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)

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