Londoners were treated to top quality music on Sunday 24th November by vidwan Shri Sikkil Gurucharan. This is a brief report on the concert.
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Wimbledon Ganapathy temple, London. Sunday, 24-Nov-2013 6-9pm
(under the auspices of Rasikapriya, London)
Sikil Gurucharan (vocal)
AGA Gnanasundaram (violin)
Somasundara Desigar (mridangam)
RN Prakash (ghatam)
K Chidambaranathan (morsing)
(R: ragam / N: neraval / S: swaras)
01. chalamEla jEsEvaiya - Natakurinji (pada varnam) - Adi -Mullaivasal Rangaswami Nattuvanar
02. enta muddO - Bindumalini - Adi - Tyagaraja (brief R, s)
03. KamalAmbA samrakshatu - Anandabhairavi - Misra chapu - Dikshitar (R)
04. tAmadam tagadayya - Mohanakalyani - Adi - Lalgudi Gopala Iyer (RS)
05. paramAtmuDu veLigE - Vagadheeswari - Adi (2 kalai) - Tyagaraja (RNS)
- tani avartanam -
06. manadai orumai - Vasanta - Adi - Chidambaram Nataraja Dikshitar
07. RTP - Pantuvarali - Misra triputa - "nAyaka vinAyaka gaNanAyaka vighnavinAyaka / gajamukhane sumukhane vinai tIrkum"
Swaras: Kuntalavarali, Nalinakanti, Hindolam, Sahana
08. mAnasa sancararE - Sama - Adi - Sadashiva Brahmendra
09. dhanya nODi - Behag - Adi - Purandara Dasa
10. maitRIm bhajata - Ragamalika (Yamunakalyani, Kapi) - Adi - Chandrasekharendra Saraswati (composer), Vasant Desai (music)
- mangalam -
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The classic Natakurinji pada varnam set the pace for the concert. As he started on Bindumalini, Charan pointed out that Natakurinji and Bindumalini share the phrase sa-da-pa-ga-ma-pa-ga-ri-sa, but the R1 in Bindumalini (in place of R2) changes the mood completely. This was very instructive to music students sitting in the audience. Kalpanaswaras for Bindumalini were sung very well, and he brought out the gmpgrs phrase clearly. Gnanasundaram's violin responses were bhava-laden and soulful.
The majestic Kamalamba navavaranam kriti in Anandabhairavi was the next item. Charan did full justice to the kriti by bringing out the nuances of the ragam so well. The misrachapu talam adds to the majesty of this kriti.
The Mohanakalyani kriti by Lalgudi Gopala Iyer was sung briskly. Percussion artistes supported the tempo of rendering very well.
When he started on the main kriti, it sounded like Harikambhoji for the first few seconds, until he hit the rishabham, when Vagadheeswari came through clearly. (There is a famous rendition by the great TK Rangachary where he teases the listener for a good 5 mins or so before revealing the ragam.) Neraval was at the charanam line 'gaganAnila tEjojala bhUmayamagu'. Kalpanaswaras were done impeccably, with violin joining in beautifully. The thani by the percussion team was lively, with mridangam, ghatam and morsing alternating laya phrases very well.
The Vasanta kriti was replete with swaraksharas. (You can find a rendering by him at youtube here: http://youtu.be/stZUy2K2SHo ) Charan mentioned that this is a composition of Chidambaram Nataraja Dikshitar, who was a cousin of Swarna Venkatesa Dikshitar. (I checked with Shri Lakshman Ragde whether he is aware of any other kritis by this composer, but he doesn't know of any. If forumites have this info, please do share.)
The pallavi for the Pantuvarali RTP was set to 2 kalai misra triputa. Purvangam line had Srotovaha yati and uttarangam had Gopuccha yati. The ease with which he switched from 2 kalai to 1 kalai and back during the swara section was quite impressive.
Post-pallavi pieces rounded off what was a very satisfying concert.
I have been following Shri Sikkil Gurucharan for the past 5 years or so, and can see that he is maturing into a really top-class artiste. All the best to him.