Venue: Sastri Hall, Luz, Mylapore, Chennai
Date: 03 Feb 2007
Organizer: Laya Lavanya Fine Arts Foundation
Vocal: Sri Saketaraman
Violin: Kum. Akkarai Subhalakshmi
Mridangam: Sri Ammangudi S. Ramanarayanan
Ghatam: Sri T.V. Vasan
List of songs:
1) sAmi ninnE (varnam) – srI – Adi – karur dEvuDu iyer (O)
2) vAtApi gaNapatim – hamsadwani – Adi – muthuswAmi dIkshitar (OS)
3) chUtAmurArE – Arabhi – rUpakam – thyAgarAja (ONS)
4) manasulOni – hindOLam – Adi – thyAgarAja (AS)
5) paridAnamichitE – bilahari – kanDa chApu – paTTaNam subramaNya iyer (O)
6) koluvai yunnADE – bhairavi – Adi – thyAgarAja (ANST)
7) Om namO nArAyaNA – karnaranjani – kanDa chApu – ambujam krishnA (O)
8 ) ayyE methakaDinam – rAgamAlikA – Adi – gOpAlakrishna bhArati
9) dhIm ta dhIm ta dhIm ta dhiranA (tillAnA) – brindAvani – Adi – lAlguDi g. jayarAman (O)
10) nI nAma rUpa mulaku (mangaLam) – sowrAshTram – Adi – thyAgarAja
(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram, T=taniavartanam)
The thing I like in Sri Saketaraman’s concerts I have attended so far is his choice of ragas like hamsadwani, Arabhi, hindOLam etc for the songs that come before the main song which I think makes his music reach out to almost everyone in the audience. The powerful voice that emerges from his frail frame coupled with his hard work makes the entire concert enjoyable.
Coming to today’s concert, the things I liked the most in the vocal part were Sri Saketaraman’s alapana of hindOLam and a short outline of brindAvani before the tillAna. Neraval was done at “Agama sancaruDaTa Akhila jagatpAluDaTa” for the Arabhi kriti and at “manasu ranjilla surasatulu” for the bhairavi kriti.
To me, the star of the evening however was Kum. Akkarai Subhalakshmi on the violin. Almost everything she touched seemed to turn into gold. The alapanas of hindoLam and bhairavi were so good. I like her steady, unhurried approach to alapanas very much. She allows pauses in her alapanas that seem to linger for just the appropriate amount of time to allow the audience to absorb her wizardry and to create the desired effect.
Sri Ammangudi Ramanarayanan and Sri T.V. Vasan played a good taniavartanam in Adi tALam that comprised the chatusra, tisra and kanDa naDais and a misra kuraippu.
Ramkumar R 
Hello,
Yes,a few months back,I watched Kum.Akkarai Subhalakshmi accompany Chitravina Ravikiran.She played exquisitely well.She is a promising violinist.
Sathej
I too happened to attend a concert of Saketaraman during the season where Akkarai Subhalakshmi accompanied him on the violin. The kedaragowlai that she played was excellent!