Accompanied by Shri Vellore Ramabhadran on the mridangam and Shri Vinod Venkataraman on the Kanjira.
Kannada Varnam (Ata Talam) Ragam Outline
Niravathi Sukhatha - Ravichandrika, detailed swarams for about 7 mins
Marivere - Ananada Bhairavi, Ragam for about 6 mins and then the kirtanam
Karunil Chuta Kine Samaya Miya - Sindhu Mandhari
Marivere dikavaiya rama- Shanmukhapriya Ragam 10 mins, Kirtanam, Neraval with elaborate swarams
Naji va dhara - Bilahari
Sarasa Sama Dhana - Kapi Narayani
Toli Nenu - Kokiladwani
RTP- Bhairavi
Tanam and Pallavi swarams had ragams in Mohana, Sahana, Kapi, Kannada, Varali, Sindhu Bhairavi, and Behag and Back to Bhairavi
Tani Avartanam
RTP including Tani for 6 mins was for an 1 hour and 5 mins
Bahgyada lakshmi Bharamma
Pavamana
Aishu was in absolute form right from the word go. Kannada Varnam was rendered in two speeds for the 1st half and the charanam was played in mel kalam. She set the tempo of the concert right then engaging Shri Ramabhadram almost immediately. Niravathi Sukhata had some rapid fire swaram patterns. in the half and one avartana structure. Her bowing modulating on the Sa and Pa (lower octave) was absolutely breath taking.
Ananda Bhairavi and Shanmukhapriya ragam had no surprises (for me atleast) as I have heard her play them in other concerts I attended. Naji vadhara in Bilahari ragam, I believe is specifically written for instrumentalist. Aishu did ample justice to this piece by picking it up at the right speed and rendering it with every briga and intonation that it was written with. Vellore Ramabhadran accompanied with so much vigor and anticipation that the piece stood out by itself.
Bhairavi RTP ragam was very well developed with all the sangathis. The tanam incorporated a lot of cutting bows and phrases that clearly evidenced Aishu's western knowledge. The pallavi swarams were absolute sowkyam with each ragam ending with the same mathematical phrase from half avartanam, which I thought was a novel concept.
At this point, I must mention Shri Vinod played an enormously subdued role throughout the pallavi, mostly keeping talam and joining in only at the mathematical phrase at the half avartanam. In a way, this gave Aishu ample opportunity to develop the swara patterns leisurely as she did not have to multi task thinking of the talam.
The tani avartanam. If anyone has to learn about time management, nadam and what to play and how much to play then this duo of Vellore and Vinod is the way to go. The patterns in the thisra nadai and chatusra nadai in the half and quater avartanams were absolutely simple and nadam driven. Even the Kanjira which is a base instrument had some good strokes.
Overall an excellent concert lasting 2 hours and 20 minutes.