COMMUNITY SCENE

Th e C arnatic Mu sic Circle's first feamre,.concert for dus year was held ac die kel Watson Centre on April l , feamring d1e eminent vocalist Padmasri Smr Sudh a R a ghuna than. She is d1e star Jisl!)ra of Padmavibhushan Sangeetba Kalanidhi Dr i\,L L. Vasand1akumati (affectionately known as MLV), bailed by many as a musical genius, a doyen of Camatic l\fosic. From 1990, Sudha's rise was phenomenal, and since her Guru's demise, she has been considered d1e o nly real protege of MLV. She ofte n recalJs with nostalgia her gur u i\tJLV's generosity on the stage and in real life, and acknowledges d1ar her music in itself L~ a rcibute to her guru a11d grand guru GNB.

Sudha is a top ranking artisce for Prasar Bharati, Chennai a11d performs at important events of All India Radio and Doordarshan , she has released numerous records and CDs, performed in world music festi vals, founded a Charity called Samudaya the list goes on.

Sudha began with a Charukesi varnam, followed by a knti iu gowlai - Pranamamyaham, a composition o f Mysore Vasudevachar. In those few minutes she already had die audience in che palm of her hand and she demonstrated why she is one of the best in the field.

The L aya Vidya Centre held their monthly concert on i\farch 30 at the Wellington College in MuJgrnve. The ymmg performers' section featured a Veena duet by Maliita and r isha Iyer. Fresh from their recent arangetrt1111 (i n February), the cousins, daughcers of the I yer Brothers, gave a polished and Aaw less performance. Pavan Gopinach'.s accompaniment on d1e mruda111,t-am completed the music superb ly

The next kriti was iu a n o t-so-comm o n raga NmhaBmµ/i, a compos ition of Dikshitar. Her raga alapana in Aillkhmi was soaked with melody and hbava, and Bhanturiti in Hamswadamu was exemplary. Rajagopala in Neelambari raga was controlled and full of grace. She chose d1e raga Thodi for elaboration that evening - a11d whac a creat i t was! The raga detailed a!apana, the kriti, d1e nit-wals and kalpana swaras alJ bore die mark of her g um ML Vas a11thakumari as Sudha Rag hunathan breezed mrough them with such vi rmoso dexterity d1at it left die audience speech less.

The kriti Guruvayurappa11 in Riti Goivla, a composition of Ambujam Krishna was a moving one, packed with bhava or emotion. The ragarn - tanain-palJavi was a 5-raga rendition a11d i t alone demonsu·ated why she is o ne of d1e best Carnatic musicians coday: her voi ce just g lided effordessly from one raga to anod1er creating a cascade of melodies. The smaller p ieces a t the end included an abhang, a pasuram and a devotional ice.m and a tillana.

BV Raghavendra Rao on the violin a11d Ti.ruvaroor Vaidhyanathan on the mrudangain were able accompanists wh o simply added to glorious musical experience.