Concert by Shobana Vignesh

Shobana Vignesh gave a Classical Carnatic music concert yesterday at the Mahalakshmi Temple in Hockessin, DE. She was accompanied on the violin by Sandhya Srinath, a well known artist from the DC Metro area Rajana Swaminathan on the Mridangam.

The concert started with Saraseeruha Sanapriye in Raga Nattai followed by a piece in Raga Atana. The second half of the concert was devoted solely to crowd pleasers such as

Kurai Ondrum Illai by Rajaji
Chinnan Chiru Kiliye by Bharatiyar
Bho Shambo by Svami Dayananda Sarasvati

There were only three songs that I would rate as more serious or heavy. The first was in Raaga Lalitha, the second was in Raaga Dharmavati and the last was Raaga Thodi, although the last is a popular concert raaga. She closed out her concert with two songs in Raaga Madhyamavati and Raaga Kurinji.

Shobana has a crystal clear voice. They ranges effortlessly in the upper ranges of the scale (tarastayi) where she shows no signs of stress. In fact I told her after the concert that it felt as if she had a whole octave to spare. I did feel that she did not dwell a lot in the lower ranges (mandarastayi), but that I feel is not surprising. In general I think male singers fare better in the lower scales whereas women seem more comfortable in the upper reaches. Overall, she was keenly aware of the pulse of the audience and picked her songs very wisely. This was not a crowd of hard core Carnatic music connoisseurs besides there was a decent sprinkling of children. So typically the songs contained a brief alapana and short svara kalpana. The bulk of the time was spent rendering the Kriti itself.

Click here for a complete list of songs.