Gurucharan’s ‘Akhilam Madhuram’ was more a blend of songs and ragas
The Hindu
The vocal-piano-kanjira combination makes for a novel way to engage with Carnatic music
A tribute concert titled ‘Akhilam Madhuram’ was organised by Madhuradhwani as part of the 70th birth anniversary celebrations of well-known music connoisseur Vidya Subramanian. It was presented by Sikkil Gurucharan with Anil Srinivasan on the piano and B.S. Purushothaman on the kanjira. Gurucharan began his concert with ‘Adharam madhuram vadanam madhuram’ from ‘Madhurashtakam’, composed by Vallabhacharya. It was a different experience to hear these Sanskrit verses being sung to the accompaniment of gentle piano notes. Gurucharan next sang the Tamil composition, ‘Chinnanchiru penn pole’ in Sindhubhairavi, popularised by Sirkazhi Govindarajan. It describes the composer Ulundurpettai Shanmugasundaram’s experience of seeing Durga in a little girl. Matching the song’s mood, Anil’s playing was vibrant, sometimes even striking a dominant note.
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The Kochi Biennale is evolving, better, I love it. There have been problems in the past but they it seems to have been ironed out. For me, the atmosphere, the fact of getting younger artists doing work, showing them, getting the involvement of the local people… it is the biggest asset, the People’s Biennale part of it. This Biennale has a great atmosphere and It is a feeling of having succeeded, everybody is feeling a sense of achievement… so that’s it is quite good!










