Vocal support : S Saundarya
Violin: Dr. M Narmadha
Mridangam : B Sivaraman
Ghatam : Samyukta Sriram
Double tambura
Brahma Gana Sabha, Arkay Convention Center, 25/12/2018, 4:30 P.m
Live review : Updated as concert progresses
Song list:
1) dakshinamoorthy invocation
2) vAtApi ganapatim - hamsadhwani - Adi - Muthuswami - S - Swaras at karAmbujapAsha beejApuram
3) tera teeyaga rAda - gaULipantu - Adi (1/2 eDuppu) - Thyagaraja
4)Ananda naTam AduvAr - pUrvikalyAni - rUpaka - Neelakanta Sivan - R, S
5) dEvAdi dEva sadAshivA - sindhu rAmakriya - Adi (1 1/2 eDuppu) - Thyagaraja
6) shlOka and O ranga shAyee - kAmbhOji - R, S at bhUlOka vaikunTham, mini TA
7) maitreem bhajata - yamunA kalyAni, kApi - Adi (1/2 eDuppu) - H H Chandrasekhara Saraswati Mahaswamigal of Kanchi Math
And I am back for the 2nd time today, this time at Arkay. Given that we need to get brahma muhurta tickets for buying tickets (yes, that was not a mistake) at MA for RaGa, I instead found another pair of sisters to listen to. And who else?
Arkay Convention Centre is a small hall so I'm like literally 5 ft away from the stage up close and personal. The time slot is short, so I expect about 6 items at the very most.
After the invocation, Aishwariya took off with vAtApi ganapatim. None of the severe voice issues from the last time, though there's still a small rasp and still not as crystal clear as it was in her Academy concert where it was like polished gold. Nevertheless, this promises to be good. Sureshvv will be pleased to know I have spotted another lady on the ghatam, so he better revise his probability estimate. Aishwariya sometimes let Saundarya through in the madhymakAla portions. Kalpanaswaras were sarvalaghu at karAmbujapAsha beejApuram, with a simple ending.
Next up came tera teeyaga rAda, rendered with Aishwarya singing in the lower octave and Saundarya in the upper octave in the pallavi.
Aishwarya then took up pUrvikalyAni for elaboration. Neat and tidy with taan like brighas and flashes of moving phrases. The sore throat is creeping in though and it's taking out chunks of her upper octave range and part of the lower. Still, fortunately it hasn't hurt her brighas. Dr. Narmadha played a detailed and soulful essay in her reply with the trademark big slow jharus and one finger brighas.
The autocorrect is playing havoc here, even after I think I have successfully disabled it.
The kriti is Ananda naTam Aduvar. The madhymakAla of the anupallavi was sung in 3 speeds (slow chatushra, tisra, and tisra 2x speeds) which was well done. Swaras were taken up at naTam AduvAr thillai and Ananda as well, with nice replies by Dr. Narmadha including tossing the final kOrvai back like a shadow. A naDai bhedam to khanDa naDai swaras was well executed by Aishwarya. After another round of sarvalaghu swaras, another naDai bhedam to tisra naDai this time. That sore throat is getting a bit worse, but the sarvalaghu swaras are able to manage it in the pauses. The final kOrvai was executed in 2 speeds and well done. Not many musicians are so comfortable singing sarvalaghu in other naDais, and can't do the change as elegantly as this, it's harder than what Aishwarya makes it look. Dr. Narmadha reproduced the tisra naDai portion in her reply.
The next number was another MS special, devAdi dEva in sindhurAmakriya, a composition of Thyagaraja, with this being one of those Thyagaraja exclusive rAgas. Saundarya is excelling at filling up and supporting her sister. A nice closing pattern from the percussion brought that to a close.
Then an alApana of kAmbhoji. Aishwarya took it gently with this one, focusing on more gentle and sowkhyam laden phrases. Unfortunately thanks to that sore throat, we could not hear her crescendos and usually effortless brighas and range in the upper octave today. Do I sense a hint of O Ranga shAyee coming? Could be. Dr. Narmadha gave a superb reply with some heavy one finger slides and when she played back the pallavi passage, it was going to be O Ranga shAyee no doubt.
Following the shloka, the sisters took up the kriti with Saundarya singing in the upper octave. The pallavi never fails to impress me with the grandeur of the royal sleeper reclining on his serpent bed. What a genius Thyagaraja must have been to compose a kriti like this. The sisters patiently went through every sangati with a lot of sensitivity to the gamakAs.
Given time constraints and the sore throat, neraval was skipped and it was straight to the swaras. Dr. Narmadha was following Aishwarya like a shadow in the swaras. The good news is that her throat got better with the slow speed singing, at least the upper octave opened up by a couple of notes, which was what we were hoping for, so the 2nd speed swaras started off smoothly. A long passage ended on D2 which is where the kuraippu portion began. Aishwarya has some good imagination and elegance in swaras, never repeating a pattern, it's proving to become a forte. A naDai bhedam to tisra naDai made a brief appearance. And then a chatushra naDai 2x burst as well - looks like voice recovered enough for this. She finished off with the same kOrvai MS Amma used for her Carnegie Hall rendition of this kriti.
The tani Avartanam by Sh. B Sivaraman and Samyuktha Sriram was a mini one - with farans, mOhra and kOrvai. Interestingly the kOrvai was a small variation of the same one played at MS Amma's UN concert. The two also gave sowkhyam filled and unobtrusive support throughout the concert. I believe Samyuktha was the same vidushi that sureshvv had mentioned about in another concert. She did well in the fillers, playing with delicacy.
The concert then concluded with maitreem bhajata.
PS : I was later told it was in fact the same virus and it was a nasty, nasty infection that Aishwarya's not yet fully recovered from, even after a month. Best wishes for a speedy recovery. My experience, voice always gets a bit better after recovering from an infection
As for me, I still haven't found a cure for autocorrect.
