The KHMC concert held on Saturday, Dec 12th at the residence of Smt. Chaya Rangaraj and Sri. Srinivas Bagepalli in Marlboro, MA was a fantastic offering of Karnatic and Hindustani music presented by well-known senior artists as well as talented junior artists from the New England area.  

Karnatic Segment:

The evening started with Karnatic music.  The Junior segment was presented by the vocal and veena students of Smt. Revathi Ramaswamy of Upasana School of Music in Lexington, MA accompanied by student of New England Mrudangist and teacher Sri. Mahalingam Santhanakrishnan.  Rithika, Thivian, Varun (Vocal), Sharanya, Sanjana (Veena) and Shivi (Mridangam) very enthusiastically presented the compositions of composers Adi Shankara, Thyagaraja, Muthuswamy Dhikshithar, Mysore Vasudevachar and Jeyadeva. They started the evening very fittingly with the invocation to Lord Ganesha with “Mudhakaratha modakam” in raga malika.  This was followed by “Manasa etu” in Malayamarutham, “Sri Sarasvati” in Aarabhi, “Raara raa rajiva lochana” in Mohanam, and “Dheera sameere” in Bahar.  The vocalists sang with much energy and with the excellent accompaniment and interludes by the veena students filled the hall with wonderful music to the enjoyment of the audience.   The mridangist was very enthusiastic, knew the songs and provided good support.  The pieces for this segment were carefully chosen, well learnt and beautifully presented.  KHMC congratulates the budding artists on their performance and recognizes the efforts of teachers and parents of these young musicians for the inspiration, encouragement and support they have provided them.

The senior segment of the Karnatic program was performed by Ms. Shriya Srinivasan (Student of Sri. Madurai Sundar) on vocal, Sri. K.V.S. Vinay on violin and Sri. Mahalingam Santhanakrishnan on Mridangam.   The concert started with a Varnam “Valachi vacchi” in Ragmalika, set to Adi talam composed by Pattanam Subramanya Iyer. The varnam was rendered so beautifully that it set the stage for the rest of the concert.  It was followed by “Bhajana seya raada” in Dharmavati set to rupaka talam, a composition of Mysore Vasudevachar.  The proficiency of the artists was well evident in the raga elaboration, niraval (niravadhi  sukha dhayakuni) and the kalpana swarams.  After “Ceiyum vagai ariyen”,  a composition by Smt. Ambujam Krishna in Ragam Sahana ,  the main item for the concert, a Ragam Thanam Pallavi (RTP) in ragam Thodi, kanda jathi thriputa thalam – “Velava then pazhani  vadi velava” was rendered.  Shriya Srinivasan presented the RTP very skillfully and melodiously and kept the audience thoroughly engaged.  The construction of the kalpana swarams in raga malika demonstrated Shriya’s creativity and her acute sense of the talam. This was followed by “Baaro Krishnayya”, a raga malika by Kanaka Dasa and Mangalam.   Sri Vinay and Sri Mali made the concert wholesome and a very enjoyable experience.  

Shriya grew up in Cleveland, and is currently a graduate student and a Neurometrix Presidential Research Fellow at Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology.  In addition to Carnatic music, Shriya is well-versed in Bharatanatyam as well. Shriya’s choice of the items for the concert and her presentation as well as rapport with the accompanying artists was commendable.  Congratulations to Shriya on this accomplishment and hope that we will get to listen to her again in near future. 

Sri. K.V.S. Vinay and Sri. Mahalingam Santhanakrishnan are well known musicians, and popular teachers in Boston area.  Both have performed with eminent India and US based artists in leading sabhas across the country. They manage successful careers while teaching and playing karnatic music with deep devotion.  Vinay and Mali (as they are usually addressed) are always willing to take the time to accompany junior artists and encourage them.  KHMC and the audience thank Vinay and Mali for their continued support of the efforts to advance karnatic music.

After the vote of thanks by KHMC office bearers, a delicious dinner was served for all. 

Hindustani Segment:

Post dinner, the Hindustani segment of KHMC concert was presented and consisted of two segments. The junior segment featured Sarala Sharma, Anika Gupta and Janani Sharma who are the students of Boston based vocalist Smt. Jyoti Sharma (Sarala and Janani are also daughters of Smt. Jyoti Sharma). The senior segment featured two artists: Smt. Vaishnavi Kondapalli-Matthews, disciple of the well-known artist, Smt. Sangeeta Lahiri (daughter and disciple of Shri Rabindranath Lahiri who also received advanced training from the late Pandit Chinmoy Lahiri and Ustad Ghulam Akbar Khan) and Shri Ramchandra Joshi, son and disciple of Smt. Anjani Tilak and who also received training from the renowned Gwalior gharana exponent, Smt. Veena Sahasrabuddhe and Smt. Tulika Ghosh.  

