Carnatic Vocal Concert
Sri Sikkil Gurucharan
Accompanied by :
Sri V.Sanjeev – Violin
Sri Patri Satishkumar– Mridangam
Sunday, May 19th, 2013 @ 4:00 PM
Venue:
Midwest Music Conservatory
15977 Clayton Rd.
Ballwin, MO 63011
Tickets: $15 General, $10 Students
Free for Sangeetha Members
For more details visit
A beautiful concert by Sikkil Sri Gurucharan on his maiden performance at St. Louis. The opening piece was the Abhogi varnam “Evari bodhana” followed by “Nija marmamulanu” in Umabharanam – reminded one of Madurai Sri Mani Iyer’s brisk rendering of this beautiful song.
“Vanchatonu na” in Karnaranjani was full of bhavam. Then came Suddhananda Bharati’s mellifluous piece “Sakala Kala Vaniye” in Kedaram. Gurucharan deftly juxtaposed the song’s melody with the majesty of Kedaram that made it a memorable experience.
Todi raga alapanai and tanam were elaborate, both accounting for about 30 minutes of this 2.5 hours concert. Accompanied by both the violin and the mridangam. Dikshitar’s “Sri Krishnam Bhaja Manasa” came out in its full expanse – song, neraval, and kalpanaswaram – for another 30 minutes. Neraval at “Pankajadala nayanam” was artfully presented, and facilitated creative swara patterns ending with “Pada”, “Nee Pada”, “Sada Pada” pankaja. Graha bedam in Todi was masterfully rendered. Violinist V. Sanjeev, a disciple of legendary Kanyakumari, provided great support with enthusiasm and expertise. Patri Sri Satish Kumar on the mridangam was simply brilliant! His accompaniment was full of anticipation and creative embellishments. His amazing clarity and impeccable adherence to layam and sruti, especially while playing the pharans and other dhurita gati patterns are remarkable. His fingers “speak” so well that you could hear the syllables clearly.
Purandara Dasa’s “Dhyana nodithano venkatana” in Behag and Ambujam Krishna’s “Kanna vaa Mani vanna vaa” in Ragamalika were soulful and comforting. The final piece was Thanjavur Kalyanaraman’s beautiful thillana in Darbari Kanada – finally one piece in misra chapu talam. All other songs were in Adi talam albeit one (the piece in Karnarajani) was in tisra nadai. Despite this lack of variety, the overall concert experience was very fulfilling. Gurucharan’s expertise, depth and facile voice deserve full commendation – no wonder the audience gave him and entire team a standing ovation! We hope we will have the blessing of listening to Gurucharan’s divine music for many years to come.