Lovers of music in general and those following Carnatic style in particularly were drenched in melody as one of the finest artistes of India performed at the Womad World of Music, Arts and Dance in Tauranga on March 17.
Sudha Raghunathan, who enthralled her fans with a scintillating concert in Auckland last year (Indian Newslink, April 15, 2012), was the highlight of the annual festival that brings together artistes and performers from all over the world.
She was accompanied by B V Raghavendra Rao on the Violin and Neyveli Skanda Subramaniam on the Mridangam.
Wide repertoire
Sudha started the recital with ‘Mohana Varnam,’ followed by ‘Sidhi Vinayakam’ in Shanmugapriya and Nambikettavar Evaraiya.
She packed in a beautiful Kalyani raga essay with the famous ‘Unnai Allaal,’ a composition of Papanasam Sivan, along with a few other numbers within 75 minutes allotted to her concert.
Sudha concluded the recital with a ‘Meera Bhajan’ and a ‘Sai Bhajan.’
Raaghvendra Rao’s raga essays and the responses during the ‘neraval’ were crisp and melodious.
Skandasubramaniam lent good support and gave us a percussion treat with an excellent tani avartanam.
After two days of great sunshine, Tauranga experienced heavy rain when Sudha started her recital and yet she sang unfazed, competing with the heavy downpour.
She quipped, “While there are ragas in Carnatic music to invoke rain, there is none to stop it.”
It appeared as if the rain stopped to listen as Sudha executed the Kalayani raga.
During the Kalyani piece, the rain gave up competing and stopped to listen to her music!
The WOMAD festival also featured Hindustani Classical by Manjiri Kelkar.
Priya Srinivasan is a former Secretary of the New Zealand Carnatic Society. She is currently Programme Coordinator at Raskias New Zealand.
