Sriranjini Santhanagopalan @ Chowdiah Hall

Impressive !!  I havent heard her live earlier and being the first time I was eagerly looking forward. Her concert was sandwiched between to other concerts and knowing she will have too little time to settle down andShe did that earnestly for her effortless 90 minutes essay and captivating. Started with a small virutham on Maha Periyavah, she launched into Chalemela Varnam and breezed into beautiful Purnachandrika after a crisp alapana ( Palukavemi Naa Daivama).  She osciallated between lower and upper octaves during the Kalpana swaras at ease and the audience had now got the taste of what is in store for rest of the concert. She did a short and sweet Purvi Kalyani (composition of Gopalakrishna Bharathi, Nadamaadum naadhanadai malarey thunai).  A short alapana of Kokilavaram aka Kokilapriya followed with composition of Dikshithar, Kodandaramam anisham. Main piece of the day Mohanam. Elaborate alapana, sangathis flowed like a stream. Effortless alapana with lovely breath control and speed. She started the krithi singing the anupallavi "Vanaja Nayana momunu".

GuruShishya Parampara thematic concert
Day 2 Concert 2  6 to 7.30 PM (90 minutes full)
Trivandrum Sampath on Violin and Delhi Sairaam on Mridangam (Tiruvaarur Bhakthavatsalam's disciple)

1. Chalamela varnam
2. Palukavemi Naa Daivama (Purnachandrika, A,S)
3. Nadamaadum Naadhanadi malarey thunai (Purvi Kalyani)
4. Kodanda ramam anisham (Kokilaravam aka Kokila priya, A)
5. Nannu Paalimpa (Mohanam, A,N,S,T)

Sampath shadowed her wilfully and Delhi Sairaam showed who is is guru while playing for the krithi and especially in the Thani portion.

Totally lovely 90 minutes captivating stuff.

Way to go Sriranjini !!!!!!

Sikkil Gurucharan,Chowdiah Hall 13th Feb 2013

My self imposed exile for last 90 days came to an end yesterday the first concert of 2013. I went on a hibernation which was a conscious decision putting a hold to all external activities including away from FB, on and off on Twitter. Over a period of time I got into a comfort in the zone and breaking the shackles to come out was difficult. When I first saw this Guru Shishya Parampara event hoarding and saw the impressive line up Sikkil Gurucharan, Sriranjani Santhanagopalan,T N S Krishna, MV Ramakrishna Murthy, Nisha Rajagopal,Saketharaman and culminating with Abhishek Raghuram, I couldn’t resist coming out and kick start 2013 music season

Guru Shishya Parampara

Sikkil Gurucharan, H K Venkatram, Arjun Kumar and Guruprasanna

Chowdiah Hall, 13^th February 2013 7.30 PM (started only by 8.05 PM)

The 2^nd thematic concert of day 1 started 30 minutes late due to bad time management by the earlier artist. Even after pointing out that he is running out of time he went on and on and finally Gurucharan started at 8.05 PM thanking the audience for staying late to listen to him.

1. Sikkil Singaravelava (Varnam in Reethi Gowla) composed by his Guru Sikkil Kunjumani
2. Parama Pavana papa mochana in Ranjani (composer : musu Krishnaiyer)
3. Pancha nadeesha pahimam in Purnachandrika (Crisp Alapana and Neraval,composer : Patnam Subramanya Iyer)
4. Srimadadi Thyagaraja Guruvaram in Kalyani , main piece (A,N,S,T, composer : Mysore Vasudevachar)
5. Sompaina manasutho in Ahiri (Composer : Thyagaraja Swamigal)
6. Purandaradasa devar nama , Dhaniya Nodideno

Choice of ragas for Capsule concert is always going to be difficult and I vehemently oppose such capsule concerts which don’t give any kind of room for both audience and the accompanying artists especially the violinist. But Gurucharan read the mood quickly and got the theme, started right earnestly with Reethi Gowla varnam composed by his guru with lovely swaras. What followed was a beautiful Ranjani and first time I heard this krithi of Meesu Krishnaiyer. Purnachandrika is always a treat to hear and this krithi came up with lovely chittaswarams. And I always say, Kalyani always raise the bar of any concert and which was main piece yesterday. If you look at the krithis and composers Gurucharan was quite careful in rendering not offbeat and did wove a pattern on the Guru Shishya parampara on the composers too.

Arjun Kumar, from UKS School and Guruprasanna (Anoor Ananthakrishna) gave a roaring Thani avarthanam. H K Venkatram was his usual self all along and showed his brilliant imagination during the kalpanaswaras in Kalyani.

Points to ponder: I always felt Gurucharan was singing a note below. He can sing a note higher

Bit disappointed that being too young why he uses iPad to get the krithi while singing L