HERAMBA AND HEMANTHA- FLUTE DUET- KGS-28/8/16

[CRama]

Accompanists- Apoorva Krishna- Violin, Akshay Anand- Mridangam, Sunil Kumar- Ganjira.

Heramba and Hemantha, young flautists from Bangalore presented a very impressive flute recital in the Kamakoti Hall of KGS in connection with the Gokulashtami Music Festival in the 4 PM slot. List of songs.
• Swaminatha Paripalaya- Nata- MD (S)
• Inthakannandamemi-Bilahari-T (R,S)
• Nadachi Nadachi- Kharaharapriya-T (R,S)
• Tani
• Sree Ramachandra kripalu bhaja mana-Yamunakalyani.

THE ARTISTES.
HERAMBA AND HEMANTHA
Heramba and Hemantha, the twin brothers were born on 16th July, 1996. They are highly talented budding flautists in the Carnatic music scenario today. They are currently studying Information Science Engineering at JIT, Bangalore (II year). Their father, Ambale Satyaprasad belonging to Madikeri in Karnataka is a mridangist of known merit. Being born in a musical family, they developed a sound taste in music and started learning music at the age of 7. They picked up the art of playing flute from the renowned flautist, Late Sri Mysore A. V. Prakash. They are currently pursuing carnatic music under the guidance of Sri Neyveli Santhanagopalan. The duo is well appreciated for their perfect synchronization and the blend which makes the rasikas feel as if they are listening to a single flute. One of the youngest recipients of “A‟ grade by AIR, at the age of 19. They secured First prize in the “All India Radio National Level Carnatic Flute Competition 2013”.

APOORVA KRISHNA
Apoorva Krishna being trained under the tutelage of Guru Lalgudi Srimathi Brahmanandam and Guru Anuradha Sridhar, has been regularly giving Violin Solo Concerts and accompaniment. Apoorva is a B-High Grade artiste at AIR Bangalore and is currently pursuing her Bachelors in Business Administration.

AKSHAY ANAND
Akshay Anand was on 11 December, 1996. He developed a sound taste for music at an early age and started learning Mridangam at the age of 8 initially under Vidwan MT Rajakesari of Bangalore. For the last 5 yrs, he is under the tutelage and guidance of Vidwan Sri. K.S Kalidas of Chennai who is a direct disciple of Palani Sri M. Subramanya Pillai. Akshay aspires to be a true representation of the Pazhani bani. Akshay has accompanied nearly 200 concerts that includes Senior and upcoming artistes at reputed sabhas/venues in prominent venues. He was one of the youngest to perform at The Madras Music Academy’s Concerts during December seasons of 2013, 2014 and 2015. Akshay Anand has won several awards and recognitions. Akshay is presently pursuing second year Engineering in Bangalore.

SUNIL KUMAR
Sunil Kumar is a familiar name in the music circuit of Chennai. He is the son of Tavil Vidwan Triplicane Shekar and is an A grade AIR artist.

THE PRESENT CONCERT

These young flautists show remarkable maturity in their alapanas, swara prastarams, kriti rendering. Training under eminent vidwans have enabled them to develop a pleasant but powerful blowing style like Ramani Sir. Their patantharam of the kritis is authentic. They have remarkable synchronisation and we hear as if the music is emanating from one single flute. The duo exercise uniform lung power which is reflected in their tuttukaram. Their alapanas of Bilahari and Kharaharapriya, were replete with the right blend of plain notes, brighas and gamakams which consumed a ten minutes each traversing the various octaves and speeds. Their manodharmam at this young age is amazing. The ragams are played by both the brothers in stages- a good understanding they do have in this aspect. I liked their selection of songs. All the songs, especially Nadachi Nadachi is not very frequent on the concert stages. I don’t remember when I heard Nadachi Nadachi last time in a live concert. There was clarity in the enunciation, employing tuttukaram to convey the sahithyam of the pieces most accurately, following the Gayaki style or Lalgudi bani. In swaras, they exhibited their manodharmam by playing vyavaharam laden swaras with highly imaginative permutations. They used the available slot to present two big songs with raga alapana, swaras instead of offering a chain of songs only. Link to the Bilahari song is given below.

https://youtu.be/3gj1rWxI4t0

Apoorva Krishna’s bowing had sweetness and the required mellinam vallinam even at this early stage of the career. Her alapanas and swara returns showed her manodharmam and the Lalgudi bani was very much evident in the alapanas. Akshay Anand, belonging to the lineage of Palani played with good level of understanding. His anticipation was good and he along with Sunil Kumar embellished the concert significantly with the right nadam and dexterity and clarity of strokes. The tani with Sunil Kumar had lot of fire works and received continuous applause from the discerning audience. An excellent concert for one hour and forty five minutes.

[sureshvv]

Heard them at Raga Sudha a few months ago and was very favorably impressed.

Seems they won the Spirit of Youth 2016 festival prize in the instrumental category also.