Manda Sudharani, Carnatica

maNDA sudArANi - nAgai srirAm - V V ramaNa mUrty

nIpada pankaja - bEgaDa (AlApanai and svarams)
nI daya rAdA - vasanta bhairavi
enta bhAgyamu - sArangA (AlApani and svarams)
paTTividuvadu rA - manjari
RTP - tODi - tisra rUpakam (4 kaLai chaukam)
"mA madura mInAkshI manasija vairi manOhari"
taniyAvardanam
srI vENugOpAla - kuranji (AlApanai)
entarikulukE - kalyANi - paTTAbirAmayyA jAvaLi
gitu dhaniku - danasrI tillAna

The concert started a good 15 minute late. Smt Sudharani started off with a bEgaDa AlApanai. It was a very very creative AlApanai with lot of lovely sancArams. She used the sancArams like s' d p and p r s (which sounded very much like bEgaDa but still are not regularly sung while singing the rAgam) very generously all thro' the AlApanai and while singing svarams both in vilamba and dhurita kAlams. One particular sancaram which caught me was a superb glide from the tAra madhyamam to nishadam and she did it more than once. She also sang all the four caraNams of the kriti.

The sArangA AlApanai was another treat. She had delibrated avoided the usage of suddha madyamam wherever one should not. The svarams true to her standard were innovative and lovely. The manjari kriti was rendered well.

The tODi AlApanai was very aesthetically structed. She had taken care to give a comprehensive AlApanai and the tAnam was nothing less than that. The pallavi was good. She rendered it with a lot of bhavam. The svaraprastArams in tODi in multiple naDais with multi naDai korappu was thrilling. tODi again had a lot of new interesting sancArams. one example being r n. g m.

Sri. Sriram on the violin did a lovely job. His Alapanais were more tending to the main artist's renditions. He did a good job in picking up the pallavi and the multi naDai svarams and korappu. Sri. Ramanamoorthy on the mrudangam provided good support all thro' the concert and his excellent tani was very well structured.

Her kuranji AlApanai was good and the dIkshitar kriti was rendered with a lot of feeling. The jAvaLi and tillanA saw the end of a nice musical evening.

The concert gave one a feeling that such artist with a lot of talent are rather less public and people with a lot "influence" and who do lobbying are given more publicity and also get into more senior slots while such people with a lot of talent and creativity are still in rather dark with respect to a normal rasikA. It was disheartening to see that not even first 5-6 rows were filled for such a lovely concert.

Hope atleast from now on, organisers give the really deserving talented artists due credit and enough slot to perform.