nIyE tunai bhairavi and mukhAri nI maHima

I am happy to share the concert notes of two wonderful concerts that I attended in past couple of days. The first of those, an evening concert by Vidushi Sumithra Vasudev and team, at the Music Academy, Chennai, on 19th December 2022, was one dripping with traditional renditions and a serene music presentation. The second one I attended, another evening concert on the next day by Vidwan Palghat Ramprasad and team at the same venue, was another brilliant musical treat for all those who were fortunate to attend.

Vidushi Sumithra Vasudev was accompanied by Vidushi Padma Shankar on the violin, Vidwan B Ganapathyraman on the mridangam, and Vidushi Bhagyalakshmi M Krishna on the mohrsing. The songs presented were the following

* Hasti vadanAya namastubhyam - navarOj - misra Ekam - Muthuswami Dikshitar
* kOrina varamOsagumayyA - rAmapriyA - rUpakam - Patnam Subramanya Iyer
* ma ramaNan umA ramaNan - HindOLam - rUpakam - Papanasam Sivan
* kurai Edu enakkini - nATTakurinji - misra cApu - Ambujam Krishna
* palukavemi nA deyvamA - pUrnacandrikA - Adi - Thyagaraja
* rAgam tAnam pallavi - bhairavi - jhampa tALam (2-kalai)
(pallavi - bhairavi bhArgavi bhArati dEvi nIyE tunai; rAgamAlikA in sAlagabhairavi, vasantabhairavi, sindhubhairavi)
* orutti maganAy pirandu - beHAg - Adi - Andal

I started late for the venue, but was lucky to find traffic a little less than expected. Though I missed the first song (likely a varnam), I was a bit suprirsed / shocked to find parking inside the complex itself. The song in navarOj was setting the tranquil scape for the entire evening. It was rendered in a serene vilambit kAlam with precision - kudos. Then vidushi Sumithra took up a detail exploration of rAmapriyA rAgam, followed by a suitable AlApanai by vidushi Padma. Patnam Subramanya Iyer's kOrina varamOsagumayyA was the composition recited in detail. After a brisk version of mA ramaNan umA ramaNan in HindOLam, the vidushi took up a detail AlApanai of nATTakurinji. Both vidushis' AlApanais were followed by Ambujam Krishna's composition kurai Edu enakkini, set to misra cApu tALam. The team gave a complete coverage of the rAgam as well as the song, in line with it being the main choice of the day.

nIyE tunai bhairavi

A medium tempo rendition of the pUrnacandrikA kriti palukavEmi nA deyvamA was then followed by the grand bhairavi rAgam tAnam pallavi. Vidushi Sumithra had planned the songs and the pallavi very well to give appropriate importance, as well as to stick to the schedule. The pallavi line 'bhairavi bhArgavi bhArati dEvi... nIyE tunai' was sung in jhampa tALam (2-kalai) with eduppu on 1st beat after samam (onnu taLLi). The rAga dEvatais were definitely standing with the team, as she called out nIyE tunai, in this majestic rendition. She rendered the pallavi in 3 other -bhairavi rAgams, namely sAlagabhairavi, vasantabhairavi, and sindhubhairavi. She then covered the mandatory variations of the pallavi in different nadais, followed by the kalpana swarams.

Laya vidwan Ganapathyraman and vidushi Bhagyalakshmi provided excellent percussion support throughout the concert. Probably they were left with a few minutes less for their laya vinyAsam exposition after the pallavi, yet made their knowledge, imagination, and skills known to the audience. Vidushi Sumithra then closed the concert by singing the Andal tiruppAvai, orutti maganAy pirandu set in rAgam beHAg, followed by the tradition mangaLam. As I walked out refreshed with a wonderful evening of soft music steeped in tradition, the cool weather outside added to the satisfaction.

However, there was one small blemish for the evening - on the part of rasikAs. When 80% of season ticket holders do not turn up (my guess / opinion), it is indeed sad for multiple reasons. It being Monday, there may be valid reasons for some, but not expected from such a high number! I wonder what changes in the ticketing, scheduling, and any other processes, would help change this in future.

