Chinmaya Sisters rendered creative swara patterns

The Chinmaya Sisters showed depth and understanding in their lively concert

The Chinmaya Sisters, Uma and Radhika, who have youthful and melodious voices, presented a lively concert. Singing at a high sruti, the sisters managed to move across octaves without sounding shrill at any point.

The first song of the evening was ‘Sarasiruhasana priye’, composed by Puliyur Duraisami Iyer in Nattai. With swift kalpanaswaras at the phrase ‘Saraswati’ in the charanam, Uma showcased her skill in moving from the lower rishabam to its counterpart in the upper octave and touching the mel sthayi panchamam effortlessly. The kriti was preceded by the shloka ‘Yakundendu’.

Launching straight away the Muthuswami Dikshitar’s ‘Sri Saraswathi' in Arabhi, the singers presented the composition with the samashti charanam without any unnecessary frills. The elaborate Kiravani that followed was sung by Radhika and had interesting creative flashes. The karvai at madhyamam and the movement to upper rishabam framed the graceful characteristics of the raga well. ‘Amba vani’ by Harikesanallur Muthaiah Bhagavatar with niraval at ‘Vara veena pani’ and a shower of kalpanaswaras earned them applause. The soothing notes by seasoned violinist M.A. Krishnaswamy made it a pleasant listening experience. Vijay Natesan’s interesting korvais on the mridangam for this piece encouraged Sunil Kumar on the kanjira to come up with similar patterns.