Gurucharan-BVB Cultural Festival-2014

[grsastrigal]

Bhavan’s Cultural Festival- 2014 started a week back and the podium was well decorated and good ambience overall, welcoming December Music Fest.

Gurucharan
Sanjeev-Violin
Patri satish kumar
Alathur Raja Ganesh-Ganjira

SGC informed the audience that he along with Sanjeev and Patri started a new website http://WWW.sraavyam.com wherein you download the concert. New Apps.

It was a full square meal concert by SGC. Restrained, well executed.

• Started with vanajAkshi – pallavi Gopala Iyer varNam in kalyAni.

He started “neraval” in “mOhamAya nEE rUpadhani” and after 3 minutes came back to a halt.
and completed it.

• Kannada gowla- sogasu JUda daramA – Thyagaraja kriti- (s)- He finished it without “mudrA” charanam of the saint
• Sub-main- sahAna followed by E vasudA – Thyagarajar
• JnAna sabayil –Saranga- Papanasanm sivan- Swaram in Ananda natarajanE
• sAmaram (Shanmukapriya) followed by Dikshitar kriti on kanchIpuram deity “ekAmbrEsa naYikE” –neraval in “kAnchi nagara nivAsini”- (S)
• Patri’s Tani
• TiruppAnAzhwar – Virutham- “AlalmA marathin ilaimEl” –beautiful verse on Srirangam - Chenchutti, kApi, Sindhu bairavi followed by a lengthy pAsuram - it got many verses ending with “puRam puguvAr”.
The word ending with “aiyO, niRai kondadhu en nenjE” - shows how Azhwar enjoyed the dharshan of Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam.
• kAdhi mOdhi- KalyAnavasantham-Tiruppugazh. Originally penned in Shankarabaranam by Guruji RAgavan.

A full house saw the week end filled with good music and a typical mylapore, CM hub.

This concert was good. He could have gone for RTP, if Patri tinkered his tani and SGC without rendering the lengthy pasuram. When he finished the hall was half full. I can never forget his ragamalika RTP (S.baranam, todi, kalyani,darbar) with sanjeev, here, two/three years back.


Gurucharan has got his own fan club. He, on the one side, teams with Anil Srinivasan gives “kadamba sAdham” (mixed rice). Another version is havinga separate Apps by selling CDs. His involvment in his music stands out.

Last year, MFAC, his short pitched Amritavarshini RTP did not disturb (kill) any one. It was superb.

Sanjeev was too good in S.Priya. He used some sangathis which was so soothing and reminded me of Mandolin’s S.priya RTP (uploaded by someone in this forum). Sanjeev was a genius. He has not been recognized properly which in unfortunate.

Tani. Oh my God. Patri has changed over the year (last year I saw). Last year he was aggressive. This year, he is deadly.
The difference between Patri and Tiruvarur bhaktavatsalam is the latter completes the tani with a “killing smile”
We can expect more fireworks from Patri this year.

when I came out, I thought of this joke-" Patri fans-Please don't read this"

Patient to Doctor- Doctor, while sleeping, in night, I dream some one is hitting me very hard. My mind is shaking with the sound "kada kada kada''..... What could be reason ?,

Doctor- Did you attend any Tani by Patri Satish kumar/Tiruv.B.vatsalam.

Patient- Yes Doc. You are right. Yesterday, I attended Patri's tani at BVB ?

Doctor- I thought so, you have to immediately stop attending the concert for 3-4 days. Especilaly Patri's tani for a week.

Pateient- Thank you

Alathur Raja Ganesh knew his strength. He was calm and did not play more, during tani, knowing it was all Patri’s show.

There was an advertisement for Deepam lamp oil , that was played again and again. It was Sri. Balamuralikrishna singing the “mai”. It was a Tamil ad which was played repeatedly for 15 minutes between SGC and previous concert.
After 2-3 times, it was irritating. I wonder what more ads are going to be played in future !!!!. Commercialism has got deep roots in CM. In future, assuming Aachi masAla is playing this continuously. It will be interesting too !!!

