Akkarai Sisters, Milpitas, Oct 19

[Sindhuja]

Saravanapriyan Sriraman - Violin
Shertalai Ananthakrishnan - Mridangam
Dr. S. Karthick - Ghatam

1. Ragamalika varam. Missed a good portion of this. Could someone give details?
2. Deva Deva - Mayamalavagowla, Rupakam; Swathi Tirunal: R sketch, S
3. Amma Ravamma - Kalyani, Jhampa; Thyagaraja: R, N, S
4. Mayamma - Ahiri, Adi; Shyama Shastri
5. Atukarada - Manoranjani, Deshadi; Thyagaraja: S
6. Enduku peddala - Shankarabharanam, Deshadi; Thyagaraja: R, N, S
7. Velai panivadhu - Shanmugapriya, Adi (?) - Suchindram S.P. Shivasubramanyam (their grandfather)
8. Manadhirkugandhadhu - Sindhubhairavi, Adi; Thanjavur Shankar Iyer: R sketch
9. Govardhana Giridhari - Darbari Kanada, Adi; Narayana Theerthar
10. Srinivasa - Hamsanandi, Adi; Papanasam Sivan: R sketch
11. Thillana - Hamsanadam, M. Chapu; Chitraveena Ravikiran
12. Mangalam

I've been a huge fan of Akkarai Subbulakshmi's violin (haven't heard much of Sornalatha's violin) and was eager to listen to the sisters' vocal concert. In short, it was very enjoyable. Traditionalism seems to be their forte. It was steeped in classicism and had a lot of action and energy. The sisters were nicely synced and had a good stage presence. On the downside, they have "thin" voices, seem to control a bit in the higher registers making the lyrics less clear. This could have very well been the mics not picking up their higher frequencies too. So I'm not sure if it was them or the mics, but I felt the net effect was that they were modulating their voices a bit more than needed. (In fact, I often feel this these days with Ranjani-Gayathri as well.) But overall, very satisfying concert. Subbulakshmi's sarvalaghu swarams in Mayamalavagowla were delightful, and I thoroughly enjoyed her very traditional and elaborate Shankarabharanam alapanai. Sornalatha's Kalyani alapanai was very nice as well. I felt her voice could mature a little though, esp. on the "ganam" aspect. May be this was just me, but I felt her voice "breaks" a little in the high notes. It's not "pisural" - it's just the quality of her voice, and I used to feel that about Priya sisters as well (haven't heard them in a while now). But her manodharma was very enjoyable, particularly the swarams in Manoranjani. Shankarabharanam was easily the highlight of the evening and everything lined up perfectly for the sisters. The thani that followed was brilliant. Subbulakshmi's sketches of Shanmugapriya and Hamsanandi were so sprightly that it didn't seem like they were in the last segment. Her voice in fact sounded even more fresh and showed a lot of bhavam. The Hamsanadham thillana was beautiful and I thought it was very intelligently crafted. Great concert, and waiting to listen to them again, although I fervently hope they don't give up the violin like Ra-Ga did. That would be a big loss IMO.

[tanapp]

Thanks so much for posting the review. It's on expected lines..classicism, depth and traditionalism. I bet there was lot of sowkhyam despite the action and energy on stage.

They excel as individual performers as well accompanying artistes. I too hope they don't let go off their violin playing and accompanying. Subbalakshmi especially deftly and uncannily follows the vocalist in their presentation, even in the kanakkus/korvai patterns. The other day I was listening to the sisters playing 'sarOja daLa nEtri' in Shankarabharanam on Carnatic Radio online streaming. It was like a smoothly cascading stream through the meadows - no rush, no fuss.

How were Saravanapriyan on the violin? He is a senior disciple of Shri GJR Krishnan and a very popular and much sought after violinist in the Bay Area.

[rajeshnat]

1. Ragamalika varam. Missed a good portion of this. Could someone give details?

3. Amma Ravamma - Kalyani, Jhampa; Thyagaraja: R, N, S

6. Enduku peddala - Shankarabharanam, Deshadi; Thyagaraja: R, N, S

sindhuja
Could the varnam be valachi - navaragamaliga by patnam. A kalyani submain and a shankarAbharanam main - choice is bit strange . Tx for your review.

[mahavishnu]

Good to see this review. I meant to go to this one too, but couldn't. I'm just unable to keep up with the number of concerts in this area!
Sindhuja, are you not in San Diego any more?

[vanajan]

1. Ragamalika varam. Missed a good portion of this. Could someone give details?

IIRC, it was ghana ragamailka varnam Intha Kopamelaraa http://www.karnatik.com/c3149.shtml

Vanaja

[Sindhuja]

How were Saravanapriyan on the violin? He is a senior disciple of Shri GJR Krishnan and a very popular and much sought after violinist in the Bay Area.

Yes, Shri Sarvapriyan is a very well known name here and a disciple of GJR. Both the Kalyani and Shankarabharanam ragas were nicely handled and he provided pleasant, unobtrusive accompaniment true to the Lalgudi school. Sadly I didn't make too many other notes during the concert. Strangely, I felt some parts of his playing (gamakams) sounded a bit nonstandard - including some phrases in Kalyani, but again don't remember the details.

@rajeshnat: It was certainly not valachi vacchi. It was a varnam I hadn't heard before. I entered as they were finishing the charanam. I think the first word in the charanam was "panchashat" if I remember right, and it sounded like Shri. One of the swarams was what sounded like Kedaram.

@Mahavishnu: yes, absolutely. Too many events. I really wanted to attend Vijay Shiva's but got the dates mixed up. Thanks for your review. For the last couple of years I've only been in SD for three months a year and in the bay area for the rest.

[Sindhuja]

Thanks Vanaja!