Many senior music lovers regret Ragam, Tanam and Pallavi not being accorded enough time in concerts these days, but Priya Sisters, Haripriya and Shanmugapriya, provided a sumptuous RTP in Thodi for nearly an hour.
A diligent raga treatise and sancharas developed with expansive segments by Haripriya brought out the beauty of Thodi. The tanam was shared by the Sisters, and substantially, by violinist M.A. Krishnaswami.
The pallavi ‘Vega Thodi Theve Saami Ni’ was set to tisra jathi Jhampa tala. A full-fledged niraval and trikalam were rendered with swaras, appended with a ragamalika. This section deserves special mention.
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The Ranjani raga elucidation was initiated by Shanmugapriya covering the madhyama kala segment, mostly to be taken up by Haripriya, to further extend it to the upper region arcs.
Bharati’s ‘Bhooloka Kumari’ fitted beautifully in this raga and ‘Bale Rasa Jale’ carried some engaging swara sallies between the siblings.
A comparatively precise Harikhambodi was taken up by Haripriya. Tyagaraja’s ‘Entara Nee Thana’ with niraval at ‘Seshudu Chivuniki’ and the swara exchanges offered a detailed picture of the raga as well as the composition.
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The duo’s repertoire included a varnam in Kalyani, a majestic ‘Ninne bhajana’ in Nattai (Tyagaraja), poignant ‘Varugalamo’ in Manji (Gopalakrishna Bharati), relaxed ‘Kshitija Ramanam’ in Devagandhari (Dikshitar) and a soft ‘Anthayu Neeve’ in Hindolam (Annamayya).
M.A. Krishnaswami (violin), who has been playing for the duo for long, could visualise what the Sisters perceived and played accordingly.
The three percussionists — Delhi S. Sairam (mridangam), Tiruchi Murali (ghatam) and T.A. Ramanujam (morsing) didn’t get much time for thani. Nevertheless, they came up with crisp and catchy rhythmic rounds that made the thani delightful.