OS Arun (stayed only for half concert). Concert was at Bharath Kalachar. Got very bad seats. The burnt oil smell (or should I say stink!) from the canteen wafted too strongly for comfort. Disgusting, and distracting.
- Ok crowd.
- Ghana ragam was Kalyani. He was experimenting something – mixed in a few other ragams. In my humble opinion, they did not mix well.
Priya Sisters. Concert was at Parthasarathy swamy Sabha – Bheemasena Garden Street – off Luz.
- Concert was awesome. Very fast paced. Good selection of songs.
- The elder sister had a bad throat, and there were some times, when she struggled. But other than those times, the concert was very enjoyable.
- Sujanajeevana (Kamas) and Soundararajam (brindavana saranga) was highly enjoyable.
- The next day was Arudra Dharshanam – so they sang a kriti on Mylai Kapaleeswarar (Nambi kettavar evvarum illai) – Hindolam – one of my favourite raagams.
- For the ghana ragam – it was Mohana Rama (Mohanam) – very well sung. A long time, since I heard Mohanam being picked as a ghana ragam.
- Then they shifted into bhajanai mode (for the mylapore maami’s who were the overwhelming majority in the crowd – I even wondered if the entire sanskrit college crossed the road and came to the concert). A neat fast paced kriti – Matsya Kurma Varaha was sung to set the stage.
- Sree Chakra Raja Simhasaneswari was beautiful. One of my favourite songs as well. But then, the master of this song – Maharajapuram Santhanam – is no more!
- Jo acchuthananda (nilambari) – put us all into a somniferous state – with the entire mami population – swaying.
- There was also a nice Kabir bhajan – chadhariya – fast paced and nice.
- All in all, a very entertaining concert.
- Canteen was also good – had a plate of bonda – very tasty.