Hyderabad Sisters at Kalasagaram, Secunderabad

[sivakami]

Hyderabad Sisters at Kalasagaram, Secunderabad on 26th Nov 2011

Hyderabad Sisters Lalitha & Haripriya
Dwaram Satyanarayana – violin
DSR Murthy – mridangam
P V Ramanamurthy - ghatam
K. Syamsundar – kanjira

Song list:
1. Sri sivathraya mahaganapathi – nattai – swarna venkatesa dikshitar
2. Sri rama padama nee krupa – amritavahini – Thyagaraja
3. Mayamma nannu brovamma – nattaikurinji – Syama Sastry ( R- 8 min by Haripriya; S @ mayamma )
4. palimpa ravedelara –arabhi – pallavi Sesha Iyer
5. Mamava karunaya – shanmugapriya – Swathi Tirunal ( R - ~ 14 min by Lalitha;
N & S@ kamitha gaana lola kamaneeya susheela)

6. RTP in Bageshri (R by Haripriya for almost 12 min; tanam by both, alternating)
Pallavi -“ sankari sreekari satodari, maheswari bhageswari”
Swara raga malika in bageshri, dhanyasi, sahana,…?, saveri( by violinist), revathi?
After a brief taanam and swarams in each ragam, they sang bageshri and finally in the reverse direction
7. Tani ..
8. Manadhirkugandhadhu muruganin roopam – sindhu bhairavi – papanasam sivan
9. jagannadha vittala – sudhasaveri-
10. Tillana in misra sivaranajani –maharajapuram santhanam
mangalam

It was the inaugural day of the 44th Annual festival of one of the prestigious sabha of the twin cities, Kalasagaram. As per their tradition, the sabha conferred the title of ‘Sangeetha Kalasagara’ to Hyderabad Sisters Smt. Lalitha & Haripriya. The sisters in their emotional speech thanked the sabha, their parents and other family members, and particularly their guru Sri. T. G. Padmanabham garu (someone told that he was a disciple of Alathur Venkatesa Iyer). Next they also thanked profusely all their accompanying artistes as well as the rasikas. After the customary speeches, felicitation function, and the honouring sessions, the concert started at 7.30 PM or so.

The brisk start with that Nattai kriti, the tempo that was set continued to be vibrant till the end. Being their home ground and with the home-team, they treated the rasikas to a delightful Saturday evening. Every item rendered was full of bhavam. Like Sri. Rajagopal (secretary of Kalasagaram) mentioned, it was a Full-Hyderabadi Special team (like the special hyderabadi biryani), with every accompanying artist playing his part extremely well. Personally for me, the rhythmic support in many places by the percussionists was enjoyable. After the main item in shanmugapriya, when we were expecting the tani to start at 9.05 PM or so, the artistes finished that kriti with the usual one round of talam. Next when Bageshri was taken for a detailed alapana, it was a pleasant surprise that there may be an RTP. Also Haripriya garu’s marvellous alapana was very well received by the already-dwindled audience (comprising of about 40-50 people who had determined to stay till the end, at any cost). The sisters were also determined to deliver their fullest to the rasikas. The tanam, pallavi and the swara-ragamalika were all excellent. I was very glad that the annual series had started in a grand manner. Only we could not stay after 10 PM and had to leave half-heartedly even before the tani could start. Next day someone told me that they sang almost till 10.35 PM. Although I am posting this first kucheri (of the series) at the last (due to losing the word-file and hence had to re-type), I felt this was the No. 1 (best) kucheri on the whole!!

[revanthv552]

An interesting song list. I can see that the concert was a real treat! I missed this one too as I was not keeping well. I am happy to read the review. Thanks to sivakami for posting this.

Hyderabad sisters are an extra ordinary duo! Their song list is always full of surprises. Feels really great to have such wonderful musicians from our city. Each and every concert of theirs is a treat. Every year they perform at the Shankar Mutt on the Durgastami day. In 2010, they sang an extraordinary mohanakalyani(sangeetha samrajya sancharini) for main piece and pranavapriya raagam(padhaaravindhamule), a rare one, was sung as the submain. This year they sang a beautiful Abhogi (thaamasamika) as the main piece and Panthuvarali (shankari ninne) as submain! Each of their concert is extremely entertaining and also a wonderful learning experience for the students. They are one of the best duos I ever heard. Despite all the talent, they are extremely humble. I admire their music a lot. Once again, Thanks a lot for the review sivakami.

[rshankar]

Nice review! Thank you.

Pallavi -“ sankari sreekari santhodari, maheswari bhageswari”

I think the bolded word should be SATodari - slender waisted...

[Sreeni Rajarao]

Interesting song list - what I found interesting was that I have not heard any of the items performed!

Going by the review, I am sure I would have still enjoyed the concert.

[ganeshkant]

The sisters offer a chaste music.Heard them a few times in Chennai.Their Tamil diction is very good.

[rajeshnat]

9. jagannadha vittala – sudhasaveri-
10. Tillana in sivaranajani –maharajapuram santhanam

.....
Although I am posting this first kucheri (of the series) at the last (due to losing the word-file and hence had to re-type), I felt this was the No. 1 (best) kucheri on the whole!!

Sivakami
Tx for your string of pearl reviews from hyderabad . Googled a bit to find out about the composer of suddasAveri as sri ranga vittala . Let us wait for Grand Jury Lji on that.

Looking at the numbers the sisters have indeed come up with a lot of rare krithis and then finally signed up with a very janaranjakamAna ,mishra sivaranjani thillAna by MaharAjapuram santhanam . Looking forward to hear them some time, I would love to hear a bhAgeshri pallavi.