akkarai sisters@Astika samAjam (alwarpet) on Sept 15th,2010

[rajeshnat]

akkarai sisters(violin)@Astika samAjam(alwarpet) on Sept 15th,2010
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Violin : akkarai sisters - akkarai Subhalakshmi and akkarai swarnalatha
Mrudangam : Neyveli nArayanan
ghatam : N Guruprasad
Concert duration : ~ 2 hours +

1. bhairavi??
2. vAranamukha aRulvAi(?,S) - hamsadhwani - KI

3. mAyammA - Ahiri - SS
4. bhAganayya(R,S) - chandrajyothi - T
6 mins alApanai and 6 mins swaras

5. murugA murugA(R,S) - sAveri - PT
6 mins alApanani and 7 mins swaras
6. anupama guNambUthi?? - atAnA - T

7A. endukku pEddala(R N S T) - shankarAbharanam - T
alApanai for 13 minutes , neraval for 7 mins and swaras for 12 minutes
7B. tani
.........

akkarai sisters subhalakshmi and swarnalatha are at different crossroads in their performing career , certainly the elder sister is very accomplished and the younger just following her elder akkA having the ditto style but needs little more time to be as accomplished as her sister . This is the first time I am hearing them playing a violin concert .

The hall Astikha samAjam in alwarpet has a mediocre acoustics ,perhaps most of the nAdham gets dissipated in the high ceilings before reaching the rasikas . But with only 25 rasikAs I guess the dissipation loss to the almost last seated rasika (that is me) was not that bad .

The sisters started possibly late , as the TN CM was inaugrating the library yesterday in the neighbouring kotturpuram , and gOsh there was traffic snarls everywhere. I arrived about 30 minutes late only to hear the second half of vArana mukha in hamsadhwani(I am assuming they started atleast 15 mins late). The first that I did not hear was bhairavi as the elder sister announced at the end of second number.

Hamsadhwani a terrrific rAga , I particularly like in general the kAlapramanam of a typical hamsadhwani swaras , the sisters were in the overdrive mode and to what ever that I heard I liked that .The contrast of Ahiri was beautiful ,just towards the second half of Ahiri the percussion of narayanan was little too fast and robbed a bit of the dual violinist nAdham.

The next rAga was bit difficult for me to identify to start with , I think I got it right , infact the sister even announced it at the end but I could not clearly hear her announcement . BhAganayya in chandrajyothi has a touch of an extra contemplation and it went very well. All along for most of the time the elder sister was leading the show , the younger took up the sAveri alApanai , the style was as much as the elder , the rAga bhAvam was intact if there was something that was missing was lack of azhuttam in her bowing that the elder gets it so well. The krithi in sAveri was really good , particularly the second half of swaras was really top notch , the elder sister just reminded a bit of A kanyAkumari in being so quick and her bowing was really wonderful .

The filler atAnA was bit low key, kind of bit strayed away with the usual Adharamana atAnA rAga swaroopam. The main was indeed the pick of the day, as the elder started to bow , I felt may be,just may be the choice of sAveri and shankarAbharanam was not that ideal choice ,may be little forceful kAmbOdhi would have been better . But akkarai played beautifully the krithi endukku peddala , I just love this particular shankarAbharanam krithi a lot as it gives significantly more brisk sangathis than the sundry krithis of shankarAbharanam. The neraval was well done the swaras were really superb with both sisters synchronizing so well.

At the beginning of tani , the Ahiri effect was very high , i left as I was too hungry. Overall akkarai subbulakshmi has a lot of aesthetics , her bowing is very good , there was not any squeaky play or some kind of abrasive tone at all. Her sister swarnalatha is almost subhalakshmi , she just needs little more azhuttam .

When there were just 25 folks in the audience in a hall that can house close to 800 or even more , it may have been depressing to the artists , but I just love that kind of audience at times . There was absolute silence no one spoke no distractions at all ,all the rasikas were attentive for the whole concert .

Neyveli narayanan was very strokeful, he felt he needed more balance from the mikeman, but I liked what I heard . Guruprasad was mostly passive in the concert.If some one adds the tukkadas list that would be great . Overall a very good concert.

[rshankar]

Rajesh, how does the younger sister spell her name - Swarnalata, or Sornalata? Sounds like a very nice concert. I think the older sister is Sri Ravikran's protege/student. A few years ago my wife had a discussion on the similarities between the world of music and the world of academic research in medicine in terms of mentoring students, and when and how to make them independent.

[rajeshnat]

Rajesh, how does the younger sister spell her name - Swarnalata, or Sornalata? Sounds like a very nice concert. I think the older sister is Sri Ravikran's protege/student. A few years ago my wife had a discussion on the similarities between the world of music and the world of academic research in medicine in terms of mentoring students, and when and how to make them independent.

No idea regarding the spelling of her name. IIRC ,These sisters are giving even vocal dual concerts too, apart from violin dual concerts.

[Pratyaksham Bala]

In the write-up on Akkarai sisters in
http://www.ravikiranmusic.com/AKS_Sisters.htm
the younger sister's name is mentioned as 'Akkarai S Sornalatha'.

[mohan]

and the elder one spells her name as Akkarai S. Subhalakshmi