Pantula Sisters — 17-year-old Soundarya Lahari and 15-year old Vennela are a highly talented sisters from Vizianagaram, pursuing violin and Bharatanatyam too.The sisters gave a vocal concert at T.T.D Balaji Bhavan, Himayatnagar, Hyderabad in the company of Sashibhushan on violin and Somayajulu on mridangam.
The sisters opened their show with a prayer to Lord Ganesha Bhajamanasa in Bahudari, Adi talam of Sri Tulasivanam. The devotional content was well presented. This was followed by Thyagraja’s Raghunayaka in Hamsadhwani. The attraction of the evening was the beautiful Kalyani Raagalapana. It was impressively delineated by the sisters. The composition they chose was Pallavi Gopala Iyer’s Needu charanamule in praise of the Goddess Durga. They also presented neraval and swarakalpana taking the pallavi line. The duo then chose Swathi Tirunal’s Kriti Devadeva in Mayamalwagowla, Roopaka talam.
They first elaborated the raga in great detail with impressive phrases. The kirtana rendition was neat and expressive. The kalapanaswaras too reflected their imagination. This was one of the numbers that received good applause.
Their concert also brought in varied kirtanas like Seethamma Maayamma of Thyagaraja in Vasantha, Roopaka talam, Entha Baghyamu also of Thygaraja in Saranga. There was composition of Puranadara Dasa — Jagaddhodharana in Kapi and rare Smarisothsarvada in Hamir Kalyani.
The later part of the Pantula sisters were Annamacharya kirtanas Srimannarayana in Bowli and Sharanu Sharanu in Jhanjhooti, besides Bhavayami Gopala Balam in Yaman Kalyani. They concluded the concert with Rajeeva Netraya in Madhyamaavathi in Khanda Chapu talam.