On the next evening, Vidwan Palghat R Ramprasad was accompanied by Vidwan M R Gopinath on the violin, Vidwan J Vaidyanathan on the mridangam, and Vidwan S V Ramani on the ghatam. The songs chosen for the concert were:

* rAju veDala jUtAmurAre - tODi - rUpakam - Thyagaraja
* shrI mAtrubhUtam - kannaDA - misra Ekam - Muthuswami Dikshitar
* mA ramaNan umA ramaNan - HindOLam - rUpakam - Papanasam Sivan
* sharanara surabhOja - pUrvikalyANi (my guess) - Adi - Kamaleshadasa
* Emani nE nI maHima - mukhAri - Adi - Subbaraya Shastri
* HaridAsulu veDale - yamunA kalyANi - Thyagaraja

For this Tuesday concert, on 20th December, I started earlier to the venue. However, the people in the city decided to turn out in more numbers on the roads (and in the concert venue too, though not in line with my expectation for Vidwan Ramprasad and team). I was late and ended up meeting a friend in the canteen. It was supposed to happen before the concert, but met only as the first song had been completed. Valet parking could not help much, the delay of 10 to 15 minutes having happened by the time I entered the academy complex in the car. We nibbled on a "Sardar vadai" (whatever that may be - Punjabi or Gujarati or just a fancy name) and coffee, as we heard strains of a wonderful tODi and rAju veDala through the speaker setup in the canteen. After catching up on the history missed out in 3 years, in just a few minutes, we headed out to our seating areas. We kept in touch on WhatsApp - as good as being seated next to each other, as the conversations continued about the kritis, rAgams, rendition, etc - minus the sounds of talking sitting next to each other - as the team completed the tODi kriti.

Vidwan Ramprasad gave a very short glimpse of kannaDA before taking up the Muthuswami Dikshitar kriti shrI mAtrubhUtam. Then he took up a detail AlApanai of HindOLam. As I was wondering whether it will be sAmaja varagamanA, rAmanukku mannan, or other wonderful kritis in this rAgam, he took up mA ramaNan umA ramaNan. Though it was 2 out of 2 for me in 2 days, of the same song, the presentation details were different. While on the previous day it was a simple full rendition of the song between two main songs, on this day it was a very detail handling of HindOLam. The kalpana swarams also poured out showing his imagination as well as his expert knowledge of the laya aspects, which is not surprising considering his lineage from one of the stalwarts of laya.

After a brief AlApanai of pUrvikalyANi (my guess), he sang the rarely rendered kriti sharanara surabhOja, a composition of Kamaleshadasa. A search of the internet sites could not confirm the rAgam, nor was there info of the rAgam it is usually sung in. So, I will stick to assuming pUrvikalyANi, unless an expert corrects me.

mukhAri nI maHima

Vidwan Ramprasad then took a very detail exploration of mukhAri. It was bhava laden AlApanai with elaborate manOdharma coming to the fore. The relaxed and slow build-up and completion of AlApanai, were clear signals that it would be the most important rendition for the evening. Vidwan Gopinath on the violin played a good follow-up to the AlApanai as he had settled down into the groove by then. As the kriti Emani nE nI maHima unfolded we got a complete package of the Vidwan's control, vidwat, alignment to shruti, involved singing, appreciation of the laya vidwans' sensitive & superb accompaniment (J Vaidyanathan and S V Ramani), etc. The goddess of mukhAri was completely displayed in all detail in the AlApanai, kriti, neraval, and kalpana swarams. A wonderful laya vinyAsam rounded off the evening, as we were quite close to the close of the concert schedule. Vidwan Ramprasad then sang a rare Thyagaraja composition set to yamunA kalyANi, 'HaridAsulu veDale', before closing with the traditional mangaLam sung at a leisurely pace.

The rasikas are indeed fortunate to listen to such soothing music on both days. The fact that the bhairavi pallavi keeps running in the mind and the mukhAri elaboration pops into the head unannounced, are enough proof for me that the artistes were able to keep my undistracted attention on their music & soak my mind in that experience.

Special thanks to very good balance of the sound systems and settings, which many a times has been found wanting in many venues in the past, including Music Academy. In my opinion, it is nothing wrong in restating that the sensitive music was made more enjoyable by the acoustics and sound systems.

PS: This post is by a human, and not a bot, and the human is not bought either.

Disclaimer: If anyone thinks the above is artificial intelligence, it may be true about my music knowledge - but AI/ML not involved in the writing, facts, or opinions.

MMS2019-02 - Trivandrum Dr. G Baby Sreeram at Music Academy

We had the pleasure of enjoying a well planned concert of Dr. Baby at the Music Academy, on 19 December 2019. She was accompanied by Vidushi Padma Shankar on the violin, Vidwan Nellai A Balaji on the Mridangam and Malaikottai R M Deenadayalu on the Moharsing. The morning concert began on the dot at 9 AM, as we sat listening from the canteen - yeah, we were a bit late & had to listen to the first two compositions from there. The clarity was muffled by the pedestal fans and general chatter - so could not identify the kalyANi varnam (probably the aTa tALam varnam) and a popular shrIranjani kriti (the caranam was clearer but hands were busy stuffing the mouth; instead of noting the lyrics on pad / mobile).

We were comfortably seated in the back rows when Baby presented a serene version of the sowrAshTram based kriti 'shrI ranganAtuDE', of Thiru Ponnaiah Pillai. The first detail exposition for the concert was danyAsi, where Baby's delineation was dripping with bhAvAm and followed well by Padma. The kriti 'shOdippadenna nyAyamA' composed by Shri Neelakanta Sivan was sung in detail with neraval and kaplanaswarams to give justice to this choice. Then, after a brief AlApanai in kaNNaDA, Baby sang the rarely heard (at least for me) Saint Thyagaraja kriti 'sAkEta nikEtana'.

Dr Baby Sreeram and Team in progress

ShanmukhapriyA was taken up as the main rAgam for the morning, with a different start off point than I have heard so far. From this and other details displayed in pallavi of the day, it was clear that Baby had planned novelty while sticking to the patantaram and melody of music. After her detail essay, Padma presented a compact version of the rAgam too, followed by the kriti 'mAmava karuNayA', a Maharaja Swathi Tirunal composition set to misra cApu tALam. Neraval and kalpanaswarams were compact too, and then we realized that the laya vinyAsam was going to follow, though it was just about 10:30 AM (1:30 hours into the concert). Both Balaji and Deenadayalu gave a good detail vinyAsam in the misra cApu tALam, with some interesting starting and landing points, as they were not on the samam. In my opinion, it takes quite a bit of practice and vidwath to be able to do that. Looking at the time utilized judiciously by the team, we were sure the next item would be a rAgam-tAnam-pallavi (45 minutes to go in the time allotted).

Baby took up sAvEri rAgam for the pallavi, the rAgam covered in one single stretch. The tAnam was sung & played well by Baby & Padma respectively in alternate phases initially and ending in an complementary sequence. Baby announced that it is a simple pallavi and hence not going to explain - an Adi tALam pallavi in kanDa naDai, which went 'enakkoru varam nI aruL shabEshA, vEriDam Edum illai abhaya'. As the pUrvAngam ended with shabEshA, in one avartanam she highlighted the name of the rAgam by ending instead at "shabE'shA vEri'". After the tri-kAlam presentation she directly moved to rAgamAlikai presentation of the pallavi and kalpanaswarams in each of the following rAgams. The first choice was 'varamu' (shuddha HindOLam), which again she highlighted a bit in one cycle at 'enakkoru varamu'. The other rAgams in sequence were Anandabhairavi, varALi, kAmbhOji and HamsAnandi. Following this she presented the kalpanaswarams in sAveri and then all the rAgamAlikai swarams (one avartanam each) in reverse order. By the end of the rAgam-tAnam-pallavi rasikAs would have definitely understood the nuanced presentation that had been planned and executed. Kudos to Baby & Padma for including this comfortably in the two-and-half-hour concert.

After a short viruttam in HindOLam and rEvati, Baby sang 'ariyAdadEnO umadarumai' in rEvati (kanDa cApu tALam) - could not find the composer in my limited searches. Maybe a composition of her own (or her husband Palakkad Sreeram?). And it closed exactly on the dot, as the clock literally flipped to 11:30 AM.

A scan of the audience showed lot of artists, young-and-old, junior-and-top-grade, etc. From this and a few other indicators (the booklet of all concerts in Chennai showing at least 50+ per day), we are assured that some journalists (writing in prominent newspapers) are either in a cocoon, blind, in denial, or have an agenda of promoting some specific group(s), when they say that Carnatic music's flag is being held high only by the efforts of the specific group(s).

December Music Season 2018 - Tidbits - Part 2

(Few hits, but a lot more misses in this part) 

Vidushi Gayatri Girish

The season brings not only music, but our enjoyment of others’ behaviour in social encounters as well. Or suffer a sting, if we falter in sticking to the high expectations of the rasika fraternity these events.

Let me start with a heartening thing that we noticed. 6 or 8 or 10 year olds sitting on the dais, taking notes and more importantly keeping the tALam impeccably throughout the concert indicates that we can be assured a continued lineage of interest in Carnatic Music. The music will be handed down and carried forward with interest generation after generation, I am sure. See below picture from Shri Abhishek Raghuram's concert at Narada Gana Sabha. Someone had posted on FB, of a boy playing a phantom Mridangam, in the Music Academy, while seated behind the Mridangist.

Vidwan Sruthi Sagar Flute, Vidwan Abhishek Raghuram Vocal and Vidwam Anantha R Krishnan mridangam

The joyful season it is in Chennai. It is the time to dress up in choice attire, just like we do for an important function in the immediate family. Deck ourselves in neatly creased dresses, jewellery to match, other accoutrements that synchronize, etc. Having said this, I unfortunately did not notice anything significant to report. Somehow eyes and the brain of the beholder did not behold properly.

One of things I loved is that many artists attended others' concerts. Wait. Or was it always the norm - and only now I am able to identify a few artists in the crowd? Having attended very few concerts in first 15 years of this century, maybe I cannot come to conclusion - I would like to know the inputs from our fellow rasikas on this aspect.

Why not some change to attend some dramas, we thought. Dramas and dances are also on the cards for December season. We enjoyed a sparsely attended 3ji of Shri Y G Mahendran, and decently attended Crazy Premier League of Shri Crazy Mohan. The former probably does not see patronage due to a political stance being taken in this political-comedy. As the actor himself announces, comedy in politics and politics in comedy. The ideas as well as the comedy are good and we enjoyed (3ji). CPL was obviously a block-buster. However it makes us think about patronage to dramas. Isn't it cheaper to watch comedy dramas and even historic / fiction based dramas, rather than watch Television serials for free. Through TV people learn all the bad things about relationships, or get into depression with negativity, finally ending up paying hefty charges to A or C Hospital, don't they?

Official photographers and those with special permissions move around the concert hall, auditorium or sabhas to catch some outstanding freezes in time of the performers. It is only a minor irritant if they decide to do so conspicuously instead of by stealth. But here was an official photographer who decided to use the flash in all his clicks at the concert. In my opinion, it is a major disturbance to not only the rasikas, but also all the performers. I wonder whether he got a good set of choice words in his ear. I cannot know the results, if such an event occurred, as I did not go to that sabha again this season. I hope the artists can give their views as well. A regular reader of this series should be able to see a click of the photographer in one of the previous posts!

Vidwan Yazhpanam Balamurugan

Chamber concerts are definitely in a different league in terms of ambience. During the music season, there is added advantage of a slightly sparser crowd. We can have a seat with lot more freedom, relaxation (less cramped postures), and adds to intimacy with the music & the performance. Here is a click from a mesmerising smile of the co-performer (nagaswaram) of Yazhpanam Shri Balamurugan at Musiri Chamber, that I felt like including here. He played very well along with the maestro to lift the concert on that day (and earlier day at Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium).

Reading newspapers in some obscure corners of the auditorium is likely okay. The earlier report mentioned one person being admonished as he was reading it noisily in the second row of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. That was outclassed by this person in the first row of the Music Academy. He was reading a tabloid type newspaper - maybe a Mylapore Times or a T Nagar Talk. I wonder how it affects the musicians. Just because it is a free concert, can we do this in the front row, at the "Kailash" of Carnatic music?

Random question, triggered by the snow white top of Kailash. Shouldn't the rasikas of Shri Sanjay Subrahmanyan dress up in white on 1st January?

Vani Mahal concert of Vidwan Sanjay Subrahmanyan

With respect to canteens, which is the main topic for many, I did not sample much, nor have the expertise to provide reviews on that aspect. I may not notice even if someone missed adding salt to the sambhar at times. Snacks at Sivagami Pethachi auditorium and Mylapore Fine Arts club were the ones sampled. For the first time in my life added a lunch at a sabha canteen - this one at the Music Academy - enjoyed the banana leaf lunch of Pattappas! I plan to hold on to the promises by dear friends for the filter kapi - but likely will happen only in December 2019 - see you then.

Two concert notes for the seventh report

This is the seventh note, and probably the last, for the 2018 music season. I will cover two concerts in this report.

On Thursday, 27th December, we were excited to attend the concert of Shri Abhishek Raghuram, accompanied by Shri J B Sruthi Sagar on the flute and Shri Anantha R Krishnan on the mridangam, at Narada Gana Sabha. The next day we attended the concert of Vidushi Aishwarya Shankar with added intention of sampling the "leaf lunch" of Pattappas, at the Music Academy.

Vidwans Sruthi Sagar, Abhishek Raghuram, and Anantha R Krishnan (L to R)

Shri Abhishek started the evening with a sedate AlApanai of Hamsadhvani. The flute accompaniment suits as much as a violin accompaniment would, in my opinion, and Shri Sruthi Sagar played a nice follow-up. 'vandEHam jagat vallabham' was the kriti chosen, which was followed by kalpanaswarams. He then chose saHAnA as the next rAgam for elaboration. With the relaxed items one after the other, we were wondering whether he was cautious after his throat infection 2 weeks earlier in the Kerala temple, where he cut short his concert after the first varnam.

Shri Abhishek sang Ee vasudhA following his AlApanai and it was rendered full of bhava. Moving phrases, lilting sangatis and can one doubt the scope of saHAnA in those aspects! The team thoroughly enjoyed the presentation, oblivious of the audience - competing with each other for small twists in korvais and sangatis which surprise one-another bringing out individual excellence! The appreciation of one another by the beaming smiles, raised eye-brows, etc., are really worth watching - we are not only audience but spectators in this concert.

And then the plane took off with pantuvarALi as the third piece for the evening. With this we were treated to Shri Abhishek in his regular full flow. A very long elaborate AlApanai he sang, which included to slow unfurling and the fast brigas at the end as well. Shri Sruthi Sagar then played a beautiful follow-up including show of his fingering skills at the conclusion. 'rAmanAtham bhajEHam' was the composition for this main item of the evening, kAshiramakriya rAgam as per composer Muthuswami Dikshitar's nomenclature. kAmavardhani / pantuvarALi are the names given to this rAgam - or they have all become synonymous now, if there was nuanced differences earlier.

This was followed by extended neraval and innovative kalpanaswarams. The sets of kalpanaswarams ended with different portions of the composition. Both the neraval and kalpanaswarams brought out the camaraderie of the 3 artists, each goading the other to higher levels of manodharma. This was followed by usual brilliance of Shri Anantha in his tani avartanam. With just this 3rd piece we found about 2 hours of the concert were over. The main had taken up about 1:20 hours or one and a half hours, and we did not notice - drenched in the excellent music.

