Category: Arts, Culture & Entertainment

First Indian to Win ‘Miss. Supranational’ : December 2014

Asha Bhat, Bhadravati/Bengaluru (Bangalore)

December 05th, 2014.  22-year old beauty – Asha Bhat was crowned Miss Supranational 2014. She made the country proud by becoming the First Indian to win the coveted title

Asha Bhat wearing a gown designed by Gavin Miguel contested along with 70 beauty contestants from around the world.  She was crowned by the reigning Miss.Supranational, Mutya Datul from the Phillipines at a glittering ceremony held at the Krynica-Zdroj, Poland

Earlier in the pageant, Asha Bhat also won the title of ‘Miss Talent’ by giving a Bollywood fusion performance choreographed by Khush Numa Daruvalla

Asha Bhat is the daughter of Subrahmanya Bhat and Shymala Bhat who run a clinical laboratory in Bhadravati

She did her early schooling upto 10th standard in St.Charles School, Bhadravati. Her Pre-University at Alva’s College in Moodbidri. Asha is currently in her final year of Bachelors degree in R.V.College of Engineering, Bengaluru (Bangalore)

South India’s First Orchestra founded in Bangalore : 1935

Saraswathi Orchestra, Bengaluru (Bangalore)

Mayavaram Subramaniam Natarajan (aka..Silk Natarajan…aka…Banjo Nataraj) a maverick genius, in the 1930’s set out to put together his own band.

Silk Natarajan was born to a famous Dental Surgeon in Bangalore. He had mastered at least 18 musical instruments by the time he was a teenager

By early 1935 he got 5 like-minded friends (vidwans) together to form the ‘Saraswathi Orchestra’

Within a year the band Saraswathi Orchestra went on to become a 25-member Bangalore band that mixed Hindustani, Carnatic and Jazz music

Silk Nataraj gave India fusion music way back in the silent era. He met the famous dancer Maya Rao in one of his programmes and who would become his future wife

The Saraswathi Orchestra ran for 20 years before being disbanded in the 1950’s. Some of the members of the select group of 25, went to become very famous. A few of the well known are Mridangam Vidwan Veerabhadrappa, Vidwan Anoor Suryanarayana (vocalist and veena player), Vidwan Srikantiah (veena player) and Vidwan Krishnamurthy Rao (Violinist)

M S Natarajan passed away in September 1997 in Bangalore

Bangalore’s St.Andrew’s Church First Opened for Worship : 1866

St. Andrew’s Church (formerly St. Andrew’s Kirk), Cubbon Road, Bengaluru (Bangalore)

November 18th, 1866. St. Andrew’s Church – a Presbyterian church built with massive Scottish architecture is a prominent edifice in the city’s landscape which has retained its old glory. Named after the patron Saint of Scotland – St.Andrew , the church was originally home to the Scottish regiment in the Bangalore cantonment

The foundation stone for St.Andrew’s Kirk (as it was called then) was laid on November 22nd, 1864 by Lady Grant the wife of Lieutenant-General Sir.Hope Grant ,the Quartermaster-General of Her Majesty’s Forces

Designed by engineers Major Sankey, Chief Engineer and R.C. Dobbs, Executive Engineer of Mysore. The building was completed and opened for worship on November 18th, 1866

Heritage: (*) It has a 90-foot belfry tower that houses the church bell that has been ringing since 149 years  (*) The clock has been installed in 1893  (*) The church houses an 800-odd pipes-fitted pipe organ. Built by Peter Gonacher & Co., England. The pipe organ was installed on May 03rd, 1881

St.Andrew’s Church joined the C.S.I in September 1959

www.standrewschurch.org.in

India’s First ‘Indian Idol Junior’ Title Won by Bengaluru Girl : September 2013

Anjana Padmanabhan, Bangalore

Sunday-September 01st, 2013. 10-year old Bangalore-based girl Anjana Padmanabhan won the audiences’ heart and created history by winning India’s first ‘Indian Idol Junior’ title

This was at the star-studded gala finale of the singing reality show hosted by Sony Entertainment Television. Anjana received the Winning trophy from the megastar Amitabh Bachchan

Anjana competed with 3 other finalists – Nirvesh Sudhanshubhai Dave, Debanjana Karmakar and Anmol Jaswal

The show was Judged by Singer Shreya Ghoshal,and the Music Composer Duo Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjian

The ‘Indian Idol Junior’ winner went back home with the Winning Trophy, a cash prize of Rs.25 lakh, a Nissan Micra Car. She was also gifted cheques of Rs.500,000 from Kotak Mahindra and Rs.200,000 from Horlicks

Karnataka’s First Michelin Starred Restaurant launched in Bengaluru : September 2014

Yauatcha – 1,M.G.Road Mall, M.G Road, opp.Taj Vivanta Bangalore – 560008

Yauatcha is a Michelin-starred Dim Sum restaurant from London’s Soho.

