Mandra Cultural Foundation is the brainchild of Ramya Vaasisht and opened its doors in 2004. An accomplished artist in her own right, she believed that the world needed a platform that would bring artists together. Mandra is where Ramya scouts for talent, and encourages artists to come together to share thoughts, opinions and create new and interesting content for various media. Over the years, Mandra has seen several interesting programs come to life - Hadi Hareyada Dhwanigalu was aired on AIR and had teenaged singers render poems of popular poets. Spicy Nostalgia coaxed CEOs to talk about their childhood crushes and memories and this was linked to a Bollywood song. Sandalwood Neenapinagala took you behind the scenes with Sandalwood music directors who opened up on their musical journeys and the songs of yesteryears. Ramya worked on Mahapura – a series that worked on tracing popular songs written by our poets but which took a while in being discovered. It was through this organization that Ramya fueled her interest in Sufi music and penned around 50 ghazals under the pen name of Salma. Her biggest achievement perhaps was the composing 150 devarnamas for Guru Raghavendra Vaibhava. Today, Ramya continues to create some relevant programs under the banner of Mandra Cultural Foundation. From composing for radio and TV to simply providing a creative base – Mandra Cultural Foundation is a hub of enthusiastic energy.
Hadi Hareyada Dhwanigalu – Where teenaged singers were selected to render poems of popular poets. This was a radio production for AIR.
Sakkare naadina Karmayogi - A documentary on Dr Prabhakar Kore, the stalwart academician,which was telecast on the national channel Doordarshan on August 1st, 2007.
Uttishtata Jagratha –A musical program conceptualized and performed as part of an anti-terrorism campaign by the State Government titledBhayodpaadane Alisi – Desha Ulisi.The program aimed at combating terrorism and creating awareness among the youth. This show was inaugurated in Mangalore by H H Sri Ravishankar Guruji. It toured Belgaum, Gulbarga, Dharwad, Mysore and Shimoga. The grand finale was presided by over by L K Advaniji in Bangalore.
Spicy Nostalgia – A program where CEOs talked about their childhood crushes and memories and this was linked to a Bollywood song. The USP of the program was getting to know the other side of your boss, in a manner that helped you relate to you.
This show brought together Sandalwood music directors-artistsand had them open up about their musical journeys and the songs of yesteryears. This program saw 56 episodes.
Mahapura – An epic series that worked on tracing popular songs written by our poets. Many of these were written and then relegated to the background, before they were discovered, dusted and incorporated into songs and movies. It was all about the lyrical value of the song and the fact that it is a tradition that we need to build up on.
RUHI SUFI - At the Foundation, Ramya gradually found herself developing an interest in Sufi music and songs and learnt more about it. “Since my school days, and with all due credit to Raju– I was exposed to complicated ghazals and their styles of singing. I learnt how to discern why a specific taan or raag may have been used, when to the unappreciative ear it may have seemed unnecessary. I tried to learn a bit of Urdu– which was more of the spoken version than written. I took on the pen name of Salma and penned down around 50 ghazals.” Ramya has also written and composed a few title tracks. A major achievement in this line was the composing 150 devarnamas for Sri Guru Raghavendra Vaibhava which was very rare for a TV series to incorporate such heavy music into its production and she had the honor of being the music director for the show. “Over the past 10 years I have conceptualized several other shows and performed them as well. I found that if you give people a back story to the song you are singing, it connects with them on a much better level. This is the ideology on which all of my programs are created and executed”.
Mandra Today… There are several projects currently being executed under the aegis of Mandra today:
Kavana Namana – Is the first-of-its-kind tribute to all the Jnana PeetaAwardees. We enjoy the distinction of having the maximum number of these awardees representing the Kannada language. This project is a tribute created from their songs. A total of 10 personalities have been chosen for this program which comprises a 15-minute documentary and 8 poems from their body of work. These poems are those that are rarely sung. Projects of this nature are the ideal way to familiarize people with the works of these greats. Popular singers have been roped into this project which will culminate into CDs and live shows. In the long term, we plan to release a video on each poem and poet chosen. Some of the greats chosen for this project are Govinda Pai, Kuvempu, Dr G S Shivarudrappa, Dr Da Ra Bendre, Masti Venkatesha Iyengar, V K Gokak, Shivarama Karantha, U R Ananthamurthy, Girish Karnad, and Dr Chandrashekhara Kambara.