[rajeshnat]

I typed and then only realized grs had put the review . Grs- I never felt Patri the way you felt , possibly you were seated near the speaker.

Sikkil Gurucharan@BVB on Nov 29th,2014
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Vocal : Sikkil Gurucharan
Violin : V Sanjeev
Mrudangam : Patri Satish kumar
kanjira : Alathur Rajaganesh

Concert Type : Nirvana - No concert to follow
Day/Duration : Friday/ 2 hours and 15 minutes
Concert Type/Crowd : Free concert - full asssuming 700 inclusive of those who saw in cctv
Hall : BVB Hall
Festival :

1. varnam vanajaksha??? - kalyani - Nagai veerusamy pillai
2.sogasujooda tharamA (RS,S)- kannadagowlai - T
6 mins swaras

3. ee vasudhA (R)- sahana - T
10 mins alapana and 6 mins violin return
4. gnana sabayil thillai(S) - sarangA - marimutha pillai
4 mins swaras

5A. ekarmerEsha (R N S T) - shanmughapriya - MD
13 mins alapana and 8 mins violin return
5 mins neraval in kanchi nagara nivAsini kaivalya
7 mins swaras
5B. tani for 18 mins

6A. viruththam aalamarathin ilaimEl - shenjurutti + kapi + sindhubhairavi
6B. vattu naduvE - shenjuruTTi - pAsuram
7. kAdi MOdi - chandrakowns - AGN thirrupugazh
8. pavamana + mangalam kosalendra

[rajeshnat]

The hall BVB is in the core of mylapore . The concert was free and this part of mylapore has the most resident rasikas who have love for CM. Incidentally the day was bit low on concert - the margazhi cannibalization of excess concerts has not started yet . We had a laya madhuraa inaugration in arkays hall followed by unnikrishnan, an arangetram , swarna rethas in ragasudha, looks I and many of us decided to hear the team (a really high quality team). FOr the first few numbers had to see and hear the concert in the cctv, I personally hate that.

The first he was wrapping in kalyani, not too sure if it was kalyani varnam . I came bit late so not 100% sure.The next he started with kannadagowlai, a lovely #2 . He certainly sang well and more than anything patri was already a star, his rhythmmic calculations with so many patterns was resonating with excellence.

THe sahana alapana was a very sedate affair definitely gurucharan sang with high emote. I liked it . THe alapana was not perhaps in line with the krithi ee vasudha which is slightly racy sahana krithi when compared to most other krithis. THe krithi with a round of swaras with some exceptional support from patri was well done, the intermediate alapana of v sanjeev had a melodic sowkhyam. I felt may be gurucharan could have gone bit more in ideas in swaras but nevertheless no big complaint.

The next saranga was bit of a dampener. Found gurucharan was not able to sing with an azhuttam . THough the contrast of thin and thick shade of sahana and saranga was excellent , the delivery of saranga did indeed settle lighter or rather it did not give me a more heavier carnatic assertion that saranga usually posses. Swaras were not that great too.

The main was shanmughapriya. Gurucharan did a good job and I liked it more for his sowkhyam , at few places there was quite a bit of SKR'sque briga usages and it came out some what well. Sanjeev violin was settling well but there was a bit of disturbance as few near me left the hall. I have to pass my views on sanjeev shanmughapriya alapana return. THe krithi was sung with lovely diction, I would not say shanmughapriya came with very great ideas especially in neraval , but he made up very well in swaras , nevertheless patri is and always was there to lift the concert to greater heights.

Post thani , he sang a nice viruththam , shenjurutti was slightly light, I think the next kapi and sindhubhairavi was quite delicious .His viruththam was nidanam personified and I liked it immensely. He ended with S kalyanaraman classic pasuram , I think he referred the gadget device below for lines , but definitely he sang well. There was room to improve - bit more internalization will make it better. Chandrakowns is an emotive raga and thirrupugazh is counter emotive , so kind of tussle with excess thamizh words and chandrakowns , I did not have either great feeling too cannot blame gurucharan for that , it is all AGN fault.