Established in India by KA Hospitality which has pioneered introducing international luxury dining restaurants.

The first Yauatcha was set up in Mumbai in December 2011 and the next in Bengaluru in September 2014. The concept brings the uniqueness of being a tea and dimsun house with a modern interpretation of a traditional Chinese tea house, serving over 50 varieties of dimsun.

Yauatcha was set up in London by Ala Yau, who also created Hakkasan and Wagamama both wildly popular eateries and worldwide restaurant chains.

KA Hospitality: CEO, Nitin Motwani

www.yauatcha.com

Hubli’s First Community Radio Service : September 2013

FM radio station KLE Dhwani BVB- 90,4

September 21st, 2013. The new radio service to operate from the campus of BVB College of Engineering & Technology (BVB-CET). It is the first community FM radio station launched by an engineering college in North Karnataka.

Programmes broadcast will be folklore, education, research, technology and entertainment. MOU has been signed with Lahari and Akash audios to share songs.

The broadcast range is around 11 to 14 KMs in the city and can be heard on Mobile phones as well.

Broadcast timings scheduled: 6.30am to 11am and 2pm to 6 pm

Prabhakar Kore, Working President, KLE Society

Prof. Ashok Shettar, Principal, BVB-CET

First Time European-Symphony Orchestra Scores for Kannada Album : October 2014

Kannada music album ‘Ananya Aalaapana’ – The Czech Symphony Orchestra, Prague, Czechoslovakia.

For the first time an European Symphony Orchestra scored for a Kannada music album.

Ananya Aalaapana is the second album by the group ‘Techies for Kannada’ and ‘KChords’. The Kannada patriotic song Jagadalli Yelle Hodaru Moodada Mohaka Anubhava is 1 of the 7 songs in the album.

Music is composed by Karthik Somanath, Lyrics by Karthik and Paawana Poonacha.

Bangalore’s First Crematorium for Pets : October 2014

Established by BBMP, Magadi Road near Sumanahalli

The pet crematorium has 2 incinerators, one for small pets like cats and dogs and the bigger for larger livestock. The facility has the capacity to perform upto 20 cremations a day.

There is also a facility for rituals to be performed to dispose of pet’s ashes for the religiously inclined.

Recently established, the operations are scheduled to begin in November 2014.

Bangalore is already home to South India’s First Pet Cemetry located on a half acre plot near Kengeri, run by People for Animals.

First food bank of ‘Bangalore Food Bank’ launched: October 2014

Bangalore Food Bank (BFB), Bangalore

October 16th -Thursday,2014.  Griffith Laboratories Private Ltd, supported the initiative by providing the first donation of ready-to-cook khichidi packets to reach 5,000 people.

About 28 NGO’s partnered with Bangalore Food Bank (BFB) including Auto Raja’s Home of Hope, Mitra Jyothi School for the Blind, Vathsala Charitable Trust etc.

BFB acts as a facilitator between those who have surplus and those who need food.

Potential donors both individuals and companies who are interested may contact BFB. Only dry food can be donated.

Meher S. Dasondi, Director (Operations) BFB. Telephone: 9538-035-252

 

World’s First Lady Ghatam Artist .

Smt. Sukanya Ramgopal, Bangalore, Karnataka

She was the first girl in India to hold and play the ghatam on her lap at an early age of 12. Making her the first woman ghatam artist of India in a male dominated universe.

Sukyana Ramgopal was a student of Shri Vikku Vinayakaran who gave India its first Grammy.

This uniquely talented carnatic music player has won over a dozen honours, awards and laurels in her career spanning 4 decades. Originally from TamilNadu the 57 year old frontline musician had made Bangalore her home a long time ago.

Firsts:

(1) She is the First to create the unique concept of Ghata Tharang playing 6 ghatams at the same time (2) She is also the First to set up a Bangalore All-Woman Carnatic Ensemble the ‘ Sthree Thaal Tharang’

The Ghatam is a percussion instrument used in Carnatic music of South India.

Ghatam:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghatam