Akkarai Sisters@sarvani sangeetha sabha on Jun19th,2016

[rajeshnat]

Akkarai Sisters@sarvani sangeetha sabha on Jun19th,2016
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Vocal : Akkarai sisters - Akkarai Subhalakshmi and Akkarai Sornalatha
Violin : L Ramakrishnan
Mrudangam : R Sankaranarayanan
Kanjira : B S Sundarkumar

Concert Type : Nirvana - No concert to follow
Day/Duration : Sunday /4 hours - 04:10 to 08:10 pm
sabha/Hall : sarvani sangeetha sabha/ Ragasudha Hall

1. varnam - vanajakhirO(brief raga sketch) - kalyani - poochi
2. merusAmana(RS N S) - mAyamAlavagowlai - T
8 mins neraval in ganamulla shobillu
5 mins swaras

3. kEtta varam tharuvAn ayyan - ghana pancha ratna ragas Nattai to shreeragam - susheendram sp sivasubramaniam(akkarai sister grandfather)

4. Korinavara mosagu(R N S)- ramapriya - Patnam
10 mins alapana and 7 mins violin
6 mins neraval in panikara mAdhava
swaras for 9 mins

5. brovammA tamasa - mAnji - SS
6. pAlintavO (ragasketch, S) - kaanthamani -T
2 mins swaras

7A. kaligiyuNtE (R N S T) - keeravani - T
16 mins alapana and 7 mins violin return
neraval for 9 mins in bhAguga sriraghu ramuni
swaras for 9 mins
7B. tani for 23 mins

8. RTP in rishabapriya for 52 mins
swara ragamaliga in behag , varamu , kamas , hamsAnandi
pallavi line - kanaka sabesan darisanam kandEN Anandam koNdEN thillai

9.manadirkku ugandhadu(raga sketch) - sindhubhairavi - Tanjore Sankara Iyer
10.thillana - kamas-LGJ
11. nee nama roopamulaku

[rajeshnat]

Artist need time to exhibit their art . The reality of the usual concert goes like this . The artist end the submain bit earlier and also end up cutting the main to quickly incorporate a time wrapped truncated pallavi all within 2 to 2 and 1/2 hours . This usually does not bring the best of intense classical sangathis in a concert . Sarvani sangeetha sabha is one rare sabha which is conducting their 22nd 4 hour concert . I have attended GV, Gurucharan , RK Murthy and I had a chance to attend akkarai sisters full lenght 4 hour vocal concert. This is the 2nd vocal concert of akkarai that i am attending.

The sisters in particular akkarais subhalakshmi is a prodigy and a very well sought out violinist, the younger sornalatha is establishing as a violin artist . I think roughly 3 or 4 years back ,they started performing also as a dual vocal artist. After a very short introduction welcoming the artist by the sarvani office bearers the limelight was totally on akkarai team.

A brief alapana in kalyani welcomed with a very short kalyani varnam. The sisters synchornized well but I could not aurally get the muse as a perfect start - any way relieved that kalyani came in as varnam (atleast I made up my mind that they will not follow with a ariyakudi main in kalyani, I personally not have a great liking for kalyani unless it is taken by very few artists with very few krithis -kalyani does not suit my taste).
They followed with a very promising mayamalavagowlai, i adore this krithi - meru sAmana and raga mmg. The percussion artist gelled brilliantly with a more audible violin return the mmg turned out as a great start . THe neraval was a pure madhyamakala affair but well done with both sisters singing with a bit restrained intensity which always goes well with this particular krithi . Their grand dad krithi in pancha ratna ragas on Lord muruga had a skeleton of a SKR- TMT tuned krithi . Thamizh and Lord Muruga are intensely inseperable and I loved the krithi . Infact I heard this krithi for the second time the sangathis had a raga mudra cleverly incorporated in each of the ragas from nAtai to sree ragas . The cittaswaras were also there and there were also swaras in reverse . These kind of numbers evince a little more joy as every raga in pancha rathna ragas are mega hits and the voice felicity in particular the transition to arabi to varali always gives a bit more aural watchpoints for me . The sisters sang wonderfully the krithi and when they traversed I noticed a shade of little less power bit robbed the shree ragam to nattai landing.

The younger sornalatha has a more thicker voice and she stared with a rare rAmapriya . From the first sangathi i was condident that it was ramapriya . Sangathis were carefully sung by sornalatha I noticed a tad more repetition from sornalatha but overall well done . The patnam krithi with neraval and swaras was well done . For the next weighty vilambit the sister took the weighty ss krithi in mAnji . They sang well and the shruthi was well aligned for this extraordinary ss krithi . The filler kaanthamani was just passable the swaras were just not enough for me.

I was expecting a sure suddha madhyama main. My mind was thinking the big 5 ragas but out popped the elegant and stylish keeravani. Akkarai subhalakshmi sang the alapana and she did a clean alapana . THere was not any heavy tara sthayi shoots but she anchored very much in madhyamakaalam and I enjoyed her alapana in ideas . Her voice is always on a thinner side and keeravani alapana was methodical in approach- there were few phrases to indicate the flagship keeravani krithi of T . It was no surprise when we got the master piece kaligiyunte, the neraval and krithi were methodical . In swaras they did not give me a great feeling of accomplishment . In the koraippu swaras there were few slips especially from the younger sister , also after few rounds of kanakku i was expecting a more lengthier swaras but that did not happen. Swaras in keeravani was not that great.The tani was lovely especially the first two rounds by sundar kumar whose rolls were so pointed with an arresting nAdham.

The elder immediately sang a lovely alapana indicating a RTP . I thought the raga was somewhere in the cluster of lathangi and also had few shades of charukesi - i just forgot rishabapriya almost till half point of alapana and then I recollected rishabapriya. Certainly I enjoyed the elder akka mastery of this raga .The younger thangai announced the raga rishabapriya at the end of alapana. Taanam was well done a sure madhyamakalam squat their second speed in taanam was not that pronounced but definitely well done . I think the pallavi was in mishra chaapu they did the trikalam and took a very conscious choice of hindustani pidis in raga maliga . Akka took up the behag and the last hamsanandi and thangai took up the intermediate varamu. When Ramakrishnan was offered a return chance he played kamas which stayed away from hindustani typecast sangathis . The swaras were well done and the swaras was not cut short in intensity and length. I immensely liked their pallavi as a whole-thanks to 4 hour concerts.The last sindhubhairavi and the kamas thillana was neat - nothing to crave in emote there but they sang with a lot of passion.

L ramakrishnan slightly erred on proportion , a little shortened version in pallavi alapana would have been especially wonderful . He plays with a feather touch but was never intrusive to the vocalist. The percussion team were superb - sankaranarayan and especially sundarkumar callibrated with the right touch . They never played in tandem and I am assuming that was because they must have felt not appropriate as the two sisters did not have enough voice power. Sankaranarayanan plays with continuous fill and calibrates the volume mostly by rotating in the periphery and sundar gives a sudden stroke and watches for appropriate moments to suit the overall muse.

May Be I missed a dikshitar and a little more swara prasthanam magic in keeravani . The younger sister has more thicker voice but her voice shows a lot of strain when she sings a longer cycle . I am assuming that will go away soon as she is still young may be her voice is in the metamorphosis phase . The elder sister always takes charge has a lot thinner voice - I am assuming that is the texture of her voice and that is a permanent stay. They appear to get better and better and these two prodigies are indeed putting a lot of hardwork which showed up in the kutchery.

Overall an excellent concert for 4 hours.

[vsarmaiitm]

> Korinavara mosagu(R N S)- ramapriya - T

This is Patnam Subramanya Iyer composition I think.

[rajeshnat]

> Korinavara mosagu(R N S)- ramapriya - T

This is Patnam Subramanya Iyer composition I think.

Yes in the review I have written as patnam but in song list I made a mistake and keyed as T. Corrected thanks

[Sundara Rajan]

I fully agree with your premise, Rajesh. Four Hour concerts were the norm in the good old days, giving plenty of time for the artists to do full justice to the ragas. In fact many artists as Madurai Somu and GNB, the Alathur brothers in the previous era went beyond this four hours and still kept the audience spell bound. I think that it is the Madras Music Academy that first cut short the duration to 2.5 hours and other organizers followed and decreased it further down to two hours. Of course, the All India Radio in those days had only 1.25 hours of concerts on Fridays and 0.75 hour for RTPs on Thursdays, which were too short, but were considered only as exposures to carnatic music for the listeners.
Then came the so called National Programs where several minutes were taken away by introductions and announcements in Hindi, English, Bengali etc. I do not know the present situation with the AIR, with very few people tuning in, in light of TV programs.
I am pleased to learn that the Four Hour concerts are back in vogue, especially with younger artists taking the challenge.

[sankark]

One thing that struck me as an oddity - for a 4 hour concert why just one tani, well into the concert at 2:30 hours? And a tad too long IMO. Could have easily had two tanis, one in the first 2 hours and one for the RTP.

I was expecting bAla sarasa muraLi for kIrvani (ravikiran school, OVK popularization) but it wasn't meant to be. Infact, OVK was conspicuously absent.

[rajeshnat]

Could have easily had two tanis, one in the first 2 hours and one for the RTP.

There was second round of mini tani post RTP.