 Violin duet in London
 Dr M Lalitha and M Nandini performed a violin duet concert at the Nehru Centre in London on March 27, 2006.
They commenced their concert with an invocation to Lord Ganesha, 'Maha Ganapathim', in the raga Nattai in Eka Tala which is a composition of Muthuswamy Dikshitar. This was followed by an interesting and intricate
array of svaraprastharas.
The next item was a beautiful exposition of the raga Chakravagam by Lalitha followed by the kriti 'Sugunamule' of Saint Tyagaraja. There was an interesting exchange of kalpana svaras by the duo.
'Banturithi' in the raga Hamsanadam was the next item in the concert.
This was followed by the main piece of the recital, 'Kapali', in the raga Mohanam. The kriti was preceded by a melodious eleboration of Mohanam by Nandini. Interesting patterns of svaras were woven by the sisters
for the opening phrase of the composition.
The sisters then provided a rich and melodious fare of compositions, which were often requests from the audience, incuding the ragamalika 'Kurai Ondrum Illai', a bhajan in the raga Madhuvanthi, 'Devi Neeye' in the raga Keeravani, and two of their own compositions, a brilliant thillana in Hamsanandi and a fusion composition which was a tribute to Mother India.
The concert was a resounding success and the sisters captivated their multi-cultural audience with their sweet presentation of traditional Carnatic music. They were ably accompanied by A G A Somasundaram on the mridangam and D Dushan on the
morsing.
The concert was preceded by an exhibition of paintings of female painters which was aptly inaugurated by Lalitha and
Nandini.
Ashok Ray
London
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