Sikkil Gurucharan @ Nadasurabhi Annual Festival , 21 Oct 2018

Vocal : Sikkil Gurucharan

Violin : Charulatha Ramanujam

Mrudangam : H S Sudheendra

Ghatam : G Omkar Rao

List:

01 ninnE kOri ( varnam ) – vasanta – Adi – Tachur Singarachari ( N )

neraval @ ‘sUnacAruNi bAri kOrvalErA ‘

02 annapUrnE vishAlAkSi – sAma – Adi – Dikshitar ( O, S )

03 ikanaina rA moravina rAdA – puSpalatika – Adi – Thirupati Narayanaswamy ( A,S )

04 jambUpatE mAm pAhi – yamunAkalyANi – tishra Ekam – Dikshitar

05 rAma bANa trANa shaurya – sAvEri – Adi x 2 – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T )

neraval @ ‘tammuDu baDalina vELa suraripu temmani cekkara pancIyaga gani’

06 RTP – nAsikAbhUSaNi – khaNDa tripuTa , tisra naDai , +2 aksharam eDuppu ??

pallavi line ‘ mAravairi ramaNi , manjubhASiNi’

rAgamAlika swaras in shrIranjani, mOhanakalyANi , shivaranjani

short tani Avartanam

mAravairi ramaNi  – nAsikAbhUSaNi – Thyagaraja

07 dharma shravaNa videtakE – durga – Adi – Purandara Dasa (  O )

08 viruttam ( kunita puruvavum ? ) – kApi  ( O )

thillAna ( dhi thillAna taka thillAna taka jhunu dhIm ) – kApi – chaturashra jhumpa – Tanjavu S Kalyanaraman

09 mangaLAm – saurAStram / madhyamAvati – Adi – Thyagaraja

The last of the October leg of the Nadasurabhi 25th year festival. Skipped the day 2, of Ranganatha Sharma. Sikkil Gurucharan gave a very good concert yesterday at the Heritage Academy.  The early part wasn’t as appealing to me as the second part. From the sAvEri, onward it was very very good.

As he has developed a USP these days, there was a neraval for the varnam. It wasn’t very attractive. But credits to him for singing the vasanta varnam, not often heard these days. Annapoorne vishalakshi was also not impressed me. Probably because he kept singing the pallavi line as ‘visAlAkSi’ instead of ‘vishAlAkSi’. He wasn’t addressing the one with the ‘wide eyed’ one. I couldn’t care for the rest. But he sang some nice swaras for sAma.

Pushpalatika was the first alapana and that was decent. No surprise there with ‘ikanaina’. He commented about its proximity towards manirangu on one side and rudrapriya on the other. Few rounds of swaras as well.  Dikshitar’s jambUpate came after and I yawned thrice.

From here, it was different. Very good alapana of sAvEri. Very well planned and progressed. Ramabana was sung beautifully. Elaborated neraval at a long line. No excesses , no unwanted stretch or bhruga sways on certain words. Very stylish. Equally brilliant was the kalpana swaras , in two speed with some exhibition of laya variations.

There was the interruptions by the organisers, done quickly. KSSR guaranteed that a pallavi is coming. It was nAsikabhooshani. two phase raga alapana was nice. But the highlight and probably the best of the evening was the tanam. An outstanding effort by Gurucharan and even better return by Charulatha. Applause galore ! Short pallavi line, trikalam and ragamalika as expected.  After a short tani avartanam, he sang the Thyagaraja kriti, from where the pallavi line was taken, in full. Sanjay does it often.

Post main had a nice durga, sang beautifully.  A viruttam followed by the kApi thillana of Tanjavur Kalyanaraman, which I haven’t heard this before.  As I said, not very gung-ho about the first 45 minutes, but very happy with the rest.

 

Sikkil Gurucharan @ Nadasurabhi Cultural Academy, Koramangala 19 Jul 2015

Vocal : Sikkil Gurucharan

Violin : H K Venkatram

Mrudangam : Arjun Kumar

Ghatam : Giridhar Udupa

List:

01. inta chAlau (varNam) – bEgaDa – Veena Kuppaiyer ( O,N )

niraval @ ‘ pagavAri bOdhanavini’

02. sItamma mAyamma – vasanta – Thyagaraja ( S )

03.  abhayAmbikAyAh  – kEdAra gauLa – Dikshitar ( A )

04.  nAdAnu santAna – vAgadIshvari – Koteeswara Iyer ( O,S )

