Kavitha Pazhanisamy
Veena Arangetram
Littleton High School (Massachusetts)
Supporting Artists: Dr. Pravin Sitaram, mridangam, and Dr. Ravi Balasubramanian, ghatam

On Saturday afternoon September 15, the Boston area audience was treated to a veena recital of sophistication, sensitivity, and warm melodic beauty. The occasion was the arangetram of sixteen year old Kavitha Pazhanisamy of Lexington, who has been the disciple of Veena maestro Smt. Dr. Revathi Ramaswamy since 2004.

Opening the program brochure upon arrival at my seat, I was immediately impressed by the demanding nature of the recital - a total of fifteen musical pieces which would extend over more than a three hour period, including majestic and venerable ragas and featuring substantial pieces by the Trinity and other major South Indian composers. After acquitting herself well in the opening tana varnam "Naranammithinayya" Kavitha took the mic and spoke in a clear and relaxed voice about the next piece, detailing the raga and tala and mentioning what forms of improvisation she would be performing. In doing so, she established her presence on stage as a mature young artist and, I felt, began to bring the audience with her at that point.

High points for this observer in the first half of Kavitha's performance were her alapana-s for Bhairavi and Todi ragas. Her concise renditions, in excellent sruti and with graceful movement linking the phrases, triggered memories of past hearings and had the effect of making me remember why I love these ragas so much. Her economy of phrasing also could not help but remind me of the recordings made in the 1930s of her great great grandmother Vina Dhanammal, whose spirit was in attendance at the recital. The maturity of Kavitha's musicianship was shining through, and I began to be aware of what an excellent guru Dr. Revathi Ramaswamy must be to have guided her to this level of accomplishment.

After the main piece which included a very fine tani by the accompanists, Kavitha announced the ragam-tanam-pallavi in ragas Shanmukhapriya and Hindolam, on a core theme composed by Smt. Revathi, the sahitya for which included Kavitha's family name Pazhanisamy as one name of Muruga. By this point, Kavitha had far exceeded all my expectations for an arangetram performance, showing maturity and presence on stage, a fine sense of laya, a purity of intonation, excellent raga knowledge, and the ability to work in demanding improvisational forms with creativity and accuracy.

Soon after the Pallavi, during Kavitha's rendition of Purandara Dasa's Kapi piece "Jagadoddharana" it struck me that the people around me, some of who (if truth be told) had been occasionally whispering with friends, checking cell phones for texts etc., had all stopped doing those things. The whole audience had fallen completely silent. It was an amazing sensation - I peeked around as discreetly as possible and all eyes I could see were focused straight on the stage, still and alert. As piece after piece went by and we approached the end of the concert, this sense of alert attention only intensified. I think by this point many people must have been feeling, as I was, that we were witnessing something rare and special in this young woman's performance. Upon the conclusion of the Revathi tillana and a triple mangalam, the audience rose to its feet as one; there was no hesitation in giving Kavitha, Pravin and Ravi a warm and extended standing ovation.

Kavitha shows great promise as a veena performer and it is to be fervently hoped that she will retain her involvement with the music moving forward. She showed the instincts of a musician, rolling with the punches and staying relaxed and centered when there were sound system problems, working well with not just one but two percussionists, and manifesting a sense of pacing and stamina which allowed her to complete three full hours of music without visibly tiring or losing concentration.

For helping Kavitha in developing the wide range of skills necessary in order to be able to give such a mature and thoroughly musical recital, a huge debt of gratitude is due to her guru Smt. Revathi Ramaswamy. Throughout the concert she was always right there in row one center, positioned directly in front of Kavitha, keeping tala and making eye contact, helping her stay balanced and on track. The musical communication between shishya and guru was clearly very strong, and it was no surprise to learn from the post-concert felicitations how important Revathi's mentorship and friendship is to Kavitha.

Hearty congratulations are due to Drs. Pravin and Ravi for providing the kind of sensitive and supportive accompaniment that an artist wishes for. They truly enhanced the evening and helped Kavitha present her recital in the best possible light.

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