Dr. S. Sowmya - 19th January, 2013 - Mumbai

[arunsri]

Dr. S. Sowmya - Vocal
Shri. R.K. Shriramkumar - Violin
Neyveli Shri. Narayanan - Mridangam

Hiranandani Foundation School Grounds, under the auspices of Powai Fine Arts, Mumbai

Date: 19th Jan 2013, Saturday
Time: 6:45 pm to 9:30 pm
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1. karuNimpa - sahAna varNam - Adi - tiruvOtriyur thyAgaiyEr
2. jAnaki ramaNa - suddha sImantini - Adi - thyAgarAja [N, S at rakta naLinadaLa]
3. siva siva siva - kAmavardhini - Adi - thyAgarAja [R, S at pallavi]
4. vAchAmagOcharuNDanE - aTANA - Adi - maisUru sadAshiva rAu [RS]
5. ADikOnDAr - mAyAmALavagauLa - Adi - muthu thAnDavar
6. shrI rAmam - nArAyaNagauLa - Adi - muthuswAmy dIkshitar [R]
7. kAmAkshi - bhairavi swarajati - mishra chApu - shyAma sAstry [R, N, S at bhaktajana..] + tani
8. mODijEsE - khamAs - Adi - paTTAbhirAmayyA
9. indEndu vachitivirA - suraTi padam - mishra chApu - sArangapANi
10. shrI mAdhava - bEhAg - Adi - pApanAsam sivan [RS]
11. pArukkuLE nalla - jOnpuri - Adi - subrahmaNya bhArati
12. kAvaDi chindu
13. mangaLam

Highly classical, inspiring music. Sowmya was in a different mood - introspective yet challenging probably> Here are the highlights -

1. Beautiful neraval and swaras in raktanaLinadaLa
2. Refreshingly fresh alapana of the often sung raga - kAmavardhini.... some really beautiful phrases
3. Outstanding Bhairavi ragam - slow, with unhurried prayogas in the mandhara and madhya sthAyi. Each swara had patterns chiseled around them so effortlessly and beautifully. One of the most unhurried renditions of bhairavi I have heard live. She used m, g, r.. quite often in the madhya sthAyi. I am sure - it is a correct prayoga, mAnji also has the same .. so was a little confused about the difference in piDis for the two ragas.
4. Post main - usually filled with lighter pieces. Sowmya had so much dignity in these too..
5. All 3 charanams of vAchAmagOcharunDanE were sung.....
6. Alapana of nArAyaNagauLa and then her explanation on the differences between allied ragas - suraTi, kEdAragauLa and nArAyaNagauLa

Special thanks to her for singing items 4 and 6 and a padam!!

Accompanists were top class - complemented her beautifully as usual.

[mahavishnu]

Arunsri, thanks for your nice review. Sounds like a great concert by Dr. Sowmya.

Not sure I understand what you mean by the m g r prayOgam. It is fairly routine usage in bhairavi and this particular phrase is present multiple times in the kAmAkshi swarajati.

mAnji uses a ma gA ri, with an extended hold on the gAndharam that is unique to it (same for its dhaivatam as well). Not sure if there could be any perceived overlap between these two ragas on the basis of this pidi. Could you elaborate on what you meant?

I'm glad that she chose to treat suraTi and nArAyaNagauLa in the same concert, reminiscent of the great Sri S Ramanathan.

[narayan]

Concert indeed was good. Slight deliberate slowing down of the pace in a few places in the beginning of the concert, including the varnam, was noticeable and to my way of thinking, welcome.

All pieces, including the well known ones, had some nice twists. For example, Siva Siva Siva had swarams at 1/4 th after the beat.

The Narayanagowla ragam was preceded by a brief explanation, which emphasised that the contrasting neighbour, Surati had only fleeting notes on the Ga and Dha swarams. Ironically, the padam she sang in Surati later on had a very prominent halt at dha in the anupallavi and charanam (the syllable ri in Kasturi, if I recall)! Still, it did not detract from the whole presentation, which was really an admirable mixture of heavy music with enough tempo and audience connect to keep the very mixed crowd engaged throughout.

The team is a really seasoned one and each member knows the other's music well and it was very pleasing.