Review of Mrs. Savitri Ramanand's concert: Hosted by CMANA, Atlanta on August 30, 1997. Review by Dr. Sury Sekar

Rich Experience in Bhava-Laden Music

Smt. Savithri Ramanand, the younger sister and student of the popular duo, Bombay Sisters, enthralled carnatic music lovers
in Atlanta with rich, bhava-laden music on Saturday, August 30, at the Riverdale Hindu Temple.

The concert was excellent in some critical dimensions - quality of the voice, alignment with sruthi, selection of items,
bhava, and rapport with the accompanying artistes. Smt. Savithri exhibited a naturally melodious voice, and a very good
alignment with sruthi, both of which, if not present, could detract a lay rasika like me from enjoying the concert.

She opened with a Varnam in Kedaragowlam, followed by the Nattai piece "Sri Mahaganapatim" by Dikshithar. She then
presented "Mamava " in Hindolam, and a composition of Thiagaraja "Evarikai" in Devamruthavarshini. Next, she elaborated
Shankarabharanam in a way that was most satisfying to me, aesthetically. She then sang the Papanasam Sivan piece
"Mahalakshmi.".

She followed with a soulful rendition of the Dikshithar piece in Sama, "Annapurne". To me, the last two renditions were
deeply rich in bhava, and very moving.

I was quite impressed with her elaboration of Panthuvarali next, and more so with the way she sang the Swathi Tirunal piece
"Sarasaksha". She chose a pace that enabled her to produce sangathis that were novel, very impressive, and not at all
distracting. After the tani avarthanam, she sang some popular selections, "Venkatachala Nilayam" in Sindhu Bhairavi, the
ragamalika "Sri Chakra Raja", and the Yamuna Kalyani piece "Krishna Nee Begane". She followed with an Annamachariar
composition, and another on Lord Muruga, and I regret I did not make a note of the Sahityam in these cases.

A key contributor to the succeess of this concert was the overall rapport between Smt. Savithri, and her accompanying
artistes - Sri Lakshminarayanan on the Violin, Dr. Ram Sriram on the Mridangam, and Sri Murali on the Kanjira. They coaxed
their instruments to match the vocalist's voice modulations, and collaborated extremely well with each other. I was
especially impressed with the Panthuvarali of Sri Lakshminarayanan, and the tani avarthanam of Dr. Sriram and Sri Murali.

The last words on this superb concert should go to some rasikas whose comments to me were "I felt like sitting in front of
the deity she sang in praise of", "her words are very clear", and "I was moved to tears on occasions".

Send your comments to: Dr. Sury Sekar

Email:ks.sekar@mgt.gatech.edu

404) 894 4928

Fax: (404) 894 6030