Two Concerts

One would have been better off, staying indoors instead of going to the concerts that are going to be reviewed here.

As one entered Raga sudha, Smt Vasundara Rajagopal, was singing dhurita kAla svarams. Was it sAvEri? Was it chArukEsi? Was it nATTAi? which was the apasvaram? 'jaya jaya padmanabha' was the pallavi line. Quickly followed was a fast rendition of 'ciththam irangaadhadEnaiyyA'. This sahAnA kriti in such a pace doesnt give any effect. any kriti, not sung in appropriate pace will give counter effects. and that is what this kriti did precisely.

The next AlApanai begun as a vAchaspati, in the first line. later it was made into a rAgamAlika of hEmavati, simmEndra madhyamam, rAmapriya, kalyANi and other known and unknown prathi madyama rAgams. Violinst also gave similar reply. Patnam Subramaniya Iyer's 'ennaDu nI krupa' came to rescue telling us that it was indeed vAcaspati that was elaborated. Couldn't sit beyond this point and hence left.

Went to P S High School, for Athira Krishnan's violin concert under the auspices of Music Connoisseur's Club. She started with 'viribhONi' in three speeds. dvijAvanti which followed was good in parts. dIkshitar's 'akhilAnDEsvarIm' followed. bahudAri AlApanai which followed was good in parts again. The essential 'p d n p m g m' and 's g m g s' were there but all else was just going up and down the octaves. 'brOvabAramA' was rendered with svarams. They were not so appealing and the vidwan was not keeping to tALam all the way. I left the auditorium at this point.