I have been a regular follower of Tatvaa arts, but other committments meant that my attendance was only confined to the concerts in my neck of woods, Botanical Gardens. Kachiguda was at the other end of the city but I had to make an exception. Srivani performed "ai ri aali piya bina" at the 2005 Portland RMIM Meet and while I was not there in person, I could visualise the impact.
The cosy auditorium at Badruka College was filling up as I reached the venue. Gajender Shewalkar, one of the founders of Tatvaa called upon several dignitaries to light the lamp. Tatva's efforts to hold concerts at 75 venues to commemorate 75 years of Independance was very well received.
Srivani started by striking a chord with the audience, and talked of her Hyderabad connection.
And as she started speaking in flawless hindustani, it just confirmed that the Seattle native remains a true blooded Hyderabadi :) Feedback to the artist is important she began, "vo hamari koshish par chaar chaand lagaa dete hain". Chaliye ham ek do chaaad lagaa dete hain !
While introducing Rahul Deshpande on Haromoium and Manoj Biswas on Tabla, she recalled her long association with them.
She choose Marwa, a Sandhya Kali raag to begin the proceedings. The time of the day when the day meets the night is a perdiod laced with restlessness she continued " bechaini kaayam rakhne ke liye shadaj ka istemaal hota hai". Parameshwar ka sumiran set the perfect tempo for the evening.
Srivani then talked about her Guru ji, Pandit Parameshwar Hegde and presented his compositon "he chandra chuda madanantaka shulapane".
She then presented a raag in Carnatic Paddhati; Raag Vijayanagari and added that it has elements of both Madhuvanti and Shivaranjani. Engaging the audience is very imporant and Srivani promoted us to guess the taal for her following number with an aalaap " sakhi aayenge more saajna". She went on to add that this was taught to her by her Guruji.
The song that got the audeince onto their feet was the Dadra; Koyaliya mat kar pukaar. This was the penultimate song of the event and set the mood for the finale. The concert ended with a Meera Bhajan, "main to saanware rang raachi" also composed by Pt. Parameshwar Hedge,
That summed up a special evening for me. It was also a very nostlagic trip to that side of the city. Tourist Hotel and Kumar theatre were frequent destinations during my growing up years and I was happy to be in the surroundings after such a long time.
