THE SINGING COUPLE

The 'Rathod Rhapsody', brought to Chennai by event organizers 'Rollers and Rockers' was a concert worth waiting for, in spite of the late start. (Pun unintended).

The poor turnout at the Rathod Rhapsody concert did not dampen the spirit of the singers. Roopkumar Rathod commencing the programme said 'We have been singing for many years, but now singing for the first time in Chennai we feel our efforts have been truly recognized.' The ghazal duo filled the air with romance, by interspersing the songs with appropriate Urdu couplets.

This famous ghazal duo commenced the concert with a lilting ghazal sung by Sonali Rathod.

Doing full justice to the programme, Roopkumar Rathod sung on audience demand, songs from the film 'Border' - 'Ke ghar kab Aaoge'- a medium paced song, penned by lyricist Javed Akhtar. Music director Jatin Lalit's 'Zindagi maut na ban jaye'- the theme song of the film 'Sarfarosh' was a melodious number. Roopkumar also sang songs from A.R. Rahman's 'Takshak' one of which was 'Khamosh Raat' - a smooth romantic song that has a very different kind of melody and rhythm. The highlight of the song is lyricist Mehboob's beautiful poetry.

The duo presented numbers from their albums like 'Khushboo', penned by Pakistani lyricist Parvin Shakir, known for sensual lyrics of urdu poetry. 'Mujhe mohabbat si ho gayee' from the duo's 'Mohabbat ho gayee' album was a brilliant rendering. Special mention must be made to Roopkumar's latest album 'Vaada' - A unique album by Sarod Maestro - Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. Roopkumar chose the catchy number 'Aisa koi zindagi se vaada to nahin ta'. The song composed in Rag-Priyadarshini was intense, with poignant phrases on the flute and the digital drums and violin heightening impact.

To conclude the concert, Roopkumar Rathod and Sonali Rathod also had the audience swaying to a medley of some pulsating Indipop numbers. All in all, it was a concert with melody and romantic lyrics peppered with foot-tapping beats; notwithstanding the jarring acoustics, which had to be constantly checked by the artistes of the evening.

ONE ENCHANTED EVENING

November 13th. Its not often that we have a cool, pleasant evening in Chennai. And its definitely not often that the city's classical music lovers are treated to the kind of virtuosity they witnessed on this particular evening.

The Italian Embassy Cultural Centre presented world famous violin virtuoso Uto Ughi, accompanied on the piano by Alessandro Specchi, at the Museum Theatre, Egmore.

Uto Ughi gave his first performance at the age of seven at Milan's Teatro Lirico. He studied under the legendary George Enescu (Yehudi Menuhin's Teacher). As soloist, he has played at all the significant musical centres the world over, under the most respected Conductors and with the most celebrated Orchestras.

The concert started with the sparkling Devil's Trill Sonata (composed by Tartini). From there, it was time to scale one of the highest peaks in the violinist's repertoire - Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata (Sonata No. 9, Opus 47, in A-major). After such a mighty work, it would have been impossible for listeners to do justice to any other piece immediately. Thankfully, the Intermission helped the audience get back their breath.

The second half of the concert was devoted to bravura pieces of unfettered exuberance (composed by Bizet, Paganini and Sarasate). Unfortunately, the Piano did not seem to rise up to the occasion. So, for fear of it running out of tune, the Dvorak romantic pieces were replaced with Bizet's Carmen Fantasy and the intended finale - the splendid Introduction and Rondo capriccioso (composed by Saint-Saens) had to be replaced by the Sarasate piece. By audience request, the encore that signed off the evening, was Paganini's Tarantula.