Carnatic Vocal By Priya Sisters: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR CARNATIC VOCAL BY PRIYA...

Sri Chandrasekharendra Sangeeta Educational Society is organising the 8th Annual Festival & Aradhana of Satguru Sri Thyagaraja Swamy at the Keyes High School For Girls, from 6th to 10th February. The 5-day festival will see some of the best artistes of Carnatic music perform, including Sikkil Sisters, Mala Chandrasekhar, Priya Sisters, Malladi Brothers, U Srinivas, Dr. Tadepally Lokanadha Sarma and many young and upcoming artistes.

Today, the second day, Priya Sisters will perform a Carnatic vocal recital. The sisters will be accompanied by M A Krishnaswamy on the violin, Neyveli Skanda Subrahmanyam on the mridangam and T P Balasubrahmany on the ghatam.

The Priya Sisters, Shanmukha Priya and Hari Priya, are popular and leading Carnatic musicians. They began learning vocal music at the age of 5 from their father V V Subbaraman. Later, they had their advanced training in music from Radha-Jayalakshmi, and are now under the scholarly guidance of Prof T R Subramaniam.

The Priya Sisters are known for their clear diction and perfect synchronisation, and continue to impress music lovers and critics with their harmonious, fluent and melodic rendering of songs. They enjoy perfect rapport and coordination. They are also noted for good stage presence, great manodharma, excellent poise and confidence. Their concerts are formatted to suit the mood of the audience.

Together, they have performed more than 2,000 concerts in India and abroad, touring countries like the US, Canada, the UK, Singapore, Malaysia and Mauritius, and in a number of prestigious festivals like the Festival of Hyderabad, the Duo Festival, the Spirit Of Youth Festival, and the 69th and 70th birthday celebrations of Sri Satya Sai Baba.

They have received many titles like Ugadi Puraskar, Gayani Siromani and Sangeetha Sarada. They have also been conferred upon the 2000 MLV Memorial Award, and the Isai Peroli title (the Gomathy Visweswaran Charitable Trust Award), one of the prestigious awards of Carnatic music, by Kartik Fine Arts. They are also the asthana vidushis of the Sringeri Sarada Peetam.

They have released several of their pre-recorded cassettes and CDs, of which Devi Krithis, Annamayya Lahiri and Bhadrachala Ramadas Krithis are highly popular and among the bestsellers. The duo, besides being accomplished musicians, are trained Bharatanatyam dancers too. Haripriya even played for the Tamil Nadu women's cricket team.

Sri Chandrasekharendra Sangeeta Educational Society was founded in 2000, with the objective of imparting and spreading Carnatic vocal music to music lovers of all ages. It was established by S Chandrasekhar, a renowned vocalist, who has a diploma in Carnatic vocal and teaches about 50 students, both young and old. Every Sunday, he also teaches Annamacharya Keertanas from 3pm to 5pm, free of cost to anyone eager to learn. The society also organises various music concerts of local upcoming and established artistes, and renowned classical musicians from Chennai.

The entry to the programs is free. Please contact the S Chandrasekhar at 2780-5161/93910-11704/98661-87955 for further details.