After two hours of absolute Carnatic bliss among 20 singing stars all in their early teens or younger, I have only a few words to share my deep joy as a rasika.
Abhishek has donned the director's mantle this time, after last year's great show by Bombay Jayashri.
Abhishek's stamp was evident throughout as a bunch of highly talented girls and boys sang together quite a number of difficult songs including the tongue-twisting Ganesha bhujanga prayata stotra of Adi Shankara, that very difficult Purvi tillana in all its grandeur, Lalgudi's by now famous Sindhu bhairavi grahabheda swarajati.
Abhishek made them sing Dikshitar' nottuswara Santatam Govinda rajam. They introduced Darini in Shuddha saveri brilliantly, with Abhishek teaching them datu varise first. They sang Nagu momu with much feeling. The long piece Ranjani Sriranjani Megha Ranjani janaranjani with difficult swaras and transitions was handled remarkably.They sang a medley of Tyagaraja's utsava sampradaya kritis. There was no ragam or Tanam as such but they made up with lots of swaras, and quick rapid fire raga changes from the word go. Almost all kids sang in perfect sruti. The girls were simply brilliant but the boys didn't lag far behind. In fact a small spectacled boy was full of great Hindustani solos, jokes and cameos, a natural talent indeed.
Mridangam support was by Adamya Ramanand. The teenager on the violin (Vaibhav) was a revelation. The other teenager who played morsing and did konnukol was also very good.
Abhishek was on the stage, dressed in off-white and almost mistakable as one of the kids but for his constant directorial touches.
There was a thin storyline with the kids going away from never-sing land and a fat rule book with an old Indiana Jones type of map in search of Jewel de Bliss. The full audience at Jagriti had more adults than kids (who would have liked the story bit) but everyone thoroughly soaked up the music and applauded repeatedly. It was an unforgettable evening.
I may be excused if I missed any items or details. It is like describing a heavenly chocolate cake after polishing it off. One may be excused for not remembering all the details of the icing design.
There was a pall of gloom on the evening when we heard that the group's lights man Mustafa, much loved in Bangalore theatre circles, died tragically in an accident last evening. May his soul rest in peace.
One more show in Chowdiah. I have requested that they announce all the kids' names at the end of that show.
All in all a WONDERFUL second edition of CCC! Congrats to Bhumija. And kudos to Abhishek.
) and starts teaching them Shuddha Saveri datu varise, with increasing toughness and speed and it dovetails into Dari Ni. Diehard Carnatic rasikas simply burst into applause at that point. The violin interludes were simply excellent.