Carnatic Vocal By The Priya Sisters: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR CARNATIC VOCAL BY THE...

As part of its 9-day 40th Annual Cultural Festival of Music, Dance & Drama at the Keyes High School campus from 23rd November to 1st December, Kalasagaram is organising concerts by eminent musicians such as saxophonist Dr. Kadri Gopalnath, vocalists Sudha Raghunathan, the Priya Sisters, Trichur V Ramachandran and T V Sankaranarayanan, and flautist Dr. N Ramani, and two Tamil dramas Vaasthu Vasu and Plastic Kadavul by United Visuals from Chennai.

Today, the 4th day, the Priya Sisters will be presenting a Carnatic vocal recital. They will be supported by B S Purushotham on the kanjira, Neyveli Skanda Surbamaniam on the mridangam and M A Krishna Swamy on the violin.

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 now they are 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 Bhagawan Sathya Sai Baba.

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

Kalasagaram is a South-Indian cultural association situated in the East Nehru Nagar of East Marredpally, and has been organising Carnatic music concerts for the last 40 years. The concerts are usually held in the Keyes High School campus at the open-air theater. The singers are generally from outside Hyderabad, usually amateurs and upcoming artistes, and quite competent. Kalasagaram also occasionally stages South-Indian classical dances and Tamil plays.

The entry is by invitations for members, and by season passes of Rs. 400, Rs. 300 & Rs. 200 per head and daily passes of Rs. 100, Rs. 50 and Rs. 25 per head for others. Please contact V Rajagopal, General Secretary of Kalasagaram, at 2773-1775 for further details.