Kaavya Kannike –This project traces the footsteps of women writers in Karnataka. It begins from the era of Abbakka and Saanchi Honnamma and comes to present day. The idea of the program is to reintroducethese interesting women to audiences. In the pipelines is a monthly live show which will include women music directors, bands and composers. The program does not attempt to deride the achievements of men, rather it aims at being woman-centric and attempts to document their efforts.
‘Youth’em – We are a generation that has an anthem for just about anything. We created an anthem especially for the youth. That is the genesis and the basis of the term ‘Youth’em. We believe that you are young only onceand want to push people to do more with their lives. The project is tri-lingual and is being worked out in Kannada, English and Hindi
Naane Akka – This is a project that follows the women vachana-karathiyaruof whom Akka Mahadevi is perhaps the most prominent. But there were so many others who were part of apatriarchal society and have gotten over their oppression. This suppression notwithstanding, they boldly spoke of issues considered taboo during that time. This project aims to document the lives and work of these 33 vachanakarathiyaruthrough stage shows and electronic documentation.
Kanaka Purandara – This showcases an unplugged version of the works of Kanakadasa and Purandaradasa. Usually their work flows harmoniously with classical raagas. We attempt to change that a bit and have approached it in a manner where the music follows the lyrics. We plan to have a series of shows across the country and globally. We also plan to capture these on CDs.
Sanaatanaa – Shlokas that celebrate the average day in the life of the average Hindu. The program is to help people understand Hinduism from the way of life that it is not and not from a religious perspective. Each of the Shlokas is set to a raaga that denotes the time of day.
Ruhi Sufi – This project attempts to decipher the Indian interpretation of Sufism. Put simply, it is the Indianizing of Sufism. It revolves around the concept that there is one “HIM” and that everything else is a projection of the HER. The project tries to promote a contemporary interpretation to Sufism, something that has been popular in the recent years.
Saha Pathikaa – Sanskrit in soft rock. In honor of The 1st Sanskrit World Conference held in 2011, this project set Sanskrit songs to soft rock. This original album was funded by the organizing committee and went on to become a massive hit. This was a unique attempt in Sanskrit and served a dual purpose of popularizing the now defunct languageand making known the contemporary form of singing Sanskrit songs as well.
We, Mandra Cultural Foundation, a Trust of a decade long, are celebrating the resonating music of late Sri Raju Ananthaswamy from Mysore Ananthaswamy legacy on 24th of June, 2016 ‘REFLECTIONS’ – Bringing back Raju Live and Alive at Chowdiah Memorial Hall with Prelims on 18th & 19th of June.
A day long celebrations of state level singing completion of compositions of Raju Ananthaswamy. A workshop on appreciating Raju’s music by Paveen D Rao in the august presence of Sandeep Chowta. (Tentative) Featuring Renowned Bollywood singer Shaan in an unrecorded composition of Raju . With auditions in 9 major districts: Mandya Mysore, Tumkur, Chikmangalre, Mangalore, Dharwad ,Davangere, Shimogga, Banglore. Out of which 50 Participants are selected for the Mega Auditions. Finale Judges: Manikanth Kadri, AnoorAnanthakrishna Sharma &Praveen Godkhindi are finale judges.
Mandra Cultural Foundation would like to make this as an Annual Festival to propagate Kannada literature and Music. This can grow in to a Cultural Property. We hope and trust that you will surely join your hands in this pristine effort of Preserving and Promoting Legendary Kannada Musicians and poets.