Hi I am new to this forum. I found this blog when i went to Wikipedia. This is very informative and comprehensive.
I had been to this concert, as I saw Rajna Swaminathan's name in the daily. I have heard about her and wanted to see how this young girl performs. Her every "sol" is really amazing.
Coming to the main artist, I was surprised to see a young 27 year old performing like an experienced vidushi. Creativity was amazing. I never expected an ashta ragamalika as a main pice from an afternoon slot artist.
1. Saveri Varnam
2. Apt vritham followed by Anandha Narthana Ganapatim - Nattai- OOthukadu.- Excellent kanakku swarams ending with each of the words from the pallavi line
3. Angarakam - Surutti - Dikshitar
4. Mahitha Pravrutha - Thyagaraja - Kambodhi - This was not good, as i expected some swarams. But as this is a rare composition, i liked it
5 Sri Satyanarayanam - Subhapantuvarali - R,S - Raga alapana was pleasing and had some interesting pidis. Swarams were kannakku and very different. But unfortunately i dont know why she did only keezh kaala swarams and no mel kala swarams
6 Ashta Ragamalika - This was simply superb - she elaborated all 8 ragams and then sang the composition Nee dhan thunai ending it with 5 rounds of brilliant kalpana swarams in each ragam and finally she finished with all 8 ragam swarams in the reverse order. It was a brave and a very creative attempt. Though she made a couple of mistakes while singing the swarams especially durga, overall it was interesting and jana ranjagam
7 Thani - The above song had the thani. I have no words to describe Rajna's fabulous thani
8 Powerful vritham followed by a song Aganitha Thara - Ragamalika
I learnt that she is a disciple of Dr.S.Ramanathan and Vairmanaglam Lakshminarayanan
Overall it was very creative and attractive but very unproportionate.
She elaborated subhapantuvarali for 10 mins and did no mel kalam swarams. She could have done ragam sketch of Kambodhi and few swarams for that and given importance to that rare composition. But she didnt.I would have been happier if she had done some nereval too, as i wanted to see her nereval skill too
Having said that, As a first time listener, i felt that this artist had some unique magic/attraction in her voice and the way she presented was very creative.
Akkarai Swarnalatha gave an excellent support too.
Seshadri