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.

Kum. B. Lakshmi Surya Teja (Vocal)

Attended Carnatic Vocal concert of Kum. B. Lakshmi Surya Teja (Vocal) accompanied by Smt. Sita Raghu (Violin) and Shree. Skanda Kumar (Mridangam) organized by India social and cultural center at ISC Auditorium, Abu Dhabi on 20th Sep 2014 with Jayant, Sameer and Raju.

This was my first time to attend Carnatic vocal concert. The vocalist is pursuing her masters degree in music and has won many awards. She hails from Vishakhapattanam and this is her first international tour.

The concert started with a varnam in Ragam Saweri. This was followed by famous composition 'Maha Ganapati manasa smarami'.

She then presented a composition by Nallacharavartulu Krishnammacharulu in Raga Basant followed by another composition '...mahishasur...' In Raga Kanada.

Next was Raga alapana in Amritvarshini. Here she asked the audience to observe their breath in and breath out. Then the violinist played a solo piece. This was followed by a composition 'Sudhamayi'. Skanda did well in this composition. 'Shri Rama pada...' was next.

Kailas Radhenam by Mutthuswami Dikshitar in Raga Kambhoji in Tisrajathi Triputa talam, the main item of the concert. Here she showed a lot of variations and her range. This was undoubtedly the best of the concert. However in this phase of the concert her good voice decided to abandon her. When it threatened to become a spoil sport, she recovered. All three of them were at their best in this section.

Then there was a section of short compositions. It started with 'Tamburi mitti...' of Purandardas in Sind Bhairavi followed by 'Kamal mukha Rama bhajan...' followed by Kabir's  'khaya piya sukhse soya...' followed by 'Govind Hari Govind...' then one more and finally 'Shubha mangalam....'

Peculiar thing was that the artist did not use tanpura, conventional or electronic. Her voice did not appear to be at its best, had some difficulty in higher octaves. Coughing was evident.

The hall chosen for the concert was too big with seating capacity of more than 500 but the attendance was about 50. Smaller hall is more suitable for such concerts.

Entertainment rating 6.5/10.

Mysore brothers (Violin duet)

Attended grand violin concert in Indian Embassy, Abu Dhabi by Mysore brothers. Mysore Sri Nagraj & Mysore Sri Manjunath on violin. Accompanied by Padma Vibhushan Umayalpuram Sri K. Sivaraman on Mridangam and Sri Giridhar Udupa on Ghatam.

It was first time I watched synchronized violin. Fabulous. Who says violin is not an Indian instrument?

K.Sivaraman and Giridhar Udupa played excellant solo mudangam and Ghatam pieces.Mridangam and Ghatam jugalbandi stole the show.

2.5 huors flew by.However the concert did not end with a creshendo.

All in all a very good one.