Album Title: The Awakening
Carnatica
CD
Tracks
1. Oraarumugane Reetigowla
2. Maa dayai Vasantha
3. Endraikku Siva Krupai Mukhari
4. Thaaye Tripura Suddhasaveri
5. Kundram Kudi Thodi
6. Viruttam Simmendramadhyamam Saveri Jonpuri Eppo Varuvaaro Adi Gopalakrishna Bharathi
7. Devar Varuga Ragamalika
8. Manadirkugandhadhu Sindhubhairavi
9. Thiruppugazh Husseni
REVIEW
The opening song of the album is a rarely rendered composition of Neelakanta Sivan, "Oraarumugane" in Reethigoulai. It is rendered quite well. They try a little too hard to sing a few bruga sangathis, but these sangathis aren't clean and might as well not have been attempted. Other than that, their feel for Reethigoulai is pretty good. Some of the notes that they hit in the charanam are perfectly alligned with the shruthi. Very enjoyable opening.
Papanasam Sivan's "Maadhayai" in Vasantha follows. Their soft voices aren't very commanding making the rendition very ordinary. The chittaswaras are ok. The kalpana swaras are very ordinary. As they launch into the faster speed, I was hoping for improvement, but was sadly disappointed. They clearly demonstrated that speed isn't everything, there needs to be much more put into kalpana swara singing. Ordinary, with room for a lot of improvement.
A brief o.k. raga outline of Mukhari follows. "Endraikku Siva Krupai" in the same raga, by Neelakanta Sivan is then taken. Despite an impressive charanam, the rest was ordinary and RG really should not have rendered this krithi at this stage. The composition demands a lot of bhaavaa and maturity - both of them haven't reached that level in the making of this recording. One can hear the sisters thinking too much when trying to put the bhaavaa into this song and unfortunately, it doesn't come naturally like it should. Still, it is enjoyable on one level and many audiences enjoy their rendition of this composition. It has a lot of potential.
Both sisters then render "Thaye Thripura Sundhari" by Periyasami Thooran, in Suddhasaveri and Kanda Chapu. Again an ordinary rendition, and the tempo is a little too slow. Contrastingly and surprisingly, the chittaswaras were rendered impressively, unlike the rest of the composition.
They follow it up with an alapana in Thodi. It's ok. They then sing "Kundram Kudi" in the same raga, a less frequently rendered composition of Papanasam Sivan. The rendition of this composition is quite a big improvement in comparison to the alapana and renditions of the previous songs. Again, they struggle to make clean bruga sangathis, which both the raga and composition demands of the musician. However, with the exception of this, their rendition is very good. Their nereval and kalpana swaras are terrific. This time the faster swaras are very effective. They chose the tempo for the composition well this time. The thani avarthanam is very good. Until this point, the mridhangam was supporting the sisters well, without any real special sparks.
They then sing a Virutham, "Thaayir Sirandha". Starting in Simhendramadhyamam, it was very average. As the other sister took Saveri, it was better. The Jonpuri part was unique, and this is followed by Gopalakrishna Bharathi's "Yeppo Varuvaaro" in the same raga. They put a lot of bhaavaa into this rendition. However, the tempo is a little too slow in my view. Still, a worthwhile listen like the previous track.
A rare "Devar Varuga" of Subramania Bharathiyar follows in Ragamalika. Starting in Hamsanandhi, it isn't bad. The transition between this raga and Abheri was good, likewise between Abheri and Kunthalavarali. The final raga, Mayamalavagoulai, is rendered quite well too.
Thanjavoor Shankara Iyer's "Manadhirukugandhadhu" in Sindhubhairavi follows. It has a lot of bhaavaa. While the sisters could've brought more of the beauty of Sindhubhairavi out, they do a good job.
To conclude, the sisters render a Thiruppugazh of Arunagirinathar in Huseni. Starting with "Iyalisai", they render it well. They sing it in 2 speeds, and finish at a lower speed, and does a very nice sketch of Huseni at the end.
This thematic album of Thamizh compositions is an interesting one. It has some rarely rendered compositions in it, as well as a couple of very popular ones. Overall, while I think some compositions are better rendered by others, their versions are still very pleasant and enjoyable. A worthwhile buy.
