By Premlata Venkataraman

Pallavi Muluk, a disciple of Sujana Mulukutla, had her Karnatic vocal arangetram on June 27, 2015 at the Upper St. Clair High School auditorium. Pallavi’s recital was in the format of a formal concert with krtis in many languages and in different tempos.

Over the years, the Indian dance arangetrams have become de rigueur for young women among Indian-Americans. Less common, though, is music arangetrams as they require years of training in shruti shuddham (voice training), layam and kaala-pramanam (complex rhythm patterns in Indian classical music), and clarity in diction in rendering Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Sanskrit, Hindi, and Marathi krtis (lyrics).

Pallavi’s teacher Sujana (picture below) has trained her student well in all these facets to gracefully handle the program with many pieces that included alapana, neraval and swara prastharam — all hallmarks of a confident student going on stage for the first time. Pallavi’s passion, discipline, and long hours of hard work were evident in the almost flawless solo recital.

Her accompanying percussion artists were seasoned artistes. Jayant Balasubramanian (Mridangam) and Ravi Balasubramanian (Ghatam) are veterans. Pallavi was ably guided by these talented seniors who provided excellent structure to the concert, providing gravitas to the recital. Sushmita Ravikumar, a junior at Ohio State University, very ably provided violin accompaniment with great talent and elan. Preetha Narayanaswamy provided Tanpura support.

The encouragement and support provided for the young vocalist by the accompanying senior artistes were acknowledged by Smt. Tara Anand, the chief guest of the evening and the guru of Sujana, in her remarks.

Pallavi had requested that any gifts be in checks payable to the Chinmaya Mission. Over $8500 collected thus — which overwhelmed the Muluks — was given to the Mission.

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