05. koluvai unnAdE kOdanDapANi – bhairavi – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T )

niraval & svara @ ‘ manasu ranjilla sura satulu aNimAdulu koluva’

06.  kApi madhu ripuNa – kApi – Jayadeva

07. RTP – sarasvati –  not sure of the tAlam ( mishra chApu x 4 repeat)

pallavi line ‘ hAradE vINA vAdana vishAradE, vandE tava pada’

svaras in sarasvati, no rAgamAlika svaras

08. viruttam ( sEnthanai kandanai sengOttu veRpanai) – SaNmukhapriya, mOhana kalyANi, dvijAvanti

09. thillAna ( tOm tOm tOm tadani takimi takita tOm) – dvijAvanti – Tanjavur S Kalyanaraman

10. mangaLam ( nI nAma rUpamulaku) – saurAshtram / madhyamAvati – Thyagaraja

It’s been a long absence from the concerts for me. By the time, I finally made up my mind and reached the venue, it was the stipulated start time of the concert. The hall was packed and the entrance were brimming with aspirants to some how get in, as there was few drops of rain still falling. Few spreads in the narrow passage in front of the stage was also occupied. Finally I managed to settle on the stage, cross legged, a posture, I was sure will not last for the 2:30 mins, having just recovered from a sever viral attack which made all the joints still ache for whatever reasons. However, having settled on the stage well in time, as the mike men took few additional minuted to set things up, we were ready to go. This report, thus can be called a ring side review from close quarters.

Concert started with a traditional varnam with a non-traditional twist to it. He decided to sing a few rounds of niraval at the charanam line. There was nothing wrong and did not have any superficiality to it. I liked the ‘seetamma mAyamma’ that came immediately after. Some of his improvised sangatis at the pallavi line and later at ‘paramEsha’ ( where he coupled with Arjun Kumar to create some good impact) was very appealing. The kalpana svaras that continued was equally commendable.

Kedaragaula was the first alapana. I thought he did a fantastic job at it. Very mellifluous, soothing alapana, unhurried with sufficient detailing was very well executed. H K Venkatram’s return was equally eloquent. Dikshitar’s kriti was a good choice. Short sketch of vagadeeshvari, made lot of heads moving in identification exercise, until my neighbor came to my rescue. Koteeswara Iyer’s kriti was new to me in a live concert. Few rounds of kalpana svaras was sung at the end of the kriti.

The main bhairavi alapana started with some moving phrases as expected. It lost the sheen as it moved forwards but he got it back in control and finished with some pleasing takes. H K Venkatram’s return was more familiar and hence more impressive. Again, I was pleased to listen to koluvai unnade, instead of the other possible choices. Kriti was rendered beautifully, longish niraval was very good , and so was the two phase kalpana svaras. Arjun Kumar and Giridhar Udupa played an entertaining tani avartanam. Scintillating, was the words used by the organiser. It was never ending and however great it was, some how this seems to be going on and on. It definitely took more that 30 mins and possibly eaten away a bit of the Pallavi.

Jayadeva ashtapadi in kapi came in after the felicitations and speech. Gurucharan looked at his watch and inquired how much time does he have at hand. Finally decided to sing a short pallavi, asking us to stay until 7:45. Sarasvati alapana was short, but tanam was a bit more long. Pallavi line, borrowed from the Papanasam Sivan kriti, was appropriate for the raga selected. He did trikalam for the pallavi line, sang decent amount of svaras, but restrained from ragamalika exercise. Decent attempt, but not elevated the overall concert experience, which was very good, even without the ‘tick in the box’ kind of pallavi.

He sang a short viruttam before Kalyanaraman’s thillana in dvijavanti before closing the concert. A very good concert for nearly three and half hours to an overflowing crowd, most of whom stayed back until the Pallavi.