A brief AlApanai in bhairavi was followed by a superb 'ela rADAyane kAmini', rendered at a brisk pace. The melody is still ringing in my ear. We were hoping the next one would be a rAgam tAnam pallavi, but a gentleman came and requested Shri Abhishek giving two options. We could only hear that "I will sing candracUDa itself". He launched into a soulful darbArikAnaDA followed by a melodious candracUDa. Though we have heard him sing this before, everytime he manages to move us by the rendition. And then suddenly the mangaLam was sung. Oh my - only 2:15 minutes? This was a bit disappointing - maybe the 7 PM slot is for 2 hours or extended by 2:15 only, at Narada Gana Sabha - we don't know. We obviously want more - and this team deserves more time to present a full concert.

The hall was nearly full, but it was a bit disappointing to note that the first two rows was just half-full. This, I think, is because a single ticket is issued for both the 4 PM and 7 PM concerts. There are a few rasikas who like only the one or the other, and hence the some seats stay empty.

Another interesting aspect is that relatives of Shri Lalgudi G Jayaraman had monopolised the evening at Narada Gana Sabha. 4 PM concert was by Shri Ganesh and Shri Kumaresh. 6:45 PM concert in the NGS mini-hall was a Shri G J R Krishnan for Charsur, in the Samskritam series. Isn't it also a dilemma for the family members to choose between these concerts? At least Smt Jayanthi Kumaresh avoided the dilemma by playing a concert in distant Guwahati the same evening, and not be tugged by conflict of schedule at NGS.

Vidwan B S Prashanth, Vidushi Aishwarya Shankar, Vidwan G Badrinath (L to R)

The next day, we decided to attend the 11:45 AM concert of Vidushi Aishwarya Shankar at the Music Academy. Chidambaram Shri G Badrinath played the violin and Shri B S Prashanth played the mridangam. After singing a short shlokam in kalyANi, Vidushi Aishwarya began the concert with the kEdAragowLa varnam, sAmi dhaya jUDa. A very relaxed shrI varalakshmI in shrI rAgam was the second song. Vidushi Aishwarya chose latAngi rAgam for the first major item of the afternoon. A very nice AlApanai was followed by Shri Badrinath's crisp essay of the same. marivere dikkevvaru was rendered including kalpanaswarams.

Then, after a quick indication of dEvagAndhAri, she took up nA moralagimpavE of Saint Thyagaraja - rarely heard song, I think and first time I am hearinng this. A brisk 'kumaran tAl panindE' of Shri Papanasam Sivan in yadukula kAmbhoji followed this, setting the stage for the main song of the afternoon.

tODi was the rAgam chosen and suddenly it struck me that I had not listened to any other tODi elaboration in the entire season. Seems like this season the artists have chosen a bigger variety to expand horizons for the rasikas by bringing out more compositions from as many sources as possible. A very good AlApanai was presented in unhurried manner, but towards the end it seemed to come to a close quickly without the usual faster pace akArams. We then noticed that she was trying to manage the time properly as it was only a 1 and half hour concert. Hence the slightly abrupt descent and closure of AlApanai. Shri Badrinath presented a short version as well before Vidushi Aishwarya presented Amba nadu vinnapavini of Pallavi Gopala Iyer, followed by neraval and kalpanaswarams. Shri B S Prashanth played a spirited tani avartanam.

Vidushi Aishwarya then closed the concert with viruttam in dEsh and jOnpuri, followed by Purandara Dasa's 'Hari citta satya' in jOnpuri (usually rendered in pUrvi kalyANi). This was a good concert within the time constraints of 1 and half hours. The fulfilling concert was then followed by filling stomach - the 2nd treat for the day was the 'paet pooja' of Pattappas meals served in banana leaf, like a 'kalyAna sAppADu'.

Wish all rasikas a very Happy New Year, and hope 2019 is great for all, along with more melodious, musical accompaniments.

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.