Sisters Swathi and Soumya - the former an M.Tech student of IIT, Chennai; and the latter, studying medicine - displayed interest in establishing themselves as fine vocalists with an aspiration to shape up as another promising from the state. They are presently learning under the tutelage of popular violinist Mangalapalli Surya Deepti. Noted music Sabha, Sangeetha Ksheersagaram, gave them space at its venue Thyagarayagana Sabha's mini auditorium, last week to display their vocal gifts. They were in the company of I. Sarada Chalam on violin and Kapa Srinivasa Rao on mridangam.
The sisters opened with Intachalamu a Nataraga varnam in Aditalam of Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna and then went on to Mayateeta Swaroopini in Mayamalavagowla as an invocation, a composition of Ponnaiah Pillai. This revealed their vocal verve and skilful sahitya expression. The swarakalpana part was handled by both with care and with a sense of proportion. Neevada Ne gaana in Saranga of Thyagaraja again mirrored their expressive quality of sahitya sans any overlap of their voices.
Then Soumya chose to present the first raga essay of the concert, Shanmukhapriya. She delineated the melody with utmost care adding nuances at right spots of delineation. Paramapurusha of Annamacharya was their chosen composition in this raga. The sisters combined well in the swarakalpana part. It was then Swathi's turn to reveal her own ability to build a raga essay and she chose Ananadabhairavi for it. The raga was meticulously structured with sensitive phrases. Neeke Teliyakapothe of Thyagaraja was their choice number in this to present. Etijanmamidi in Varali also of Thyagaraja was prefaced with Swathi's impressive handling of the raga in detail. The kriti rendition too was neat. The sisters joined again in presenting the swarakalpana part. The sisters next chose , Manaviyalakimparadate in Nalinakanti, to render before they went for their major show piece of the concert - Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi exercise in Mohana. This was set in complex Khandanada Tisra Triputa Talam. Soumya delineated the raga taking good time for its expansion in all the possible octaves, displaying her reasonable tonal compass. And Swati shared the Tanam part for a compact presentation. They coined the Pallavi line as Sri Venkatesa Pahimam Srikara Subhakara Dayakara and they together rendered it sharing the neravu and swarakalpana continuing the line of the melody. Violinist Sarada Chalam lent colour to all the raga essays by adding her own complementary phrases. Her accompanying skills never disturbed the vocalists' flow. Percussionist Srinivasa Rao again presented a solo with perfection.
The latter part of the concert figured Krishna Nee Begane Baro in Yamunakalyani of Vyasaraya Teertha and a Surati raga Tillana of Oothukadu Venkata Subbaiah. The vocalists will do well if they avoided minor gaps in joining the voices that occurred on a very few occasions. Both did well in their solo bits.
