Violinists plan ‘Kala Grama’ at Konaje to promote art

Mangaluru: ‘Swaralaya’ is not just a monthly violin camp that provides a platform for budding talents and artists, but it is also a campaign with a purpose. The day-long violin camp being held in Mangaluru has a bigger goal of setting up Kala Grama, an art village, at Konaje.

Swaralaya, the violin camp that commenced at the house of violinist Vishwas Krishna on October 20 has completed three programmes. The volunteers now plan to continue the campaign to form a trust and set up Kala Grama in 16 acres of land at Konaje. The art village will have a museum, art gallery, art library, auditorium and other facilities for art related activities, Vishwas Krishna told TOI.

“Swaralaya is part of the annual Karunbithil Shibira held at Karunbithil near Dharmasthala with the blessings of Vidwan Vittal Ramamurthy and Vidwan Yathiraj Acharya. More than 50 participants, including children and senior violinists, took part in these camps,” Vishwas said.

On plans of setting up Kala Grama, Vishwas said the land has already been reserved for the purpose. “The proposed art village will have several features required for promotion of art and music. We also have plans to construct an auditorium for performances. In the beginning, we will form a trust to execute our plans. We are yet to prepare an estimate for the project,” he added.

On the day-long violin camps, Vishwas said participants will get the opportunity to learn basics of violin recital during the camp that begins at 8.30am and continues till 6pm. The camp concludes with a concert involving well-known artistes. An interview with the All India Radio top grade artiste Vidwan Tiruchy K R Kumar followed the third camp held on Sunday. The programme also witnessed a concert by Shreshta Lakshmi,” he added.