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Vocal : Anahita Ravindran , disciple of chitravina ravikiran
Violin : rajasimhan
Mrudangam : R Ramkumar, disciple of UKS
Ghatam : S Krishna
Concert duration/Day : ~ 1 hour and 50 minutes/ Sunday
Occassion : GokulAkshtami Series
1. "Varnam" tamarAkshamulu - behAg - chitravina ravikiran
2. balakrishna pAdamalar - dhanyAsi - Psivan
3. bhAgayanayya (R,S) - chandrajyothi - T
8 mins alapana and 5 mins violin return
2 mins swaras
4.chEtashree bAlakrishnam (raga sketch) - dwijAvanti - MD
5. taayE tripurasundari - suddasAveri - PeriasamiThooran
6A. lOla gOpa bAla (R N S T) - bhairavi - OVK
8 mins alapana and 5 mins violin return
neraval in "poojitha sajAna paripooritha murAli gAna??" for 5 mins
swaras for 7 mins
6B. tani for 12 mins
7. Undhu MadhakaLittran - Saveri - ANdAl tirruppAvai
8. ninnu jUci (padam) - punnagavarAli - Kshetragayya
9. gOvardana giri dhAri - darbAri kAnadA - NT
10.mini slokham - shree krishnAya - shuruTTi - ???
This is the second full concert that I am hearing anAhita. I first noticed her singing in a CD album of a contemporary composer. Then I noticed her singing some time back when she sang with her sister apoorva(was apoorva playing the tampura in this concert).
Anahita's concert being held on the gokulAshtami day, most of her songs were performed on Lord KrishnA. Her start was in a rare behAg , with the mudra ravi sashi , could latch the composer of the song. The varnam was bit not in line with the percussion team as I found a coherance of vocal and percussion bit off.
The second dhanyAsi gave a beautiful start, anahita has a very soothing voice and her krithi rendition in dhanyasi was well done . THe first alapana was a chandrajyothi and it just sparkled like a moon lit night. Her strength in general is in alapana and she built it very well. Expectedly the popular song bhAganayya was a nice flourish , swaras were just too short and it passed quickly.
Chetashri in dwijAvanti was well done and she sang at that right speed for me to get the usual ecstasy of dwijAvanti. Suddasaveri filler was a slight let down her quick turns at few sangathis had noticable slips and was just good.
HEr first concert was in bhairavi , a known krithi then , IIRC it was balagOpAla then .When she sang this time the same bhairavi rAgam being a gokulAshtami day I was thinking that I am again sitting for the same krithi of bhairavi . I generally love bhairavi but it turned out to be a brand new bhairavi krithi of OVK , the song was excellent and had a murali phrase , the neraval was nice and to the point, bit more in mel kalam would have been better . swaras were well done though a little more vocal stamina would have taken it bit better. Nevertheless what was surprising is I heard a new unheard bhairavi krithi of OVK .
In the tukkadas both sAveri tirruppAvai and punnagavarAli padam had a too much of s t r e t c h sangathis , perhaps bhairavi + saveri and punnagavarAli gave some what the same muse.
A little pep happened at the last number with the govardana in darbAri , but to an extent there was a slightly excess percussion there which drowned the vocalist musical interpretation
Few words about accompanist:
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Rajasimhan had a very minor play in this short capsule concert . His nAdham was the best in bhairavi and overall he played good. The percussion duo of our rams (ramkumar) and this young ghatam vidwan S. Krishna was really well done . Ram had a good dose of patterns in tani but the energy of the ghatam vidwan was really infectious, especially in the tani and it indeed pepped up the concert.
Few improvements for anahita:
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1. In first place anahita belies her age and it was carnatic intense concert . If I could say one thing that was noteworthy is the alapana which was really wonderful. Her swaras and neraval can reach the same zone of alap excellence .
2. Having performed the main in bhairavi , sAveri and punnagavarali succession that too with the s t r e t c h of tiruppavai and s t r e t c h
of padam could have been avoided . THis is just a personal taste that I am expressing, nothing to take anahita's musical merit.Overall a very good concert for 1 hour and 50 mins.
. Maybe Giridhar Udupa ...
).