Vocal : Kanchana Sisters ( Sriranjani & Shrutiranjani )
Violin : Charulatha Ramanujam
Mrudangam : Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma
Morsing : Bharadwaj Satavalli
List:
01 jaya jaya jaya jAnaki kAntA – nATa – khaNDa chAp – Purandara Dasa ( S )
02 sarasa sAmadAna – kApinArAyaNi – Adi – Thyagaraja ( N,S )
neraval & svara @ ‘hitavu mAtalendO bAga baliktivi’
03 mOkSamu galadA – sArAmati – Adix2 – Thyagaraja ( started at ‘sAkSAtkAra’ )
04 apparAma bhakti entO – pantuvarALi – rUpakam- Thyagaraja ( A,N,S )
neraval & svara @ ‘kapi vAridhi dATunA kaliki rOta gaTunA’
05 nannu pAlimpa -mOhanam – Adi x 2 – Thyagaraja ( A,S,T )
06 shiva shiva shiva ennirO – rEvati – kanaka Dasa
07 hanuma bhIma mAdhva muniya – hamsAnandi ? – rUpakam -Purandara Dasa
08 jagadOdhAraNa – kApi – Adi x 2 – Purandara Dasa
09 shrIrAmachandra krpAlu – yamunAkalyANi ? – mishra chAp – Tulsidas
10 bhAgyAda lakSmi bAramma -madhyamAvati – Adi – Purandara Dasa
I am attending their concert for the first time ( vaguely remember listening to them on a telecast) and they did make a good impression on me yesterday. Very energetic concert, no drag, no unwanted musical ‘show off’, very refreshing singing. Senior accompaniment support by Charulatha and Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma did help to lift the concert.
I am impressed with their presentation, the way they sang kalpana swaras, the ease with which they traversed , shared the alapana, the clarity with which sangatis were sung, some innovative bhrigas ( some of them weren’t all that appealing) , or not traveling the often repeated paths.
The antenna went up with the kalpana swaras for nATa, especially the rehearsed joint-effort to conclude the piece. Short outline of kApinArAyani, and sarasa sAmadAna was good with neraval at hitavu mAtalento. some verbal gymnastics, at hitavu and matalento was ok. Very refreshing start of kalpana swaras and the ending of the kriti with ‘chatura- daNDa caturA – bhEda daNDa caturA – dAna bhEda daNDa caturA – sAma dAna bhEda daNDa caturA – sarasa sAma dAna bhEda daNDa catura ‘ sequence. Interesting, but did not really have any musical appeal. Saramati sketch followed with the sAkSAtkAra’ start. Not very great, probably because their voice is not that powerful to create that impact.
Shared alapana of pantuvarali was good. Good pick of apparama bhakti. Typical neraval and kalpana swaras. PAntuvarali neraval and swaras can never disappoint me. Elaborate mOhanam alapana, again shared by both the sisters. Some nice phrases, good at the higher registers, and those fast ‘akara’ takes. Charulatha started with the nannu palimpa movements in her alapana, which was very good. The hint was indeed right, nannu palimpa was sung well. No neraval, but some intricate laya play in the kalpana swaras. Unlike other swaras, this was sung in two speeds. I liked it. Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma played yet another commendable tani avartanam with Bharadwaj.
nice selection of devarnamas in the post main too, some of them aren’t heard much in concert. The jagadhOdharana started as an ugabhOga like start at ‘aDisidaLu yashOdA , magana’ repeated a few times before singing the composition. Not sure what was the idea, but it would have been better with out that. A Tulasidas bhajan before the closure of the concert with bhAgyAda lakSmi.
Brain Drain 