Sikkil Gurucharan 5/11 in Fine Arts Society Chembur Mumbai

[priyashekar]

Sikkil Gurucharan - Vocal
V.Sanjeev - Violin
Rajesh Srinivasan - Mridhangam
Venkatesh - Morsing

Annayin aanai - Kalyana Vasantham - Panjabakesa Iyer
Nambi Kettavar –Kalyani –Purandaradasar. Neraval at garudagamana
Hiranmayim – Lalita – Alapanai ,Swaram at Hiranmayim
Sri kamalamba - Sahana Nava varnam – Muthuswami dikshidar
RTP - Hemavati – Mrityunjayi Mahamayi sarva roga nivarani
Viruttam Adimayin ulla kudisaiyil – Punnaga varali ,chenchurutti followed by
Enadu ullame - Chenchurutti - Papanasam sivan
Tunban Nergayil- Desh - Bharatisdasan
Tillana _ Sindhu Bhairavi
Pavamaana – Saurashtram.

Brilliant, awesome, magical, mindblowing ! all the adjectives and other words to praise the concert can be attributed to a wonderful 2 and Half hour perfectly planned concert of Gurucharan.A packed hall welcomed each song with applause.

He announced he has planned the concert on the theme of hope, health and happiness and the songs followed were just divine
A concert in aid of Vasanta memorial trust for cancer patients ,it was announced that the artistes were giving a free performance .A wonderful gesture indeed by Gurucharan.

A beautiful new varnam Annayin aanai – in Kalyana vasantham being a Saturday and auspicious day for Hanuman set the tone to what was coming .Purandara dasar song in the initial stage indicated to some fresh music we were going to enjoy.Lalita alaap was soul stirring followed by a brilliant round of swarams. These songs formed the hope.

The Sahana navavarnam was the apt choice for the cancer patient.RTP in Hemavati was another delight to hear.The pallavi again a nice choice.A simple and nice pallavi Mrityunjayi mahamayi – RTP which HE sang for about 15 minutes was a dream come true for me.I was just hoping there would be a RTP and he did it. – apt songs for Health

Enadu ullame was a wonderful piece.My father used to love and listen to MS Ammas song from the film Meera.It brought memories of MS amma and my father at the same time.Thunbam nergayil and Tillana was so nice forming the songs for happiness.

Sanjeev on the violin was very good .His return for Lalita and Hemavati were worthy of hearing and sweet in Smt Kanyakumaris bani whose student Sanjeev is.

Rajesh was his usual best playing with smile and power with pleasing hits on the mridahngam

Venkatesh gave an able support .

The concert started with Vasanta memorial taking about 1 hour in speeches – which could have been short and crisp.Bu they had to present the good deeds which they were doing for poor cancer patients.

An excellent concert and will linger in my memory for long.I wish some one had recorded the concert which will remain in the audience mind for long.

[rajeshnat]

priyashekar
Thank u for the great review , nice songlist . I am assuming this vasantha memorial trust which has been conducting concert in chennai (usually they conduct Endrendrum MS)has spread the wings to mumbai.I am also happy to hear about mrudangam artist . Despite 1 hour of speech we need to appreciate the team for singing 2 and half hours

[rshankar]

tunbam nErgayil is not by the mahAkavi, but his dAsan, i.e., Bharatidasan...

[priyashekar]

Shankar sir,tks. I have corrected.

[priyashekar]

Rajesh is palghat Raghu sir shishyan.He is alway wonderful. Venkatesh was good.Both are from Bombay which indeed is pleasing to note.

[VijayR]

@priyashekar,

Thanks for the very nice review! A wonderful gesture indeed by the artists to perform for free. A small nit-pick; could you please refrain from using the word "hit" while describing the mridangam? I know you did not mean anything negative at all, but "playing the mridangam" conveys a better image than "hitting the mridangam".

Rajesh was his usual best playing with smile and power with pleasing hits on the mridahngam

[vasanthakokilam]

May be 'strokes' for such usages?

[Sundara Rajan]

On a lighter note, I was wondering if the composer of the first song " annayin aanai"( mother's elephant) was an Iyer from the state of PunjAb; then I surmised that the compsotion is "annayin ANai" ( mother's command) by PanchApakEsa Iyer ! That is the prolem with transliteration, I do realise.

[arasi]

Sundara Rajan,
Transliteration actually helps...tamizh has countless words which can confuse no end and land us on wrong meanings without transliteration. ennai, eNNai, Ur valam: procession; Ur vaLam: the richness of a place; kalam: pot; kaLam: field; valai: net, vaLai: bangle...

I am happy with it, thanks to AruN! I haven't mastered it, nor has it been standardized. Yet, to a large etent, it avoids confusion in figuring out the words, especially for those who do not know the language, but want to learn tamizh songs.

[Lakshman]

It is aNNalin ANai. Please see the discussion here:

http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9066 ... yrics.html

[priyashekar]

Sundara Rajan on a lighter note in pure tamil it is "Yaanai" - elephant and not "aanai " In Palakaadu mallu -tamil it is aanai.Are you from palghat by anychance !!

Vasanthakokilam I agree strokes is better than hits.thanks for the suggest!

[arasi]

priya,
Anai is fine in tamizh! As in ArO ivar Aro...

[Sundara Rajan]

Priyashekar/Lakshman : I only quoted the words "Annayin aanai" from the original post #1. I am originally from TiruchirAppaLLi and spent the first 25 years of my life in the Tamil country, although the next 53 years I have been here in the U.S.but still remember the corrrect tamil word for elephant is yAnai. In the absence of the rest of the song, annayin ANai made sense; but now we know from the full lyrics of the song it should be "aNNalin ANai", thanks to Lakshman.
Arasi: Anai for yAnai is only colloquial tamil. That reminds me something else . There is a saying in tamil "Anai unDa viLAm pOl" = similar to viLAm eaten by Anai, which is wrongly understood as "similar to the viLAm pazham eaten by an elephant" to mean that the outer shell is intact while the contents are eaten away by an elephant. In reality it refers to a plant disease called "Anai" that affects the viLAM tree resulting in empty shells of the fruit. Sorry that I have dragged discussion too far away from the review topic on hand.

[priyashekar]

Sundara Rajan sir Thanks I learnt a new saying.My namaskarams to you.