Rama Ravi, Nadopasana

Rama Ravi - Vocal
Nandita Ravi - Vocal Support
Usha Rajagopalan - Violin
Thanjavur Subramanian - Mrudangam
K V Gopalakrishnan - Kanjira

Nadopasana, P S High School
7th February 2007, 6:30 pm

evvari bOdana - AbhOgi - Adi - PSI
nijamarmamulanu - umAbaraNam - Adi - T
nItu pAdamE gati - pantuvarALi - rUpakam - Ponnaiah Pillai (NS)
kAdambarI priyAyai - mOhanam - tisra tripuTa - MD (RS)
kamala pada malar - harikAmbhOji - Adi - PS
ranganAyakam - nAyaki - Adi - MD
padmanabha pAhi - hindOLam - Adi - ST
rAmA nI vAdu konduvO - kalyANi - tisra Adi - T (RNS)
tani Avarththanam
ErAtakunaTarA - kEdAragauLa - Adi - DS
vANi pOndu - kAnaDA - rUpakam - DS
nI nama rUpamulaku - saurAshtRam - Adi - T

Smt Rama began her concert with a brisk rendition of the AbhOgi varNam and the umAbaraNam kriti which followed was nice. The pantuvarALi kriti was rendered well with elaborate neraval and svarams at 'vAdulella srI guruguha dAsuDanucu nannu brOvu'.

The mOhanam AlApanai was done in a elaborate and enjoyable fashion. Smt Nandita sang the thAra sthAyi parts of both mOhanam and kalyANi AlApanais. I was hoping for kAdambari priyAyai or rAjagOpAlam bhajE, when Smt Rama was elaborating the rAgam. It was indeed one of them. The kriti, a rarity in concert circuits these days, was rendered very beautifully, with a nice round of svarams which made it more enjoyable. The last kOrvai in mOhanam, which had a long kArvai on ga, ri and sa successively was especially very nice.

The harikAmhOji kriti was rendered very nicely with some nice sangatis. The rendition of ranganAyakam was very soothing and touching manner, filled with a lot of bhavam followed by the quick hindOLam piece.

The main kalyANi AlApanai was done very well. The kriti was rendered very nicely with a round of neraval and svarams at 'nI japamE dikkugAni nIraja lOcanA'. The two jAvaLis were rendered nicely.

Smt Rama gave a nice concert with quite a few rare pieces and unique choice of ragams as well. It was very nice to hear her sing the pieces to perfection. She was very ably supported by her daughter Smt Nanditha, who was like a shadow to her mother.

Smt Usha on the violin was good and gave good replies to the main artist. The percussion department was quite efficiently handled by Sri Subramanian and Sri Gopalakrishnan. The volume for the mrudangist could have been little more louder. The tani they shared, though short, was nice.