One plus point in the performance of the Ragam sisters, Sivaranjani and Nalinakanti, is that they sing the alapanas at all the three sthayis – mandhara, madhyama and tara.
Thus the alapana of Kedaragowla by Sivaranjani was reasonably good. B. Ananthakrishnan (violin) brought in some folkish phrases.
‘Vikasitapankaja’ from the kriti ‘Venuganaloluni’ of Tyagaraja was taken up for kalpanaswara.
The concert at Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha began with ‘Sri Mahaganapathe’ in Nata raga followed by Koteeswara Iyer’s Melakarta composition, ‘Kanakanga’.
A shorter swara segment would have made it more appealing.
The sub-main was ‘Sri Kantimatim’ in Hemavathi. The elaboration of the raga by Nalinakanti was quite impressive with good akara; it was made unnecessarily long as if it were compulsory to sing for a certain length of time, ending up in repetition of ideas. The swaras for ‘Sukasanakadi’ had some attractive patterns.
‘Neevadanegana’ in Saranga preceded the main Thodi by Sivaranjani; here too the same comments could be made about the length and repetition of prayogams as in Hemavathi.
Due to the high sruti, Ananathakrishnan’s effort sounded somewhat shrill.
The niraval and swaras were taken up for ‘Kaveri teeramu’, which were passable.
After this came the thani by Hanumanthapuram Bhuvarahan (mridangam) and Giridharaprasad (ganjira).
