The India Classical Music and Dance Society of North Carolina hosted a Carnatic Flute concert by the trio N. Ramani, R. Thiagarajan (N. Ramani's son) and Atul Kumar ( N. Ramani's grandson) at the Green Hope High School in Cary, North Carolina on May 14.
The mrudangam accompaniment was provided by a father / daughter duo, Swaminathan and Rajna Swaminathan, from Maryland.
The concert started with a varnam in nattaikkurinji followed by Sri Mahaganapathe in the raga Gaula by Dikshitar. Sujana jeevana in Khamas by Thyagaraja was the next item. Maestro N. Ramani did the alapanai in Hindolam for the kriti samaja vara gamana by Thyagaraja. Swaraprastharam was done by all the three flutists on that.
The next item was the piece de resistance in the ragam Kalyani, Etavaunara again a Thyagaraja composition. Thiagarajan did the alapanai on that. It was followed then by an RTP (Ragam, Tanam, Pallavi) in the ragam Keeravanii for which Atul Kumar did a brilliant alapanai. The pallavi line is "Iswari, maheswari, himasuputri jagadiswari" with a swara ragamalikai. A quick "raguvamsa" in Kadankuthuhalam follwed the RTP.
Next "enna tavam seidanai" by Papanasam Sivan in the ragam Kapi was done with gusto. This was followed by a Meera bhajan in the ragam Charukesi and Nanati baduku in the ragam Revati by Annamacharya.
Purandaradasa's Venkatachala nilayam in Sindhu bhairavi came next. Rajaji's Kurai onrum illai in ragamalika was done next in good splendor followed by a Tillana by Swati tirunal.
One noteworthy feature was the young girl, (15-year old 9th grader) Rajna's remarkable percussion support which matched her father's performance. While it was raining outside the hall due to a passing rainstorm, there was an outpouring of 'music rain' (gana mazhai) inside the auditorium.
