Sudha Ragunathan-SCSES, Secunderabad-Feb 9,2013

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The Annual Cultural Festival of Sri Chandrasekhara Sangeetha Educational Society had the concert of Smt.Sudha Ragunathan on the Fourth day of the five day music festival. Smt. Sudha Ragunathan was accompanied by Sri Raghavendra Rao on the Violin, Sri Neyveli Skanda Subramanian on the mridangam and Sri Raman on the mohrsing. The song list was:

1. Mohana Varnam
2. Ugaboga followed by Jaya Jaya Jaya Janaki kantha-Nata-Purandaradasa
3. Darini Telusukonti-Sudhdhasaveri-Thyagaraja[S]
4. Nambi kettavar-Hindolam-Papanasam Sivan
5. Ennalu Urake-Subhapanthuvarali-Thyagaraja[R,N,S]
6. Paluku thenela-Abheri-Annamacharya
7. Etti Yochanalu-Kiranavali-Thyagaraja
8. Swara raga sudha-Shankarabharanam-Thyagaraja[R,S,T]
9. Hey Govind-Kapi-Surdas
10. Alaipayuthey-Kaanada-Oothukadu
11. Ugabhoga followed by Tamburi Mettidava-Sindubhairavi-Purandaradasa
12. Kanda naal-Madhuvanthi-S Chidambaram
13. Emoko Chigurutadharamula-Tilang-Annamacharya
14. Bho Shambho-Revathi- Dayananda Saraswathi
15. Mangalam-Sowrastram

After two years, Sudha Ragunathan was performing in the twin cities. I hurried to the venue as I guessed there would be a huge crowd and finding a good seat would be a problem. I reached one hour before the concert and I noticed the front rows almost full while two artistes from Hyderabad whose names I could not note were giving a beautiful thematic presentation of Gopalakrishna Bharathi krithis. But the seats filled within minutes. In 2009, when Sudha Ragunathan performed for the same Sabha, there was a massive number of audience sitting and standing all around the venue. And this time, the number was larger than what it was four years ago. The concert was scheduled to start off at 6:30 and by 6:10 the entire concert hall was full and by 6:30 people started settling down on the ground, on the steps and towards the corner of the stage while a huge number of standing audience watched the concert from the gaps in the tent. There was absolutely discipline from the audience through out the concert.

The concert began with the famous varnam, "Ninnu kori" in Mohanam which was rendered in three speeds. The sound system was causing a lot of trouble in the beginning preventing us from enjoying it thoroughly. After the varnam, time was taken to set the system and then the concert gained proper momentum. The bright ugabhoga, "Elli Harikatha Prasangavo" of Purandaradasa in Nata was rendered beautifully setting the mood of the concert and "Jaya Jaya Jaya Janaki Kantha" followed next. The piece was an absolute beauty and was a perfect choice for the first pieces.This was followed by "Dharini Telusukonti". An extremely detailed swarakalpana was done for the famous krithi of Thyagaraja. The swarams were rendered in two speeds and the violin was an absolute bliss. The chemistry between the music of the artistes was at its best during this piece of the concert. After the long round of swarakalpana, the next piece was the evergreen ""Nambi Kettavar" in Hindolam.

The highlight of the concert was the Subhapanthuvarali. I should say that this was THE best part of the concert. The alapana was detailed and elaborated embellished with beautiful phrases and brigas. The raga's emotion was established very well before taking up the krithi of Thyagaraja which describes the pathos he was experiencing. The clear pronunciation of every word added to the experience of enjoying the krithi further. The long and detailed neraval followed by the elaborate kalpanaswarams reflected her mastery over the raga.

A composition of Annamacharya in Abheri rendered in an unhurried fashion followed next. The sangathis she sang for the keerthanam deserves a special mentioning. The brisk and crispy "Etti Yochanalu" followed next. This was a perfect choice before the grand main piece. A heavy alapana of Shankarabharanam came up next. The mic once again started troubling and she had to take a pause till the system was alright. The raga was beautifully presented for a detailed amount of time. The violin return of the alapana deserves a special mentioning. The famous "Swara raga sudha" came up next. Every word of the krithi was clearly understandable once again adding to beauty of the experience. The swarakalpana at the line "Moola dharaja" was extremely interesting. There were so many beautiful phrases of kalpana swaram. During one of the rounds, for a short round, she incorporated phrases around the line "G M G R G P R G S", the Western note of Muthiah Bhagavathar. The thaniavarthanam was splendid, thanks to Sri Skandasubramanian and Sri Raman. Their extreme command over the instruments was clearly visible and everyone in the audience was glued to their seats and many rounds of huge applause out of astonishment and enjoyment came up during the thaniavarthanam.

The most of the post main items were the requests from audience apart from interesting pieces like the Surdas bhajan and Tilang krithi of Annamacharya. The ugabhoga followed by Tamboori Meetidava was a high light of the post-main items, apart from the regular beauties like "Alaipayuthey" , "Kanda Naal Mudhalai" and "Bho Shambho" which impress audience from all sorts of musical background.

The concert reflected absolute classicism through out. I was particularly impressed with the time given to each song reflecting her clear plan of action. The alapanas were long, unhurried, elaborate, entertaining and amusing at the same time. Her mastery over the ragas was clearly shown in her elaborate raga essays. The swarakalpana in Sudhdha Saveri and Shankarabharanam were so captivating. However, Shubhapanthuvarali stands as the "star" piece of the concert. More than three times, the audience broke into a huge round of applause when she was singing the alapana and also during the violin presenting the raga alapana. Another wonderful thing was the chemistry the team shared. Everyone on the stage was at their best, making the entire concert a wonderful experience. The credit to the success of this concert goes to the entire team. The selection of krithis was also to suite the audience and as most of the songs were pretty famous, everyone enjoyed them thoroughly. If not for the troubles from the sound system, the concert would have been even better. The concert was jam packed for all three hours and the audience were absolutely silent enjoying every moment of the concert. A thoroughly enjoyable concert in all aspects.