KHMC host Smt. Chaya Rangaraj’s decoration of her home for the KHMC concert and her warm hospitality were noteworthy. Blue background lights shining on a tall curtain backdrop, an exquisite statue of Goddess Saraswati placed on the right corner and festive hangings (thombais) suspended from the ceiling made for a lovely stage setting.

Two young children, Sarala Sharma and Anika Gupta commenced their Junior segment recital with a khayaal about Lord Krishna “Thumak chaal chal” in Raga Kafi set to 16 beat cycle teentaal. Janani Sharma followed the raga Kafi presentation with two khayaals in Raga Hameer. The first khayaal, a badaa khayaal, set to a slow tempo 12 beat cycle ektaal showed a leisurely vistaar (elaboration) of the raga with alaaps (slow melodic movements) in the sthayi and antara segments. A drut khayaal (faster paced composition set to teentaal) with the lyrics,” Naman Karoon Mai” followed the rendition of the badaa khyaal. She concluded her sweet voiced rendition with a popular bhajan “Darshan Do Ghanshyaam” in Raga Kedar set to 8 beat cycle keherwa taal. The Junior segment vocalists were accompanied on the harmonium by Smt. Jyoti Sharma and on the tabla by Shri Rajesh Pai.

The senior segment commenced with a rendition of Raga Shri by Shri Ramchandra Joshi with the traditional khayaal (Chalo ri maayi Ram Siyaavar darshana ko) set to medium tempo 16 beat rhythm cycle teentaal. Shri Joshi effectively created the somber personality of the raga with meditative alaaps embellished with glides that swept large musical intervals between the middle and upper registers. Raga Shri is a difficult raga to present and Shri Ram Joshi’s efforts were praise-worthy. For the next offering, Smt. Vaishnavi Kondapalli in her rich timbered, beautiful voice presented a khayaal and taraana in Raga Bihag. Vaishnavi’s ease of delivery in presenting a variety of sargam taans added beauty to the khayaal rendition. The fast paced taraana with Persian words in the antara segment was something unique that the audience enjoyed listening to. Shri Ram Joshi then went on to present a traditional khayaal in the pleasant raga Jaijaiwanti “Kaanchan Singhaasan” set to ten beat cycle jhaptaal with liberal use of signature raga phrases such as “Sa Dha ni Re”and “Pa Re”. In the remaining duration of the senior segment, Shri Ram Joshi sang the evergreen thumri “Yaad Piya Ki Aaye” in Raga Bhinna Shadja with imaginative forays into allied ragas, Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty’s melodious bhajan “Kamal Nayan Waale Ram” that straddled two rhythmic cycles ( Keherwa and a variation of Dadra), two compositions in Raga Kedar (one of them being his own composition in Marathi language that described Raga Kedar), a self-composed khayaal in Raga Chandrakauns, two Marathi abhangs, one of them being a composition by the late Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki.  Vaishnavi alternated with Shri Ram Joshi and presented thumri in Raga Khamaj (popularized by the bright star on the Hindustani horizon, Smt. Kaushiki Chakraborty), a Hori, “Mai tho kheeloongi” (popularized by the queen of semi-classical music, the late Smt. Shobha Gurtu) and concluded with the well-known Mirabai bhajan “Karam ki gati nyaari”composed in Raga Hansadhwani by Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar. Shri Ram Joshi is a talented harmonium player in addition to being a vocalist and he provided wonderful accompaniment to Vaishnavi’s vocal renditions.  Shri Rajesh Pai provided robust accompaniment on the tabla for all the artists in the Hindustani segment. His skills were particularly appreciable in the accompaniment to the rhythmic Marathi abhangs.

The KHMC programs are valuable to listeners because they allow for a candid exchange of knowledge between the artists and the listeners in an informal family-oriented setting. For instance, the artist Shri Ram Joshi’s attribution of the sparse touch of the rishabh note in his Raga Chandrakauns composition to the “Bageshri Ung” as well as information about the background of the Maharashtrian woman saint Janabai, the author of one of the Chandrakauns abhangs was of great educational value to the audience. The 2015 grand finale concert by the non-profit organization KHMC ended on a high note with classical music performed by local artists in the warm setting of Chaya Rangaraj’s home. 

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