Venue: German Hall, Bala Gana Mandir School, T. Nagar
Date: 7th Oct 2006
Occasion: Muthuswami Dikshitar Day organized by The Indian Fine Arts Society
Vocal: Sri Sikkil C. Gurucharan
Violin: Sri M.R. Gopinath
Mridangam: Sri J. Vaidyanathan
Khanjira: Sri B.S. Purushottam
List of songs:
1) swAminAtha – nAttai – Adi – muthuswAmi dIkshitar (NS)
2) panchAshatpIta – dEvagAndhAram – Adi- muthuswAmi dIkshitar
3) srI mAtrubUtam – kannada – misra chApu – muthuswAmi dIkshitar (A)
4) EkAmrEsa – shanmukhapriyA – Adi – muthuswAmi dIkshitar (AN)
5) nAgAbharaNam – nAgAbharaNam – Adi – muthuswAmi dIkshitar
6) mahAgaNapatim – tOdi – rUpakam – muthuswAmi dIkshitar (AS – main)
7) angaja tAtam (viruttam) – brindAvana sArangA
rangapura vihArA – brindAvana sArangA – rUpakam – muthuswAmi dIkshitar
8 ) gOvardana girIsham – hindOlam – rUpakam – muthuswAmi dIkshitar
9) mAmava pattAbhi – manirangu – misra chApu – muthuswAmi dIkshitar
It was an awesome performance by all the artists. It is not very usual to see the kind of bonhomie that existed at least between the vocalist, mridangam player and the khanjira player. Sri M.R. Gopinath, who was on the violin, also played well but since he is usually expressionless (actually much worser than even Arnold Shwarzenegger 😉 ) , with a total lack of body language, it is really difficult at least for a person sitting among the audience to decipher his mood. Sri J. Vaidyanathan on the mridangam and Sri Purushottam on the khanjira were awesome with each one appreciating what the other played with Sri Purushottam following and embellishing what Sri Vaidyanathan played most of the time. The taniavartanam played in rUpaka tAlam had just the simple chatusra nadai followed by a short kuraippu.
rangapura vihArA and mAmava pattAbhi were rendered soulfully. The first song that had attracted me towards Late Smt. M.S. Subhalakshmi’s voice long back was rangapura vihArA and I must say that Sikkil Gurucharan’s rendition of the song was, in my opinion, no less than that of MS.
Ramkumar R 