S. Gurucharan at SGBS Bangalore 30 July 2009

rajaglan · Post by **rajaglan** » 02 Aug 2009, 08:05

Any review on Gurucharan's concert.....

arunakalyan · Post by **arunakalyan** » 03 Aug 2009, 06:25

I dont have the complete song list

The concert was excellent, especially the thani avarthanam. Wish I had recorded

sais72 · Post by **sais72** » 03 Aug 2009, 09:12

Here is the songs list from the SGBS mailing list

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melakartha · Post by **melakartha** » 03 Aug 2009, 14:02

i would tend to agree with sais72's assessment. It was an extremely loud and vigorous concert; many of us were keeping our ears shut for a large part of it and the concert lacked in soukhya bhava completely. Sadly all this for no fault of the vocalist who we know is a very talented young artist. But as someone next to me was joking- it seems like a mridangam concert with a vocal accompaniment !! especially for someone like Sri gurucharan who doesnot have the usual conventional masculine voice (like a Krishna or a Sanjay) but a soft, supple and melodious voice, such violent banging drowns the voice and it seemed like an extra strain on the vocalist's part to reach out from amidst all the cacophony. But i dont know if a young and upcoming vocalist like him can really pull the shots with an established percussion giant like Sri Raja Rao. May be the latter should show more sensitivity and suit their playing to the vocalist and not the other way round.

gnaanam · Post by **gnaanam** » 03 Aug 2009, 20:44

Generally the accompanists should focus on enhancing the quality of the music by strong and soft strokes accordingly and not show off all their talents and whatever theyhave learnt.Let them show their place in the concert while they play, Thani,and show all the intricacies.,so that people can enjoy.An known mridangist was playing ,thani, for a longer duration and at the end when I questioned him, he replied,,,Yesterday only my teacher taught me some new technics, I just wanted to try this and it has taken a longer time.,, I have no words.

mahesu · Post by **mahesu** » 04 Aug 2009, 17:05

I think there is another angle to look at. When young / upcoming artist sing, they require strong support from the rhythm department like vidwans Sri TK Murthy, Sri Raja Rao etc, so that the concert level is elevated. If we imagine a singer with soft, being accompanied by a soft rhythm exponent, there are chances that at the end of the concert, we feel something was missing. This is my layman opinion and leave it to the knowledgable ones to decide.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 04 Aug 2009, 17:58

mahesu wrote:I think there is another angle to look at. When young / upcoming artist sing, they require strong support from the rhythm department like vidwans Sri TK Murthy, Sri Raja Rao etc, so that the concert level is elevated.

I think no one disagrees there. What is being stated is that strong rhythm support doesn't mean overbearing decibel levels of the mrudangam drowning the voice - I have the same peeve, and at times, it extends to the use of the violin, especially for male singers with a very low Sruti - I am not sure if it rankles others, but to me, the beauty of a deep male voice is robbed by the (seemingly shrill by comparison) higher pitch of the violin. I wonder if the lower pitched vINa would be a better choice in these circumstances. Makes me wonder if that is one of the (albeit minor) reasons for the success of the Sri RKS, Sri Ravikiran combo.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 04 Aug 2009, 20:52

I agree with Ravi--even the violin tends to overwhelm the voice in several concerts. I wonder if careful modulation of the mic volume can resolve these problems?

anandabhairavi · Post by **anandabhairavi** » 06 Aug 2009, 07:34

I have heard Shri UKS sir playing to Gurucharan several times and it was so sowkyam laden concerts.Srimushnam always seems to bang the drums for no fault of the vocalist irrespective of who is singing.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 06 Aug 2009, 08:12

I heard SrimushNam in a concert eons ago in the US and thought so highly of him. In the past dozen years or more that I have been attending the season, I was shocked by the noise in which his intricate playing got drowned in--as a result of a demand for 'more' of the mike. The past few years, it has been different. Less noise and more of a chance to listen to his subtle strokes. I was happy I could appreciate his playing now. Was the sound system responsible for this at this concert?

mahesu · Post by **mahesu** » 06 Aug 2009, 09:21

Arasi....I agree with you. I have heard quite a number of his concerts with his subtle playing. Wondering what could have happened here. Not sure if the mike volume (feedback on stage) is kept to the required level, then you hear more sowkyam from him and vice versa?

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 07 Aug 2009, 07:25

sais72,
Did Gurucharan sing bArati's 'kAlamAm vanattil' as viruttam?

sais72 · Post by **sais72** » 07 Aug 2009, 09:27

I am a telugu and not very conversant with Tamil lyrics. I do remember that the viruttham started with Ala mamarathil, don't know if it is the same as Bharathi's "Kalamam vanattil" .

cmrasika · Post by **cmrasika** » 08 Aug 2009, 20:57

In all probability , the viruttam must have been ala mamarathin......I have heard the same viruttam in ragas brindhavanasaranga and surrutti, the former in his website.

Sad to note that gurucharan's voice was overpowered by the mrudhangam vidwan......anyway some things are beyond the control of the main artist...

There was a gurucharan concert today at Krishna Gana Sabha.... Sri. MA Sundareswaran on the violin, Sri UKS on mrudangam and Sr BSP on the kanjira...the perfect team in my opinion ( kanjira suits gurucharan's voice more than the ghatam)!!!
I desperately wanted to attend this one but i was caught up in possibly one of the worst traffic bottlenecks that i've ever seen!! so much so that i had to give up half way thru!!! I would only be too glad to see a review of this concert from the ones who had been lucky enough to make it to the venue.