Thursday 27 December 2018

Anahita and Apoorva exhibit skills in short and crisp Music Academy concert

Accompanists: Vidushi Apoorva Krishna on violin and Shri Rohit Prasad on mridangam
We went to the Music Academy a bit early for the 11:45 AM concert of Vidushis Anahita and Apoorva. Entering at around 11:15 AM into the morning concert of veteran flutist Shri B V Balasai, we felt we had missed a chance to attend his concert too, if only we had come at 9 AM. He was playing the pallavi in hEmavati, which was followed by kalpana swarams in the same rAgam, kIravANi and amrutavarshini. Hope it rains a bit it Chennai, as we still have a deficit of more than 50% in rainfall for the quarter ending 31 December, 2018. Shri Balasai then played vEnkatAcala nilayam in sindhubhairavi and a small piece in HamsAnandi, closing on the dot at 11:30 AM.
Veteran Flutist Shri B V Balasai
It was a bit disappointing to see that the hall was less than half full. However, it could be the standard modus operandi of rasikas moving to the canteen to appreciate the food, before the second serving of music at 11:45 AM. By the time the 2nd bell rang at 11:45 AM, the hall was nearly full. As the curtains opened to pink highlight of the backdrop to the sides, we also saw pink included in the attire of the ladies and the mridangam cover.
Moving on to the music, Vidushis Anahita and Apoorva began the proceedings with a brisk-paced composition of Oothukkadu Venkata kavi (Subbaiah Iyer says Wikipedia). God only knows which is the right spelling for this poet's name, with U / Oo, tt or th, and the name itself kept separate or combined as Subbaiyer, etc. 'vandaduvum pOnaduvum' set to bilaHari rAgam was sung well and set the tone for the crisp concert. The kalpanaswarams rendered in this rAgam were nice and short too. Shri Rohit Prasad played quite softly and aptly for this duo.
Kumari Apoorva then took up a detail AlApanA of shubhapantuvarALi. Vidushi Apoorva Krishna on the violin presented a delightful follow-up to the exploration by the vocalist on this first major item of the concert. A composition of Harikesanallur Shri Muthaiah Bhagavatar 'manOnmani mandaHAsini' was presented in a quick tempo, with an elaborate neraval at 'sanakAdi muni vinuta' by both the vocalists and the violinist. The neraval in the upper stAyi by Kumari Anahita was full throated and with shuddha shruti sangatis which made it a treat. In fact she was able to demonstrate this in other songs throughout the concert filling our hearts with superb music. I have to reiterate that mridangam accompaniment was really superb because it was quite apt, throughout the kutcheri. The nAdam of the mridangam was great.
Kumari Anahita then took up a brief AlApanA of dEvagAndhAri and rendered a shlOkam following the AlApanA. This was a nice change of pace after the two quick-tempo songs. They took up Shri Muthuswami Dikshitar's kshitija ramanam cintayE right after the shlOkam. Andal's tiruppAvai 'kaRRu karavai' was the short piece that came next sung in mukhAri, I think. As per lists on the internet, this has been sung in HusEni, saHAnA or vasantA by artists. If it was indeed rendered in HusEni, then it is my shortcoming in not being able to differentiate between mukhAri and HusEni rather than the singers' presentation.
Anahita and Apoorva in full flow, along with Apoorva Krishna and Rohit Prasad
The main for the kutcheri was kalyANi, which was initially taken up by Kumari Apoorva and then completed by Kumari Anahita. Once again the elaboration was impeccable, with the upper stAyi singing of Kumari Anahita taking the cake. Vidushi Apoorva Krishna played a detailed version in response and also repeated some nice phrases, which were sung by the duo. Saint Thyagaraja's karu vElpulu nIku sari was sung in medium tempo - first time I am hearing this composition. They presented wonderful kalpanaswarams in variety of korvais, in turns, before a very nice tani avartanam by Shri Rohit Prasad.
The final song was parulanna mATa in kApi, a jAvaLi composition of Dharmapuri Subbaraya Iyer, set to rUpaka tALam. I am hearing this after a long time and am reminded of an article that I read in The Hindu about two decades ago. If I am not mistaken, as per that article, this composition is originally set to a tALam of 17 beats, but is being sung in rUpakam (an extension of a phrase by a beat makes it a nice 18, which would be tisra-nadai rUpakam). Musicians / rasikas who know more about this may kindly share the specific information, and if I am mistaking some other composition for parulanna mATa, kindly correct me.
It was a gratifying concert where-in other than the shubhapantuvarALi and kApi pieces, I heard all the others for the first time. Looking forward to these artists to be promoted to next levels and getting more time for performance of full-fledged kutcheris.

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