Vocal concert ~ Hyderabad Sisters @ Toronto, June '97
Smt. Lalitha and Smt.Haripriya (Hyderabad Sisters) gave a 4 hr. vocal
concert at Toronto on June 8, 97 under the auspices of Bharathi Kala
Manram , with Sri Balu Raghuram on the violin and Sri Kallidaikurichi
Sivakumar on the mridangam. Here is a brief report ( R = raga alapana,
N = neraval, S = swara kalpana ):
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1. intha kOpamelara - ghanaragamalika varnam - aligi kalahasthi
venkataswami raju
A rare piece. I believe it followed the setting of : nata(pallavi),
gaula(anupallavi), varali and arabhi (mukthayi swara), sri (charana),
narayana gowla, rithigaula, natakurinji and kedaram (ettugada swaras).
2. vathapi - hamsadhwani - muthuswami dikshithar ( NS )
3. sri rama saraswathi - nasikabhushani - muthuswami dikshithar
4. janani ninnu - reethigowla - subbaraya sastri
5. aRumugaa - suddha saveri - papanasam sivan
6. brovabarama - bahudhari - thyagaraja ( RS )
7. marugelara - jayanthasri - thyagaraja
8. yaaraadinaar - mohanam -N.S.Chidambaram
9. sankari ninne -panthuvarali - mysore vasudevachar ( RNS )
10. mridangam solo
11. Ekuvakka judaina (?) - kaanada -annamacharya
12. sadhamathim -gambeeravani -thyagaraja
13. RTP - sankarabaranam - jampa ( 2 kaLai)
" sadhguNa nidhi chandhra guNa nidhi chandhra nidhi chandhra
chandhra sEkaraa - manasaa smaraami "
( swaras in ragamaalika )
14. a mini-thani
15. brahmam okate- bowli -annamacharya
16. rama nama payasake - beemplaas - purandharadas
17. bhajan -misra maand -kabirdas
18. thillana -brindavani -balamuralikrishna
19. mangalam
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* The Hyderabad Sisters gave a well-planned and well-executed concert
with competent help from the accomplished accompaniests. Having
been physically present at O.S.T's 4 hr. concert the previous day,
the artists used their wide-repertoire of songs to present ragas and
songs not heard the previous day. How I wish that more artists have
similar concern for the audience ! While their straight-forward
rendering of many songs without any embellishments made the concert
perhaps more-kriti oriented than it should be, it is still
understandable for artists at the beginning stage of their career.
Their grip on laya added to the concert quality. Since the mike
exaggerates even minute differences in synchronization, they should
perhaps devise some strategy to improve their synchronization during
joint rendering of kritis. ( This is, by no means, easy; in essence,
one artist has to give more of vocal-support than vocal-partnership .
In my opinion, this would increase the melody of the output .)
All in all, the general consensus of the audience was one of
eager anticipation for their regular visits to North America in future.