Anahita and Apoorva Ravindran, Music Academy, 26/12/2018

[SrinathK]

Vocal : Anahita Ravindran, Apoorva Ravindran
Violin : Apoorva Krishnan
Mridangam : Rohit Prasad

Venue: Music Academy 92nd conference and concerts
Date and time : 26/12/2018, 11:45 a.m.

Song list :
1) vandaduvum pOnaduvum - bilahari - khanDa chApu (3/10 eDuppu) - Oothukadu Venkata Kavi - short R, S - Swaras on pallavi

2) manOrmaNi manda hAsini - shubhapantuvarALi - Adi (1 1/2 eDuppu) - Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar - R, N, S - Neraval at sAnakAdi mouni vinuta

3) alApana followed by shloka (shAntam shAsvatam) and kshitijA ramaNam chintayE - dEvagAndhAri - Adi (2 kaLai 1/2 eDuppu) - Muthuswami Dikshitar - R

4) kaTTru karavai (thiruppAvai) - husEni - mishra chApu (2/7 eDuppu) - AnDAL

5) kAru velpu neeku sari - kalyANi - Adi (2 kaLai) - Thyagaraja - R, S - Swaras at pallavi - TA

6) parulanna mATa - kApi - roopaka (1/2 eDuppu) - Dharmapuri Subbarayar - short R

I am getting to hear this duo for the first time live. Immediately I was surprised by their strong brigha laden voices and the maturity in their singing. Started off on a blast with bilahari right away for the opening number, a composition of Oothukadu Venkata Subbaiyer. This is a new one to my ears. It felt like they didn't start the concert as much as they just launched off the line at full throttle. This promises to be scorchingly good.

They are also extremely strong in kalpanaswaras. Excelling at both the sarvalaghu and the kanakku swaras. In the first item itself they took up a kuraippu round ending on the P before seamlessly transitioning into a poruttam leading back to the pallavi. Rohit Prasad has been supporting them very well on the mridangam, keeping up the energy level of the tempo without being intrusive.

Apoorva then took up shubhapantuvarALi. Their elaboration of ragas is seriously good. To give you a reference point, they sound exactly like Ranjani and Gayathri down to the voice modulations, but younger and more vervy. Some seriously fast long phrases with gamaka laden brighas. Both sisters have a large vocal range with a lot of reach in mandhra sthayi and they prefer to slightly taper off at the very top than to go loud. The rasikas next to me are going wow over their phrasing. A very well executed essay. Apoorva Krishna played her essay on similar lines with some moving jhArus and some innovative phrases.

The next number is also new. The sisters have made a name for singing rare compositions of Oothukadu Venkata Subbaiyer, courtesy their guru, Chitraveena Ravikiran. So I need to check up. I suspect this dEvi krithi is probably Muthiah Bhagavatar's. As it turns out, it is. Again, a formidable tempo.

Neraval was taken up at sAnakAdi mouni vinuta. Anahita has a slightly thicker toned, more delicate voice while the younger Apoorva's is more husky, but both are very melodious , highly malleable and pack a punch. Excellent shruti alignment at all speeds. These 2 are definitely the next RaGa in more ways than one. The neraval's final round was intense, and the kalpanaswaras were no less. Apoorva Krishnan didn't lag behind in her replies either. That final kOrvai with a poruttam in her reply was very well done.

Anahita then took up dEvagAndhari for elaboration. What maturity in her gamaka and delicate touches! Their guru Chitraveena Ravikiran has trained then seriously well - there's a lot of hard work behind the scenes. The sketch of the rAga was followed by a shlOka (I don't know where it comes from). The kriti is a rare number of Muthuswami Dikshitar (kshitijA ramaNam chintayE) which I last heard from a DKJ record. Rendered with a lot of sowkhyam like what you would expect from someone 2 decades or 3 senior.

The next number is the thiruppAvai of the day in husEni. These 2 are packing in so much music in the given time that for once I'm having trouble keeping up. No sag in the energy level. As one piece ends, immediately another follows. The time slot is a mere 90 minutes. Not one minute to waste.

