhoota Datta Peetham of Sri Ganapathi Sachchidananda Ashram here on Sunday.

With nearly 400 students from the State vying for the top honours, the winners here will qualify for the State-level contest to be held sometime in December.

The entry to the contest was open to all schools and educational institutions in the district, and teams confirming their participation were given a CD comprising a set of 20 bhajans, complete with lyrics in Kannada and notations and ragas for rehearsal and perfection.

The bhajans had to be rendered in chorus and each team was to have a minimum of five students. Each team was allotted 12 minutes to render the bhajans. The participants were given the chance to select any nine songs out of the 20 recorded in the CD, and had to sing at least three in the same tune as in the CD. While the students could choose to render any two numbers, the third one was selected by the judges of the competition.

The winners of the first prize from each district will have to attend the finals in Bangalore or Mysore.