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Veena Arangetram Of Samita Mohanasundaram

Rajkiran Pattanam
09/10/2010

Veena Arangetram of Samita Mohanasundaram

As rare are music Arangetrams, especially Veena Arangetrams, Boston
had the opportunity to witness another successful one within a span of
6 weeks. Smt. Durga Krishnan’s student, Samita Mohanasundaram, had her
Veena Arangetram or solo debut recital at the Chinmaya Maruthi
Auditorium in Andover on July 31st with Gaurishankar Chandrashekar
accompanying her on the Mridangam.

Samita started the recital with the Varnam ‘Arunodhayame’ in the Ragam
Bowli and set to Adi talam by the violin maestro Lalgudi Shri G.
Jayaraman and moved on to the ever popular ‘Vathapi Ganapathim
Bajeham’ in the Ragam Hamsadhwani set to Adi Talam, composed by Shri
Muthuswamy Dikshidar. Samita performed a short improvisation or
alapana of the Ragam before the song and played short and crisp Swara
improvisations at the end.

As part of the recital, Samita also performed a very soulful Alapana
of the Ragam Aberi and played Saint Thyagaraja’s well known Kriti
‘Nagumomu’ and showcased the emotions of the composition. She took yet
another Kriti of the same composer, ‘Rama Nee Samanamevaru’ in the
Ragam Karaharapriya set to Rupaka Talam, as the main piece of the
evening. Samita rendered an expansive Alapana and a very resonating
Tanam before the Kriti and included several short and long cycles of
Swara improvisations in the Charanam section of the piece.
Gaurishankar’s Tani Avarthanam solo on the Mridangam balanced the
composition with his percussive genius.

After a couple of short pieces, Samita played a Thillana in the Ragam
Kathanakuthalam in Adi Talam, another composition of Lalgudi Shri G.
Jayaraman and ended the recital with ‘Bhagyadha Lakshmi Baramma’ in
Madhyamavathi as the Mangalam or concluding piece. This song also
included very appropriate prelude and interludes composed by her Guru
Smt. Durga Krishnan.

The audience admired Samita's performance. “We really enjoyed the
Veena recital by Samita. It was extremely melodious and we thoroughly
enjoyed the whole experience!” stated Vani & Sekhar Kancherlapalli
Dave and Delaney Rioux exclaimed, “ We were very impressed with
Samita's performance and honored to have been invited!”

Over two hundred and fifty people attended the program and blessed
Samita. There was a nice reception with delightful South Indian items
following the recital.

Samita will be attending Harvard University starting this fall. Let’s
wish her congratulations and good luck in her future and studies at
Harvard.



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