The Hindu : Friday Review Chennai / Music : Duos steal the show

Online edition of India’s National Newspaper Friday, Dec 11, 2009

Friday Review
KARTIK FINE ARTS

Duos steal the show

V.BALASUBRAMANIAN

Photos: S.R. Raghunathan, R. Ravindran and S.
Thanthoni.

Chinmaya Sisters

Delightful Bilahari

Chinmaya Sisters’ (Uma and Radhika), delineation of Bilahari, the
sub main raga, during their morning concert at Narada Gana Sabha
Mini Hall, , was a delight. And for Usha Rajagopal (violin) it was
just a cakewalk. ‘Paritanamichithe’ (Patnam Subramania Iyer) in
khanda chapu with an inherent pep about it brightened up things. The
sisters handled the swara segment with a veteran’s ease. The
anticipation of Sivakumar in this segment was noteworthy.

The selection of slow paced ‘Sarasa Dala’
(Saramati-Adi-Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar) added a different
colour. ‘Vidajaladura’ (Janaranjani-Adi-Tyagaraja) was fast paced
with Sivakumar’s embellishments comprising perfect nadais and
arudhis. Joining him effectively was Sethuraman. It was heartening
when the duo took up Madhyamavathi a sure winner, and gave the idea
of the raga in the very first phrase instead of keeping the audience
guessing. Thereafter, Uma and Radhika changed batons in its neat
portrayal. The striking aspect of the duo was that none tried to
overdo the other either in the raga or swara phase. Usha’s reply was
sublime. ‘Palinchu Kamakshi’ (Adi-Syama Sastri), yet another good
selection, gave them solid scope for a detailed niraval. The swaras
that followed were just in right measure. Sivakumar and Sethuraman
excelled in the thani.