Apoorva then began a high energy kalyANi. I look to my right and see K S Kalidas (I hope I am right -- yes I was.) 2 seats away. I am in the 2nd row, thank God the morning and afternoon are free or else I'd have to buy an air ticket for this view. Meanwhile, Apoorva finished the rAga in the lower and middle octaves and Anahita took over for the upper octaves. Very melodious nagaswara like medium speed brighas and phrases. Quite old school and rather MLV like at some places. The brighas went up to the upper M2 and P before climbing down. A lot of nice phrases minus the P and S, what fluidity. A nice and quick landing completed the vocal side of the rAga.

Apoorva Krishnan played a melodious reply for her turn. I strongly suspect she's from the Lalgudi School from studying her left hand action and her replies. As it turns out, she is. Apoorva is a disciple of Anuradha Sridhar and Lalgudi Srimathi Brahmanandam. It shows.

Meanwhile my damned autocorrect is making me embarrassed at what it's done to the title of my review...and corrected.

The krithi - kAru velpu neeku sari is another rare number of Thyagaraja. I must have missed it when I was on my composer marathon listening sessions or it has simply escaped memory (it was memory lapse). The synergy between the team is nice and it's clear they're enjoying themselves through the sangatis. Given time constraints, they skipped to swaras, the slow speed swaras ending on a round of P and S minus phrases. Rohit Prasad helped maintain a sarvalaghu for the faster swara rounds. Good replies by Apoorva Krishnan - she was up to the task whatever the duo threw in her direction.

It feels like sisters have taken a leaf or 2 (nah, more like half the book) out of the Lalgudi School in the calculated endings to the swaras. The kuraippu swaras were on the N2. There was also a round of slowed down endings (the last few swaras are decelerated). The sisters used the janTa to good effect to add punch to their swara singing. Another round of sarvalaghu exploring the upper octave ended in a complicated progressive kOrvai shared in turns by both Anahita and Apoorva. Well done.

Round 1 of the tani was in chatushra naDai featured a passage of toppi only, milking the mike boost to good effect. naDai bhedam to tisra naDai followed which led seamlessly to Round 2 which was concluded by a neat kOrvai. Then on to the farans, and then a standard Adi tAla mOhra, and a kOrvai with a descending arithmetic progression and naDai bhedam into tisram (with 2 speeds). As if that wasn't enough, there was also an increasing arithmetic progression on the kOrvai length itself across the 3 rounds. Well done.

Straight away comes a moving essay of kApi and parulanna mATa. Again intense, but also very moving singing. Finishing exactly at 1:15, the sisters time management was superb to cram so musicality into an excellent concert of just 90 mins.

These 2 will be at the top very soon. No doubt.

[SrinathK]

I later found out from hearsay that both K S Kalidas and Trichy Sankaran were present for this concert.

[SrinathK]

Just got it via FB that Anahita has been awarded 'A' Grade from AIR a few days back. One more feather in their cap.

[SrinathK]

I have come to know that this concert won the "Best Vocalist" award (category unknown).

[sureshvv]

Your comparison to RaGa is interesting. Malladi bros. were also coming up about the same time. They also had a similar synergy, especially when they rounded off each other's singing at the end of verses with some exquisite aakaras (any technical term for this? abhiprayam suitable?). The younger of the duo was excelling in this respect even during the early days.

A & A are also following in these footsteps - except both of them are somewhat of equal capabilities, and the younger of the two still to catch up a bit in the non-swara areas.

Incidentally they are slated to perform today at the Indira Ranganathan Trust garden.

[MaheshS]

3) alApana followed by shloka (shAntam shAsvatam) a

followed by a shlOka (I don't know where it comes from).

Tulasidas Ramayanam, Ramchiratamanas, first [invocation] sloka for Sundara Kandam.

[ram1999]

Lovely artists, great voice and orthodox in approach. Ravikiran has mentored some lovely artists. Kudos !!