 

Sikkil Gurucharan, Seshadripuram College 10 Apr 2010

Vocal : Sikkil Gurucharan

Violin : Mysore Nagaraj

Mrudangam : K V Prasad

Ghatam : Omkar Rao

Song list :

01 vanajAksha ninnE kOri – mandAri – Mysore Vasudevacharya

02 jAnakI pathE – kharaharapriya – Papanasam Sivan  ( N,S )

neraval & swara @ ‘ dIna charAvana drutakara kankaNa’

03 anudinamu kAvumayya – bEgaDa – Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar ( A,N )

neraval @ ‘kanakaruci nIrUpamu kAkOdhara shayanA’

04 E rAmuni nammitinO – vakulAbharaNam – Thyagaraja

05 rAma rAma guNasIma – simhEndramadhyamam – Swathi Thirunal ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swara @ ‘ muni mAnasa dhAma mrgamada sulalAma’

06 hidako biDabEDa – aTANa – Purandara Dasa

07 viruttam ( Ala mAmarathinmEl..) – kApi

enna tavam – kApi – Papanasam Sivan

08 thillAna ( dhim tattara tani nAdru dhrim dru dhim) – bilahari -Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar

09 slOkam ( sarvamangala mAngalyE ) – surutti

srI rAma jaya mangaLam – surutti – Papanasam Sivan

Sikkil Gurucharan and team presented a beautiful concert yesterday at the Seshadripuram College.  Look at the song list ; a variety of composers, mix of various tala, and the set of krithis rendered ( a list slightly off beat (!).. , if I may say so..).

Started 20 min behind schedule, and interrupted by poor amplification settings ( until the begada), and a free roaming  young boy on the stage ; but none of these deterred the team in putting together a good concert. Good neraval and swara for jAnai patE , good bEgada alapana and neaval, a fantastic simhendra madhyamam krithi were the highlights of the evening.

Mysore Nagaraj was fantastic and his begada and sinhendramadhyamam returns were outstanding. K V Prasad was always a delight to watch. His percussion support was appropriate as ever and he and Omkar presented a good tani avartanam.

 

Sikkil Gurucharan at Fort School Ramanavami Festival 06 May , 2008

Vocal : Sikkil Gurucharan

Violin : M A Krishnaswami

Mrudangam : Bangalore V Praveen

Ghatam : B R Ravikumar

Song List :

( as usual , I was late to reach)

02 vallabha nAyakasya – bEgaDa – Muthuswami Dikshitar ( S )

03 paralOka bhayamu – mandAri – Thyagaraja ( A , N , S )

neraval & Swara @ ‘tinnaga gani dEva lOkamani ‘

04 prANanAtha pAlisO – nAttakurinji – Purandara Dasa

05 challarE rAmachandruni – Ahiri – Thyagaraja  ( O )

started at ‘sampaina manasu’

06 naDachi naDachi – kharaharapriya – Thyagaraja ( A,S,T )

07 slokam ( lOkAbhirAmam raNaradhIram ) – jaunpuri

bhajarE raghuvIram – jaunpuri – Sadashiva Brahmendra

08  thillAna ( dhim nadru dhim dhim tadara dhim ) – kApi

09 slokam ( mangalam kOsalEndra)

nI nAma rUpamulaku – saurAshtram

The bEgaDa krithi was going on when I reached the venue. Not sure if it had an alapana before.  This was supposed to be a 2 hr concert as it started at 7:15 ( as per the schedule).  Within the given time, Gurucharan had done a good job. Paralokabhayamu was the take of the day. It was rendered very well. The main kharaharapriya had a detailed alapana and some interesting swara singing before a short Tani Avartanam.

Ps: I heard from Pramod that he sang reetigaula varnam before begada.  Changed the thillana, it was in kApi.

 

Sikkil Gurucharan – Bharat Sangeet Utsav 09 Feb 2008

Vocal : Sikkil Gurucharan

Violin : Jyothsna Srikanth

Mrudangam : Cheluvaraj

Ghatam :  Sukanya Ramgopal

Time 11:30  – 13:30 at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan , Race Cource Road.

01 vandisuva ( O,S ) – nAttai –  Purandara Dasa

02 suma sAyaka ( O ) – kApi – Swathi Thirunal

03 nathajana pAlini ( A,S ) – naLinakAnthi –  Tanjavur Sankara Iyer

04 eppaDi manam – husEni – Arunachala Kavi

05 mInAkshi mEmudham ( A,N,S, T)  – gamakakriya – Muthuswami Dikshitar

Neraval @ “maragathachAye sivajAye”

06 Slokam ( KastUri tilakam lalATa) – jaunpuri , brindAvana sAranga

yA ramitA vanamAli – brindAvana sArang – Jayadeva

07 maitreem bhajata – Paramacharya Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi

Vid Sikkil Gurucharan gave a good concert today. The highlight of the concert was the Nalinakanthi alapana and the neraval and swara for the Dikshitar krithi in Poorvikalyani ( gamakakriya). I am hearing the nalinakanthi krithi for the first time. Sri Cheluvaraj was very good through out.