Sikkil Sisters - Flute

Flute is my favourite instrument.
I like wind instruments very much.
I am happy to share with you an old radio comcert of
Sikkil Sisters Smt.Neela and Smt.Kunjumani.
Here is a write up about them, I found on the net.

the Sikkil sisters, as they are popularly known in the music fraternity, have perfected the `gayaki' style of playing on their musical instrument-the flute-certainly no mean achievement for, in Carnatic music unlike in the West, there are no separate scores for musical instruments. ``To us the audience is of prime importance. We sincerely try to please them. That is the aim of our music," declares the elder of the sisters, Kunjumani. An unassuming artiste, she talks, on their music, in a manner totally devoid of any frills and artifices. Her sister Neela seemed content to allow her sister to narrate their story. As Kunjumani began her narration, we travelled back in time just sixty years to the place of their birth - Sikkil, a small village in Thanjavur district. ``Oodhu di kutti oodhu" (Blow, little girl, blow), Azhiyur Narayanaswamy Iyer goaded his `little' student of eight. Kunjumani mustered up all her lungpower and blew into the instrument that rested in her tiny hands. She was a `natural' in music. Narayanaswamy Iyer, her periappa was a flautist of repute. In fact, says Kunjumani, ``he was a violinist, he could play the harmonium too, maybe, we can call him a sakala kala vallavan (adept at all arts). When I heard periappa play, I was drawn to his musicNoticing their child's involvement in music, Azhiyur Natesa Iyer, her father and a reputed mridanga vidwan, had a After all, no woman from a respectable family had so far taken to this instrument, (flute)." Azhiyur Natesa Iyer sharply silenced all the dissident voices. That was the beginning. Azhiyur Narayanaswamy Iyer was a good teacher. It was evident in the progress of the student. Her first concert took place at Nagoor near Nagapattinam. After that, there was no stopping her victory trail. At the age of fifteen, she got married and settled with her husband in Bombay. Initially, his parents were opposed to their daughter-in-law playing on public platforms. But later her husband Venkatraman, influenced by the liberal atmosphere at Bombay allowed his wife to perform. The hurdle had been overcome. ``Baby (Neela) was born ten years after me. You see, in the meantime, my husband got transferred to Madras. I shifted back to Sikkil and pursued my learning. This time my father was my guru." In the meantime, Natesa Iyer, in Kunjumani's absence, sorely missed the strains of music in his house. Neela was taught to play the flute. Her principal mentor and guide was her elder sister Kunjumani.

List of items in this recording:

01 Chalamela - Natakurinji Varnam

02 Teliyaleru Rama - Dhenuka

03 Santamuleka - Sama

04 Jalandhara - Valajhi

05 Amma Ravamma - Kalyani(Incomplete)

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=10f3f26dc390f408ab1eab3e9fa335ca6b674d4f9bf332f5

More of flute music in the pipeline!!

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