Akkarai Sisters (Vocal) at Bangalore - Jan 6 2013

[vanamali]

Vocal - Akkarai Sisters (Subbulakshmi and Swarnalatha)
Violin - Nalina Mohan
Mridangam - B S Prashant
Khanjira - Bhargava Halambi
Venue - Sri Rama Lalita Kala Mandira, Bangalore - 70

Concert duration - Exactly 3 hours.

1. Era napai - Varnam - thodi
2. Jaya Jaya Ramanatha - Nattai (s)
3. Kanchi Kamakshi - Bhairavi swarajathi
4. Parama purusha - Vasantha (r)
5. Ramanatham Bhajeham - Pantuvarali (r,n,s)
6. Atukadarani - Manoranjani (s)
7. Ragam Thanam Pallavi - Thodi - Tisra Jampa talam 4 kalai. Pallavi: "velavane ninadu padame varavenum mayil natana". Ragamalika in hamsanandi, rasikapriya (?), hindolam, behag. Followed by Thani Avarthanam.
8. Vote of thanks.
9. Govardhana giri dhara - durbari kannada
10 Mangalam

It was the first vocal concert of theirs that i have attended, i have attended violin duet concerts of theirs in Chennai, and they did not disappoint today. they kept the audience spell bound right from the start throughout the 3 hour concert. The concert hall was full with people standing the sides, on the open terrace etc trying to listen.

Starting with the thodi varnam that they sang in 2 speeds, they then moved on to the relatively rare composition in Nattai by narayana teertha ( i think).
After this came the bhairavi swarajathi in a rather slow tempo, followed by a lively vasantha kriti.
then came the sub-main kriti in pantuvarali. Swarnalatha took up the raga alapana for this.
This was followed by a fast paced thyagaraja kriti in manoranjani that included jet-speed swarams.
The next was the main piece of the concert, an rtp in thodi. The raga alapana as expected for this was taken by Subbulakshmi and she did a fabulous job.
Post thani was the durbari kannada and mangalam.

I think it would not be wrong to say that Akkarai Subbulakshmi stole the show! The many years of accompanying very senior artistes and also her training with senior vidvans clearly shows. She was in total command of the concert. Swarnalatha too did sing well, not to take away any credit from her.
Nalina Mohan supported the vocalists very well on the violin.
The percussion duo were rather new, both being students of senior artiste Vyasa Vitthala, They supported very well, though i thought the mridangam was sometimes rather loud.

Overall an excellent concert, hoping to listen to more of them (both vocal and violin) in Bangalore.

[rshankar]

Great list - as accompanists, I agree that the older sibling has more experience, but the younger is more daring, IMO. Wonder if the same is true in their vocal concerts too.

Not to nitpick, but I think their names are 'Subbalakshmi' and 'Sornalatha' (correct me if I am wrong).

[mahavishnu]

Ravi, to nitpick further. It is actually Subhalakshmi.
Sornalatha is correct.

[rshankar]

Ramesh - you are correct - It was an error! (Subhalakshmi it is - the same as the name of the wife of ustAd Amjad Ali Khan)

[Thalaivarda]

ustAd Amjad Ali Khan who gave an interview with his wife Subhalakshmi yesterday in DD Bharathi.