Nisha Rajagopal at NGS

When I entered the NGS mini hall at around 10 am, people were slowly trickling in and occupying the seats .I found a good one which I thought had a good view of the stage and sat down. As the crowd picked up, an obese gentleman chose the sit right in front of me and my bird's eye view became a bald head view.  From a tall teenager to a bulky middle aged person! Wonder how these people pick me. I moved to the corner seat and settled down.

The concert started 5 mins earlier than scheduled and in another 10 minutes or so the hall was almost full and by 10:40 am , there were people around 5 or 6 people standing and listening to Nisha Rajagopal in a packed mini hall at at NGS. ‎10:15 am on Saturday is not too early after all!

I had been to Nisha's concert twice last year, at NGS mini hall and at the Music Academy. I was really impressed and I thought she had an expressive voice, very good command over the octaves and a confident stage presence. I also liked her choice of songs, especially her use of Tamil Krithis. I still remember "Piravaa Varam vendum" from the previous year Music Academy concert. 

After the Varnam Evari Bodhana, the popular "Nee Dhaya Raadha" was taken up and rendered to perfection. After a song on Tripura sundari which I didn't register, came the familiar Pantuvaralai. Sarasaaksha was dealt with in detail and proved testimony to Nisha's talent and popularity. "Thamasaa innum" was the first Tamil song of the concert. It is always a pleasure to listen to a song in Tamil and this one was no less. Nisha chose Madhyamavati for the main song, thanks to the prompting of the maama next to me, I knew the ragam quite early in the aalapana. "Rama Kath Sudha" was the song. After an Allapan that demonstrated her range, there were some fast Kalpana Swaras and Padma Shankar on the Violin was good. After an expressive "Kandena Govindana", "Thanthai Thaai Irunthaal" , the next Tamil song and the last song, was very sweet and was like a dessert to wind up.

Nisha is no doubt a rising star in the world of Carnatic music and she definitely has a place in the future.