V Sanjeev had an extra quotient of melody and he certainly went well. Alathur rajaganesh played well and he gave excellent support in tani

I am a laya gnanasoonyam , but patri makes me concentrate bit more on that , i even paid attention to how wonderfully he changes his patterns. His best was his first few sngs. In the tani ,I could see a very distinct usage of toppi in first round and I think the left right combination was so great and he provided the right dose of rhythmic aggression , the aggression was controlled , this time i did not find him banging at all. He had so much of applause everytime he handed over the round to kanjira artist.His play for earlier songs especially sogasa jooda tharama and that little racy ee vasudha showed his extraordinary brilliance .So many pattern even in pallavi part of the krithi, one feels his wizadry touch.

Few words about BVB:
------------------
Last few experiences was quite high on distraction , but this time the crowd was very well behaved . Also most importantly i see there is a definite overhaul to the sound system. I see good cushion plasters in the side of the halls and few extra deck speakers , BVB resembled a bit of BGS to me . Good thing has happened to the epicentre sabha of mylapore.

Overall excellent team. IF there was slight letdown I thought lack of bit more azhuttam in gurucharan for few weighty carnatic ragas . The hall was full with minimal exodus , he could have gone for a pallavi and could have used the extra ordinary excellence of patri ,rajaganesh and sanjeev, but that was not the case

Overall a very good to excellent concert for 2 hours and 15 mins.

[hatakambari]

...

• Started with vanajAkshi – pallavi Gopala Iyer varNam in kalyAni.

He started “neraval” in “mOhamAya nEE rUpadhani” and after 3 minutes came back to a halt.
and completed it.
...

Could it have been "niluparAni mOhamAye"? That is the charanam of the kalyANi Adi tala varnam ("vanajAkshi ro"), usually attributed to Ramanadapuram Srinivasa Iyengar. Pallavi Gopala Iyer authored the aTa tAla varnam in kalyANi.

Thanks for the review, sir.

[grsastrigal]

hatakambari - Before I agree with you on varnam point, please tell me what is the meaning of your "pet name" hata kambari ?

I was much distracted because of people not settled in the seat and arguing with the organisers. Actually, some seat "holders" leave the seat and go for "kaRpagAmbiga mess" for a good "keerai vadai" and coffee and return after 15-20 minutes. New comers were arguing to hold the seat, irrespective of the "padOsan"'s argument that the seat was reserved.

rAjeshnat's review is always soaked with beauty and classicmbAvam. This too.

[hatakambari]

grsastrigal, hATakAmbari is the 18th sampoorna mela, with a pronounced vivadi effect. It is rarely heard. As I rarely post and mostly lurk, it seemed appropriate.

Apparently, one of the meanings of 'hATaka' is 'gold', so a rough translation of 'hATaka - ambari' would be a person 'dressed in, or wearing gold.'

Your distraction is understandable. It may be difficult to enforce a "use it or lose it" policy for seats. At least, the organizers can allow entry into the hall only in between songs.

[sureshvv]

One of the best concerts of the preseason. Neraval for opening varnam has become somewhat of a staple gambit of Gurucharan and it worked well by heightening the mood of the concert.

The kannada gowla overview was all too brief, but a definite teaser for forthcoming concerts in the season. Hope to see it in fuller form soon.

Sahana raga was exquisite and was hoping for the kriti that according to hnbhagavan mainstream singers are ignoring. Ee vasudha was very good but a bit of a let down in this regard.

Another element that makes Gurucharan's BVB concerts memorable is the ragamalika viruttam.
He did not miss this time either.

Patri and Raj ganesh were a great team and elevated the concert both in accompaniment and thani.

[sraavyam]

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Regards,
Team Sraavyam