RR Sabha, Trichy (founded in the year 1914 – to celebrate its Centenary in another 2 years !) organised its week long LV Memorial concerts, starting on the 12th Aug. On the last day (18th Aug), Sikkil Gurucharan gave a vocal recital. He was accompanied on the violin by Sri TV Ramanuja Charlu and on the mrudangam by Sri R Sankaranarayanan. I give below list of songs.
1. Intha chalamu (Begada Varnam –Veenai Kuppaiyer)
2. Merusamana (Mayamalabagowla – Dikshadar) – Gurucharan rendered niraval for the charanam ‘Galamuna shobillu Kanaka bhushanamulu...’
3. Paripalayama (Reethigowlai – Swathi Thirunal)
4. Sivakama sundarai (Papanasam Sivan) was rendered after a bewitching Mukari raga alapana. Gurucharan’s traversing the upper & lower sthayis in the same breath, during the alapana added to the beauty of the raga.
5. Raghunatha Nannu (Swara Ranjani – Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar)
6. Ekambresa Nayaki (Shanmukapriya/Chamaram – Dikshidar) was taken up after an elaborate raga delineation, embellishing the raga structure with beautiful phrases. Niraval at ‘Kalikalmasha Nasinim... ’ – brought out the beauty of the raga from different angles. This was followed by the thani avardanam, where Sri Sankaranarayan excelled.
7. Varanamayiram soozha – Nachyar Thirumozhi, rendered as raga malika virutham in Brindavana saranga, Thodi and Kamas, followed by the pasuram ‘Karpooram narumo’ in Kamas.
8. Thillana (Sindu bhairavi)
9. Mangalam
Both Sri Ramanuja Charlu and Sri Sankaranarayaan, greatly contributed to elevating the concert to good heights. Sri Gurucharan’s presentation was brisk and bright and of high energy level. A few slow phased pieces perhaps would have made the concert more wholesome.