SIKKIL GURUCHARAN AT VANI MAHAL ON 26 MARCH 2011

[CRama]

Sikkil Gurucharan presented a unique concert at the auspices of South Zone Cultural Centre and Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha accompanied by Sanjeev on the violin, Arun Prakash on the Mridangam and BS Purushotham on the Ganjira. Shri Narayan, convenor of the South Zone Cultural Centre welcomed the audience and briefed about the activities of the Centre and the fillip it is giving to the performing arts in the Southern States and also in Pondicherry and Goa. He said that the Centre is interested in organizing concerts with a different format- not the run of the mill type. This was the 74th concert organized by them. He showered enough praises on Gurucharan and said that he will be in the pinnacle of carnatic music in the next five years.

The concert was unique in the sense that it comprised of only tamil compositions and compositions both old and new- from Sundarar to Ambujam Krishna were presented.
The list of songs
1.Varnam-Annalin aanai enthi annai Janakiyai thedi-Kalyanavasantham-Adi by AS.Panchapakesa Iyer.
2.Pithaaipirai soodi perumaane arulaalai-Thevaram of Sundarar in ragam Mayamalavagowla and Roopakam talam.
3.Kulam tharum selvam thanthidum- Thirumangaiazhvar pasuram in Reethigowla followed by Guruvaayoorappane Appan –Adi of Ambujam Krishna
4.Sukha vaazhvadainthuyvaai –Kokilapriya ragam and Roopakam thalam of Koteeswara Iyer.
5.Anjezhuthinai nenjile ninai Vanjakam ellaam anji odume- in ragam Ragavinodini composed by MM.Dandapani Desikar
6.Anda Raama soundaryam-Kedaragowla Ragam and Adi (2 kalai) composed by Arunachalakavirayar -Thani
7.Kaaviriyum Solai mayil valavanathu durbarukku-Desiya ashtaragamalika composed by Thanjore Ponnaiah in ragas Durbar, Kanada, Athana, Hameerkalyani, Khamas, Paras, Behag and Suruti.
8. Innisai veenayai- Virutham- Thiruvempavai in Kapi and Karnataka Devagandhari followed by Eppadi paadinaro- composition of Sudhananda Bharathiyar.
9.Saravanajaathaa namo namo- Thirupugazh in Sindubhairavi.
10.Thunbam nergayil-Desh –composition of Bharathidasan.
11.Sree Raama jayamangalam – Mangalm in Suruti composed by Papanasam Sivan.
12.Vaazhiya senthamizh- Madhymavathi.

All the songs were rendered very well with due azhutham and bringing out the raga bhava excellently and being an all tamil songs concert enhanced the listening pleasure. The lilting varnam in everpleasing Kalyanavasantham made the gateway for a lovely concert to follow. There was elaborate neraval for the thevaram with no swaram succeeding it. Kokilapriya ragam was rendered very elaborately with all the details for 10 minutes with superb alapana on the violin also by Sanjeev. The song was rendered grippingly and the charanam was only in madhyamakalam. This made the keerthanam elegant. Ragavinodini was an invention by Desigar and it was Hamsavinodini sans nishadam. The alapana of Kedaragowla, one of my favourite ragams was very good and it was painted on a very elaborate canvas bringing out all the nuances of the ragas with time tested sancharams. Such an elaborate Kedaragowla you will not get always. Kalpana swaras were rendered for the pallavi in the two kalams and contained lot of rakthi prayogams. The reply of Sanjeev was also most appropriate. The mridangam of Arun Prakash was very supportive and embellished the vocal. The thani in which Purushotham also replied suitably to the strokes of mridangam lasted for 10 minutes and it kept the audience totally engaged. The Ragamalika which followed was in eight ragams with chittaswaram in each ragam. The name of the ragam was skillfully crafted in the sahithyam. After the last ragam Suruti it concluded with a beautiful jati. All the other songs were rendered very well. Gurucharan needs to be complimented for the good selection from a wide spectrum of composers spanning a few decades.

There was good audience turnout for the concert who stayed till the end. The concert which started by 6.30 PM ended at 9.00 PM. A very good concert.

[mahavishnu]

thanks, CRama. A very nice selection of tamizh composers, several of them 20th century.
Interesting that Ponniah Pillai considered Darbar to be a Desiya ragam.

[rshankar]

Looks like a lovely concert - I hope there will a commercial recording made available.

[sreecons]

Superb list of songs. . . truly hope it was recorded so many more benefit. Thanks for the review.

[ganeshkant]

I thoroughly enjoyed the concert.Kokilapriya is GC's favourite and Sanjeev's reply was excellent.

[vanasundaram]

i attended the concert;
the kriti antha rama soumdaryam took me to my school days when my mother used to sing this song!
thank u guru charan!

[arasi]

Why is it that during the season such 'in tamizh-alone' concerts can be heard mostly at the far flung Tamizhisai Sangam (thanks to them) and rarely in the hub of the December season? Those of us who make a pilgrimage to Chennai for listening to CM would appreciate a few such concerts in the Mylapore, Mambalam area!
What a list! A good mixture of the familiar and the rare ones. A.S.P Iyer was a music lover, orator and humorist. Did not know he was a composer too.
Gurucharan sings his tamizh songs as well as he sings the compositions of the trinity. Thanks to his heritage, his grandmothers garnering a rich repository of tamizh songs--some out of circulation ones too, like this song of A.S.P. Iyer! Wonder if my friend Lakshman Ragde has this one in his treasure house...

[Pratyaksham Bala]

'aNNalin ANai Endi annai jAnakiyait-tEDa'

Lakshman-ji has given the lyrics here: http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... 6&p=127942

[arasi]

Thank you PB, and Lakshman, of course!