Sree Sanmukhananda Sangeetha sabha Festival, Delhi

The third day music and dance festival of Sri shanmukhananda Sangeetha sabha featured Ragam Sisters and Priya Sisters at Andhra Bhawan.

Ragam Sisters commenced their concert with a Varnam in Ragam Sree followed by ragam Hamsadwani (Varana Mukha). After a sprite rendering Dikshidar kriti in Suddha Dhanyasi ( Subramanyena Rakshitoham) the sisters took up Sriranjani raga alapana which was well attempted and the kriti Sogasugamrudanga Thalamu with its swara prastharas was very well handled with maturity. The sarvalagu in kalpana swara was noteworthy. After the Kriti Nenenduvedakutura it was Mohanam- Bhavanuta of Sri Tyagaraja with good raga alapana and niraval swaras. The main piece of the evening was Bhairavi with a Tyagaraja kriti - Upacharamu jeseva which is very rarely heard now a days. It was very well rendered and the way the kriti was handled by sisters was well appreciable and very promising. Thereafter the kritis of syama sastry Kanakasaila (Punnagavarali), Narayanathe namo namo and a Ragamalika- Kuraiyondrumillai was well received by the audience. The concert was concluded with Lalgudi Thillana in raga Revathi.
The accompaniments Ms. Lakshmi Venkataramani on the violin, Kumbakonam N. Padhmanabhan on Mridangam and Sh.G. Ravichandran on Ghatam gave a good support.

In the second half of the festival it was Priya Sisters Nadabhushanam Shanmukhapriya and Haripriya.
The concert started with a spiritly varnam in Abhogi raga followed by Varana Mukha in Hamsadwani. Then the two rare krities ‘Ranganadude’ in Sourashtram and Etavuna Nerchitiv O Rama in Yadukulakambhoji were render very well and well received by the audience. The composition of Koteeswara Iyer ‘Arul Seyya Vendum’ in Rasikapriya excelled with the swara kalpana and handling of Vivadi mela raga in a very matured way. Even the raga sunadavinodini – Devadi deva of Mysore vasudevachariar was very well rendered and worth mentioning. The Navavarnam in Sriragam gave a divine ambiance to the concert. The main raga – Thodi and the Tyagaraja Kriti- Dasarathi was a good choice and excellently produced both in the raga alapana and visthara swara prastharas. Here the bow trick of the violinist Sh. Ragevendra Rao is worth mentioning which was of high class. Thiruvaruru Sh. Vaidyanathan and Sh. Ravichandran on the mridangam and Ghatam respectively gave a scintillating tani Avartanam. The sisters continued the concert with a vrutam and rare tukdas which was a good change for the music lovers of Delhi.

Both Ragam and Priya Sisters are promosing artists and well projected by Sree Sanmukhananda Sangeetha sabha.