Sikkil Gurucharan@NGS on July 1st,2010

[rajeshnat]

Sikkil Gurucharan@NGS on July 1st,2010
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Vocal : sikkil Gurucharan
Violin : V.Sanjeev
Mrudangam : KV Prasad
Ghatam : N Guruprasad
Concert duration : ~ 2 hours and 30 minutes
Sabha : PartharasArathi swami sabha - their yearly celebrations

1. Late missed the first kAnadA
2. siddi viNAyakam(?,S) - mOhanakalyANi - HMB
5 mins swaras

3. inta pArAkA(N S) - maayAmAlagowlai - Anai ayyA
neraval in "kannatalli taNDri sujanulanna" for 5 mins
swaras for 2 mins

4.brahma kaDigina(R,S) - mukhAri- AC
11 mins alApanai, 6 mins violin return
5 mins swaras
5.pAhi pAhi pAhi guru mOhanarAya - malayamArutham?? - prAnEsha vittala dAsa

6A.swara rAga sudhA (R N S T) - shankarAbharanam - T
15 mins alApanai, 10 mins violin return
neraval in "paramAnandamE kamalamupai" and swaras each for 10 mins
6B. tani for 16 mins

7A. viruththam -thAyum thathaiyum sadguru nAthamum - kApi
7B. kanaga sabayai kanda piRagu - kApi -???
8. ezhumalai meedhu iRukkum perumANE - shenjuruTTi with grahabedham to kharaharapriya and bilahari - Tanjore S kalyAnarAman

9. thillAnA "deem ...eevera nannu" - rAgeshri - Lalgudi JayarAman
10. mangalam + vAzhiya senthamizh

I have personally not heard Gurucharan for the last 18 months ,the last was in kalAkshetra in 2008 Dec. Gurucharan always has janaranjakam appeal in his music .He possesses a very soothing voice ,at times though one feels he can have more sangathi weight

I was late by about 10 minutes , some one told me the first was kAnadA assuming it was poochi's varnam neranammithi. As I entered he just got started with the krithi of HMB, it was some kind of continuity as a day before i attended HMB's yearly anjali by suryaprakAsh. He sang beautifully with a nice dose of swaras with really superb percussion support from kv prasad. Usually NGS being a big hall , I always find few numbers cannibalized by poor sound setting . But it was not the case , perhaps I came at the right time.

Gurucharan having learnt from vaigal Gnanaskandan who is from semmangudi school had his dash with a really top notch krithi of mAyAmAlavagowlai, some books say it is nAdanAmakriyA some say it is mm gowlai , i go with the parent and he sang beautifully for the first half and the neraval was really well done . When I listen to this particular number from any artist the krithi intrinsically has a speedy kalApramAnam and gurucharan just was in that zone , what a masterpiece number is inta paraKA, he slightly disappointed me by not singing an elaborate swaras it was just a swara sketch.

The best of the day was indeed the mukhAri. For his voice which generally slides towards melody the poignant mukhAri with a contemplative krithi was really superb. I loved every bit of this song with a nice dash of swaras. The next was a rare kannada(language) krithi, he announced the composer , I am assuming that was malayamArutham (hope i have graduated to be sure that it was not valaci), this krithi was sung and was little offkey , some how the 2 rounds of cittaswaras just did not gel that well with the voice and delivery of gurucharan, I felt little more bhAvam there would have been better.

THe main was in shankarAbharanam, really well done alAPana with a nice orientation in the mandara sthAyi. The alApana was not rushed till almost 10 mins than a little semmangudi like slamdunk just landed bit here and there .THe krithi was well sung with a nice neraval and swaras , just towards the second speed I just felt he could have sung with more voice weight .

2 Tukkadas were top class , the first in kApi was bit light kAPi, but the lyrics of kanaga sabayAi kanda piragu in kApi was really superb .(Is that number from GKB). kalyAnarAman's ezhumalai meedhu has an anupallavi graha bedham , I caught bilahari and I could not get the kharaharapriyA in the bedham , perhaps shenjuruTTI did not get flushed out of my ear to bring in kharaharapriyA or may be gurucharan has to get that better with a little more kharA illA kharaharapriyA(I slide with my ear not detecting).THe last thillAna in lalgudi was just good.

Sanjeev Played very well and had a nice shruthi sense , just towards the end of shankarabharanam there was a bit of slip. The concert's true hero to me was KV prasad , nice shruthi sense in his play not much overbanging very nice rotation with guruprasad, he really has to be commended for adjusting with at times little thinning voice sareeram of gurucharan and his play was really aesthetic. I could not concentrate that much with tani so no comments there.

Overall gurucharan is indeed performing with a lot of musical maturity.IF he could give more sangathi and voice weight ,that could add lot more brownie points of intense classicism more in line as an anthakAlathu concert .Overall a very good to excellent concert.

[thenpaanan]

3. inta pArAkA(N S) - maayAmAlagowlai - Anai ayyA
neraval in "kannatalli taNDri sujanulanna" for 5 mins

Thanks for a very thorough description of the concert. In the spirit of that thoroughness I have a question. Did SG stop the neraval line at "...sujanulannu"? In the song that phrase would end in the middle of the Avartanam (rUpaka tALam) and the usual line is for neraval is 'kannatalli taNDRi sujanu." The lyrics as posted in http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic. ... 35&p=53762 indicate that there is indeed a word break at "lanna" but I don't know enough Telugu to know if that is the preferred place to break the line for neraval. Hence the question.

-Then Paanan

[rajeshnat]

I have a question. Did SG stop the neraval line at "...sujanulannu"? In the song that phrase would end in the middle of the Avartanam (rUpaka tALam) and the usual line is for neraval is 'kannatalli taNDRi sujanu." The lyrics as posted in http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic. ... 35&p=53762 indicate that there is indeed a word break at "lanna" but I don't know enough Telugu to know if that is the preferred place to break the line for neraval. Hence the question.

-Then Paanan

You are right , in my book I have only put till sujanu , when I copy and pasted from the karnatik.com I took the whole word sujanulannu.

[rajeshnat]

Lji,
Do you know the composer of kanaga sabayai kanda piragu?