Smt. Harini Krishnan (Vocal)

Attended Carnatic Vocal concert of Smt. Harini Krishnan (Great grand-daughter of Sri Papanasam Sivan) accompanied by Smt. Sita Raghu (Violin) and Sri. S. Sivasubramanian  (Mridangam). The concert was organized by Abu Dhabi Chamber Music at the residence of Sujatha & Ravi, on 26th Mar 2015. I attended with Nandu.

Concert started with 4 short compositions, each about 7-10 minutes long, that included famous composition 'Maha Ganapatim manasa smarami' and 'alapana'.

Smt. Sita Raghu then played solo violin. She displayed slow solo violin play variations and drew applause.

Harini then presented three short compositions including 'Suga suga Mridangam'. Again Sitaji played a fantastic violin solo piece.

Harini then sung 'Parvati ..'. During this composition, Siva mesmerized the audience with his solo Mridangam.
Concert ended with last two compositions including 'Jaya mangalam nitya' (I think this was a Thiagaraja composition).

Harini demonstrated very good singing in low octaves. Sitaji was good as usual and accompanied Harini without trying to overshadow her. Siva was also very good and played cut-to-cut. All three artists were local (Abu Dhabi) artists. It goes to show that Abu Dhabi has got talent, at least in Carnatic music.

Program started exactly at the announced time. Full marks for the punctuality. It was attended by a small audience of about 30-35. It was a mehfil in casual and cosy atmosphere.

It was a mini concert of one hour and twenty minutes. Had it been longer, artists would have had more scope to demonstrate variety.

Abu Dhabi Chamber Music should be applauded for the efforts and encouragement to the artists.

Pt. Kushal Das (Sitar) & Shashank Subramnyan (Flute)

Attended concert titled "Unision of strings and winds". This was the concert of Pt. Kushal Das (Sitar) & Shashank Subramnyan (Flute) accompanied by Parimal Chakrabarty (Tabla) and Sai Giridhar (Mridangam). The concert was organized by Manirang, ISC & Embassy of India at ISC, Any Dhabi on 19th Mar 2015. I attended with Aditi, Sucheeta and Jayant.

Concert started with famous Raag Hamsadhwani. This raag is one of the common raag in Hindustani and Carnatic music. Shashank played one piece in aalap very well.

Then they presented Ragam Panthuvarali or Raag Puriya Dhanashree, the main presentation of the concert. This section was a classical Ragam - Thanam - Pallavi or Aalap - Jod - Jhala. Alapana was followed by composition and improvization.

Unfortunately, I had to leave early and could not wait till the end. But rather than brooding over what I missed, I was happy with what I got.

It was a Strings-Winds jugalbandi, Sitar-Flute jugalbandi, Tabla-Mridangam jugalbandi and Hindustani-Carnatic jugalbandi.

Needless to say Pt. Das enthralled the audience by his fine Sitar playing. It was the first time I watched Carnatic Flute live. Previously I had only listened recorded albums. Shashank was advertised as Prodigy, and that he was. His air intake, though, were frequently audible. He displayed some super fast flute playing.

Sitar, Flute, Tabla and Mridangam was an unusual and innovative combination. Although there were four instruments, Tabla mostly played Hindustani music with Sitar and Mridangam played Carnatic music with Flute. The combination sounded very nice and pleasing.

It was a knowledgeable audience and both artists were applauded multiple times. It appeared that the Carnatic audience was in majority. Temperature in the auditorium was cold and some of the audience had to take comfort break.

Entertainment rating - not allotted.

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