Manda Sudharani, Music CLub IIT Madras

Smt Manda Sudharani - Vocal
Sri. Pakala Ramadoss - Violin
Sri. Parupalli Phalgun - Mrudangam

21st Sept '04 at Music Club, IIT Madras

varNam - sAmi - kEdAragauLa - Adi - thiruvotriyUr tyAgaier
vandEham - hamsadvani - kanda cApu - annamAcharya
padavini - sAlagabhairavi - Adi - tyAgarAja
Ananda sAgara - garuDadvani - Adi - tyAgarAja
gOvarddhana girIsham - hindOLam - rUpakam - muthusvAmi dIkshitar
amba nIlAmbari - nIlAmbari - Adi - thanjAvUr ponnaiah piLLai
telisi rAma - pUrNachandrika - Adi - tyAgarAja
RTP - bEhAg - kanDa tripuTa (2 kaLai) laghu in tisra naDai, drutam in chatusra naDai (in dvi kAlam)
"sri manOhara sumanOhara manOhara vEgamE rA rA yamunA vihAra"
tanyAvardanam
E mAtalAdina - yadukula kAmbhOji - misra cApu - kshEtragna padam
tillAna - kuntalavarALi - Adi
mangaLam - saurAshtram

The concert started with a neat rendition of the kEdAragauLa varNam to set the moods. The short hamsadvani AlApanai was good and the svarams at pallavi line were impressive. Then Sudharani took up sAlagabhairavi for the first elaborate piece of the evening. The AlApanai was good; one particular phrase -- a simple janta phrase in the avarohana was stunningly pregnant with sAlagabhairavi. To cap it, she rendered of all the 4 caraNams in padavini; it was a revelation! The piece ended with beautiful svarams in durita kAlam at the pallavi line; the 3/4 eduppu was handled non-chalantly!. The garuDadvani kriti (Ananda sAgara) was rendered aesthetically with brisk svarams. The hindOLam AlApanai of Smt. Sudharani was in strict dikshitar style and was refreshing to hear "gOvarddhana girIsham" rendered beautifully with a lovely cittai svaram and neraval and svarams at "gOvindanAmasAram gajEndrarakshaNadhIram". The nIlAmbari kriti was moving. telisi rAma also had multiple caraNams presented with beautiful cittai svarams. The main piece of the evening was a Ragam Tanam Pallavi in bEhAg set to kanDa tripuTa tALam (2 kaLai) with tisra naDai for the lagu part and chatusra naDai for the drutam part. The Elaborate AlApanai of bEhAg did have a deep carnatic touch in it. The tAnam was also good. The pallavi was beautifully rendered in the mixed nadais, including the anulomam. The swarams were just brilliant. The laya control of Smt. Sudharani was very accurate with no slips at all. There was no rAgamAlika and even 40 minutes of bEhAg was not saturating. This was followed by the kshEtragna padam rendered well and the kuntalavarALi tillana to finish of the concert. The svarams for all the kritis were in two kAlams and rendered very well.

Sri. Ramadoss was good in parts but did not measure up to the occasion. Sri. Phalgun's style of mridangam accompaniment was in the mode of 'play for the song', the pazhani way. He embellished the concert well and his tani in such a delicate tALam needs a special mention.

The noteworthy feature of the concert is the kriti selection which is strikingly different from the 'Madras formula'. The diction of a Telugu-speaking artist and the rendition of the all caraNams in pieces which have multiple caraNams were striking features of the concert. The other point to be noted was that the AlApanais were strictly in adherence to the tradition of the kriti to be presented. After the pallavi a rasikA was heard calling her as "pallavi sudharani".

Overall, a very impressive concert from an artist who appears to be way above the standard dished out by many aggressively-marketed, rave-reviewed-in-the-press, chennai-based musicians. It is a pity that such artists do not get enough recognition, IMHO.

abAramAna sangItam