Reviews
Season Reviews - Cotah Sisters - Poorva and Paavani

Date : 24.12.23
Venue : Arkay Convention
Centre
Vocal : Cotah sisters,
Poorva and Paavani
Violin : Harita Narayanan
Mridangam : Malladi
Sreearavind
By
Sivapriya Krishnan
Starting with a varnam
in Mayamalavagaula by Swati Tirunal, they went on to flawlessly sing Dinamani
Vamsa in Harikambhoji. Sree Madhurambike
in Kalyani was preceded by a raga alapana developed in fair detail. However,
they could have avoided the extensive use of the Yamuna Kalyani phrases, which
slightly took away from the pure Kalyani. A brisk Varanarada Narayana in Vijayasree followed, leading to Sari Evaramma in Bhairavi. Bhairavi was
elaborated well in the alapana and swara kalpana. They concluded the concert
with Mohanakalyani tillana and an abhang, Dhanya
Dhanya te shareer, at the behest of the organiser.
The sisters have a good
stage presence and are seriously pursuing classical music. However, they still
have to internalise a lot in terms of the raga lakshana for them to have a
solid grounding and a style of their own over a period of time. These days,
with concert opportunities a plenty, efforts into that, sometimes taking away
from serious immersion into the study, and if they can get this done, they have
a promising future ahead.
Haritha is slowly emerging as a confident, serious violinist and embellishes the concert well. Malladi Sreearavind has a sound naadam and is a focused mridangam player.
(The author is a Carnatic vocalist, writer and management professional)