Vocal Recital By Radha Padmanabhan

When you listen to a Carnatic vocal concert, the chances are pretty high that what you know of its background is the tip of the iceberg. Most of us can trace the legacy of a song back to the Telugu movie that last popularised it and so, we at fullhyderabad.com are here to bring a wave of enlightenment to all those who have made the blessed choice of reading us.

This week at Kala Subbarao Kala Vedika, is happening a vocal concert by one Radha Padmanabhan. Now that's the sharp little tip of the ice-berg for you. If that's hurting you a bit in an unnameable place, well, slide down a little and we will tell you more. This concert is being sung in celebration of the Arudra Darshanam of Lord Shiva in the Chidambaram temple of Chennai.

It is said that both Adi Sesha and a devotee of Lord Shiva called Vyaagra Paadha, were able to fulfill their long-held desire of watching Lord Shiva doing the Taandava in this temple on this day, many ages ago. They had to carry out years of tapas to this end. Arudra Darshanam is a famous yearly festival in Chennai, during which the whole of the city comes alive with various dance and music concerts all over.

Slide a little lower down the ice-berg and we will tell you, that the great Carnatic music exponent Muthuswami Dikhshitar composed the Panchalinga Kshetra Kritis in celebration of this festival. Each Kriti stands for one element of the universe – whether water, earth, fire, air or ether. The ragas in which these songs are composed are Huseni, Kedaram, Bhairavi, Yamankalyani and Saranga.

As for Radha Padmanabhan, she hails from the Thyagaraja Shishya Parampara and is a descendant belonging to the 6th generation. She has been performing for more than 30 years now, with over 100 concerts to speak of. She has been associated with many peetams such as Guntura Vishwamandiram, Veduvupaakam etc. and her numerous awards include Sangeeta Saraswati, Gana Kala Kobita etc. Her gurus are Sri. BV Raman and Sri. BV Laxmanan. She has also performed for many cassettes released by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam.

To mark the Arudra Darshanam, that falls on the midnight of the 12th and 13th January, Radha Padmanabhan will be singing Panchalinga Kshetra Kritis at Kala Subbarao Vedika, starting 1815 hrs on the 12th. She will be accompanied by Ramaraju Dinakar on the Violin, and G Ramachandran on the Mridangam.

For further details, please contact P. Srinivas Gopalan at 93910-44910.