Sikkil Gurucharan Concert

South Florida finished another fantastic Navarathri season. Every year the Navarathri activities have shown an increase. Jayanthi and I have crossed over two decades of celebrating the Navarathri here in South Florida and we wish our community all the best. It was heartening to see our children participate eagerly in this colorful tradition. Along with celebrations it is great that our culture is being preserved.Our Shiva Vishnu Temple also conducted a special function with over 101 ladies participating in a special pooja during this season. In short, this is a festival highlighting our respect for women in society, passing our tradition to our youngsters, growing our rich heritage in a variety of art forms, sharing, displaying our creativity, food (of course) and many more. Nice job by our entire community in doing our part to lift the spirits during this economy.

Apparently, I missed a great concert by Sri Sikkil Gurucharan that happened right in the middle of this Navarathri celebrations. But thanks to our resident Violin Vidhwan Sri Sanjay Chandran, we have write up on the concert. See his comments below:

Sri Sanjay Chandran wrote:

Sikkil Gurucharan treated South Florida carnatic music rasikas to a sumptuous concert on Oct 1^st, 2011 (Sun) evening. He was accompanied on the violin by H.K. Venkatram and on the mridangam by Thiruvavur Bhaktavathsalam.

Gurucharan began the concert with Sriragam varnam, Saami Ninne. He followed that with the Muthaiah Bhagavathar krithi, Bhuvaneshwariya in Ragam Mohana Kalyani and the Shyama Sastry Krithi Devi Brova Samya Midhe in Ragam Chintamani. Rounding out the 1^st half of the concert was the krithi Muruga Thirumal Maruga, a composition of Tanjavur Sankara Iyer in Ragam Harikamboji, set to Roopaka Thalam. Both the vocalist and violinist delivered elaborate alapanas in Ragam Harikamboji. Gurucharan showed his creativity in doing Neraval for Karunai Kadale (charanam). Surprisingly, there were no Kalpana Swaras for this item.

The 2^nd half of the concert started out with the popular Thyagaraja krithi Chala Melara in Ragam Marga Hindolam. Following that was the main piece Kamalamba Bajare, the Dikshitar krithi in Ragam Kalyani. All the major facets of the Ragam Kalyani were elaborated and expressed by both the vocalist and violinist. The Kalpana swaras, while mathematically complex at times, flowed nicely. The mridangist played a very energetic Thaniyavarthanam. In playing the Nadais, he showed his mastery over the thalam; in playing the Farans, he showed his skill/dexterity and in playing the Mohara and Theeramanam, he showed his mathematical creativity. After the main piece, Gurucharan sang the somewhat rare krithi, Enrikku shiva krupai varumo, composed by Neelakanta Sivan in Ragam Mukhari, set to Roopaka Thalam.

Just as Rasikas were wondering if the concert was coming to an end, Gurucharan pleasantly surprised the audience by singing a Ragam Thanam Pallavi in Ragam Lalitha in Khanda Jathi Triputa Thalam. The Kalpana Swaras had a Ragamalika component and he sang some pleasing ragams such as Ahir Bhairav. The concert ended with lighter pieces such as the popular Annamacharya krithi Ksheerabdhi Kanyakaku in Ragam Kurunji.

The violinist, H.K. Venkatram provided good support to the vocalist at all times and the mridangist, Thiruvavur Bhaktavathsalam was at his energetic best. Overall, the concert was a feast to the listeners’ ears.