Right notes

Harini Rao gave a confident Hindustani concert in the presence of her guru Swati Phadke.

Harini Rao's rendition.

At a performance at Lamakaan, under the banner of Raageshwari Foundation’s Raag Anuraag, Hindustani classical and semi-classical singer Harini Rao sang in front of her guru Swati Phadke. Harini began the evening’s performance in raag Yaman set to Vilambit, Rupak and Drut in Teen taal. Singing on the second day of Na vratri , Harini choose Yaman as the main raag for the evening because of its beauty in simplicity and its wide expanse. It was for the first time that the singer chose to sing Yaman in a concert.

Performing her favourite piece, the thumri, Matwaale Balma composed by Sanjiv Shende, the Hindustani singer did her gurus proud. The thumri’s sweet tune and fun lyrics based on Mishra Marubihag were heard in rapt attention by the audience present. Presenting this raag, Harini tried a lot of improvisation and infused a lot of raagas into the composition, like Nand, Puriya Dhanashree, Shankara, Pilu, Madhuvanti, Jog etc.

One noticeable thing in the concert was that Harini picked up songs centred on Krishna. Performing to the bandish

, Eri Radha pyaari dulari ... in Raag Tilang, Harini mesmerised the audience.

As the evening progressed Harini sang pure classical bada khyal in raag Yaman and another

Drutbandish in Raag Tilang . A Chaturang or four ang or four parts was also presented in Raag Des. In this composition, she beautifully exploited the lyrics, Tarana (sitar/veena notes/syllables) which can be compared to tillana of the Carnatic style of music, Sargam and Trivat (syllables of the mridang/tabla). A composition of this geet prakaa r brought out the singer’s voice quality and switching from one zone to another with ease and finesse. She was accompanied on the Harmonium by Rahul Deshpande and on the tabla by Srinivas Rao.

Having won the prestigious Pt. Jasraj Award of Excellence for promising talent in Hindustani classical vocal music, Harini also topped the examinations of Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Mumbai. The Hyderabad-based singer included a Natyageet after the bandish in Tilang, a Thumri and a Bhajan in Mishra Patdeep in the semi-classical section.