Priya Sisters started their three-hour concert with a not so familiar Asaveri varnam ‘Tamasinchu' of Patnam Subramanya Iyer and proceeded to sing ‘Varanamukha' in Hamsadhwani with a few kalpanaswarams thrown in and Tyagaraja's ‘Kanukonu Sowkhyamu' in Nayaki rendered with “sowkhya bhava.”
Aural treat
The first raga essay was Saveri elaborated neatly by Haripriya. Syama Sastri's ‘Durusukha' with niraval at ‘Paramapavani' and kalpanaswaras was enjoyable. A breezy ‘Niravadhi Sukhada' with its chittaswaram acted as a good interlude.
The next raga essay Sunadavinodini, taken up for detailing by Shanmukhapriya upto tara sthayi shadjam was concluded by Haripriya. It was a good effort. ‘Devadi Deva Sri Vasudeva' was rendered well with a spate of kalpanaswaras. Before embarking on the main raga Kharaharapriya, they sang ‘KaaVaa Vaa' in Varali.
Haripriya sang a detailed Kharaharapriya with all its beauty and they proceeded to sing Tyagaraja's ‘Pakkala Nilabadi.'
The violinist Raghavendra Rao's response to the raga essay, though good, did not match up to that of the vocalist. The sisters vied with each other in singing niraval and swara to the delight of the listeners.
The tukkadas included Annamayya's ‘Charanu Charanu Venkataramana' in Sindhubhairavi and Bhavani slokam. ‘Aiye Metha Kadinam' and ‘Chinnanchiru Kiliye' came as listener's request. They ended the concert with ‘Uyyala Loogamu Sri Sathya Sai' in Yamuna Kalyani. The unison of the duo coupled with emotion filled rendering of these pieces kept the audience in raptures. Parupalli Palghun on the mridangam and B.S. Purushothaman on the ganjira kept up the tempo and played a good thani.
A request to the sisters – conversation in between songs can be kept minimal!
