Sikkil Gurucharan at Mudhra, 31.12.2006

Ananth · Post by **Ananth** » 01 Jan 2007, 12:41

Sikkil Gurucharan - vocal
Nagai R Muralidharan - violin
Umayalpuram K Sivaraman - mrudangam
B S Purushottaman - kanjirA

at Infosys Hall, RKM School, Bazullah Road, T Nagar
on 31.12.2006, 6.15 pm to 9.15 pm.

partial list:

sadAnanda tAndavam - bahudAri (S)
mukhAri - (couldnt quite catch the pallavi words; anupallavi has 'SAkEta nagari' ) R, S
mAtangi srIrAjarAjEsvari - ramAmanOhari - rUpakam - MD - R,N,S
janani ninnuvinA - ritigouLa
bhajanasEyavE O manasApranatArtiharuDu - kedAram(?) - rUpakam
rAmA nIyaDA - karaharapriyA - Adi - RNST
slOkam 'sadAsivEndrAya' - pantuvarALi followed by bhajarE raghuvIram
nAn oru vilaiyattu bommaiyA - karnAtakadEvagAndhAri
sAramaina - behAg
tillana - ?
niraimati - tiruppugazh - hamsAnandi
mangaLam

Though I missed the first half hour, this was the most complete kutcheri of the season for me - it had everything. Having previously heard Gurucharan only in a CD album (ramAyaNam) and thinking he had a weak, even feminine, voice, (the main reason I was attending was the presence of UKS), I got a pleasant surprise. Perfect sruti suddham, majestic delivery, excellent song selection, correct proportion of every element of the concert... Gurucharan sang like a seasoned veteran. The highlights of the concert? almost everything! muhkari alapana, ramamanohari alapana and kriti, ritigoula kriti, karaharapriya alapana and swarams...

Nagai was not in great form; he was playing his own style rather than following the singer when accompanying for raga alapanas. This led to him getting into quite a few tangles. Probably violin volume was a bit too loud too. But he excelled in his own raga sketches, especially ramamanohari.

Nothing needs to be said of UKS, he played as only he is capable of. What was fascinating for me was, the way young Purushottaman reacted to UKS - he would listen for a while, looking for a point to join in; then become a parama-visiRi himself, face full of awe; then suddenly realize he too has to play, go back to the 'anticipation' mode. All this, while involuntarily applying the paste to his instrument every few seconds. It was fascinating, just watching his abhinayas on stage. Nevertheless, he played quite well.

All in all, a fabulous end to the season, and the beginning of many years of listening pleasure, for today I became a fan of Gurucharan.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 01 Jan 2007, 16:06

Gurucharan's concert at the music Academy was quite impressive too. I agree with you. His voice has gambhIram, he is rooted in tradition, and he seems to enjoy the music that he presents. A solid fare for the listener from someone so young...

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 01 Jan 2007, 16:17

The ukhAi piece must have been kArubAru sEyuvAru of tyAgarAja in 2 kaLe Adi.

hindolam · Post by **hindolam** » 01 Jan 2007, 17:41

Naan oru vilayattu is in navarasakannada not karnatakdevagandhari

Lakshman · Post by **Lakshman** » 01 Jan 2007, 18:48

bhajarE raghuvIram - was it the Sadashiva Brahmendra song?

vsnatarajan · Post by **vsnatarajan** » 01 Jan 2007, 19:08

thanks ananth for your review.
my friends who attended the concert said he gave an excellent concert.
mathangi in rama monahari is a beautiful song.
should listen to sikkil more often

rajaglan · Post by **rajaglan** » 01 Jan 2007, 19:20

Hi all,

Thanks for the good review. I didnot have a chance to attend. I agree with Ananth. Everybody sooner or very sooner going to become a fan of him. I have already become one. He will be in the 0430 slot next year in many sabhas. To add a list for listening, he has 6 albums. The best among them as per my feeling
1. december season 2004 (has natabairavi as main piece),
2. december season season 2005(has simendra madhimam as main piece) and the
3. ganapatyam (songs carnatically rendered about lord ganesha).

His Ramayan is good too but I liked Vijay Siva's Ramamrutham. It is really an amrutham.
The other albums of Gurucharan called Kaveri-patinnam which has very simple renditions though the concept is good.
He has a recent release of Neelambari raga songs , any idea how is that?

ram · Post by **ram** » 02 Jan 2007, 09:35

Posting the complete song list of the concert; Ananth has already summed the concert so nicely:

List of songs:

1) nEra nammiti (varnam) - kAnaDA - kanDa aTa - rAmanAtapuram srInivAsa iyengAr (O)

2) sadAnanda tAnDavam - bahudAri - Adi - achutadAsar (OS)

3) kAru bAru - mukhAri - Adi - thyAgarAja (A)

4) mAtangI srI - ramAmanOhari - rUpakam - muthuswAmi dIkshitar (ANS)

5) jananI ninnuvinA - rItigowLa - misra chApu - subbarAya sAstri (O)

6) bhajana sEyavE - kEdAram - rUpakam - Anai ayyA (S)

7) rAmA nIyaDa - kharaharapriyA - Adi - thyAgarAja (ANST)

8 ) gnyabadat tsvumAni mUrdali (?) (viruttam) - dIpAvaLi (?)

bhajarE raghuvIram - dIpAvaLi (?) - Adi - sadAsiva brahmEndra

9) nAn oru vilayATTu - navarasakAnaDA - Adi - pApanAsam sivan

10) sAramaina - behAg - rUpakam - swAti tiruNAL (O)

11) nAdrudIm tadana dIm tana (tillAnA) - sindhubhairavi - Adi - UthukkADu venkaTasubbaiyer

12) niraimadi (tiruppugazh) - hamsAnandi - Adi - aruNagirinAthar

13) pavamAna (mangaLam) - sowrAshTram - Adi - thyAgarAja

14) mangaLam kOsalEndrAya - madyamAvati

(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram, T=taniavartanam)

Source: http://ramsabode.wordpress.com/2007/01/ ... a-chennai/

MANNARGUDIYAAN · Post by **MANNARGUDIYAAN** » 03 Jan 2007, 16:21

I been there for the concert..... there was a lack of briskness in karahapriya....

but after some time the tempo was regained...