How Agam’s music is beyond labels yet loved by people

Agam breaks musical barriers

I have rarely missed an Aikya concert in the last decade. They have always been a heady mix of innovative formats, new genres and popular artistes. Global Adjustments, which curates these annual concerts, believes in the credo that music unites. The validation of that powerful belief was in full display at the 2024 concert held at the Music Academy to a full house, featuring the immensely popular Agam band from Bengaluru.

The audience, predominantly young, broke into a chorus, singing in flawless sruti, ‘Rangapura Vihara’ and ‘Manavyalakinchara’, along with Harish Sivaramakrishnan (lead singer) to the accompaniment of guitars and drums. No cathedral-like silence of a traditional kutcheri. The band rocked and grooved under strobe lights and the audience shouted out with joy.

If it was sacrilege to the conservatives, particularly since ‘Brindavana Saranga’ boldly included anya swaras, it was, to the liberals, a grand display of unity between the classical and the modern, between the young and the old.

Harish Sivaramakrishnan cannot escape the trap of the runaway success of his well-known repertoire. He should be pardoned for the standard fare. The audience demanded and got ‘Sree ragamo’, Dhanashri tillana, ‘Chandra chooda’ in Darbari Kanada, and the boat song, besides ‘Subrahmanyena’ in Suddha Dhanyasi.

Harish’s gifted voice that can shatter the glass with power in one moment and caress the heart in the next, and his unique interpretation of the classical genre, never fail to cast a spell on the audience. He is a master communicator as well. Swaminathan Seetharaman (keyboard), Praveen Kumar (lead guitar), Jagadis Natarajan (rhythm guitar) Aditya Kashyap (bass guitar), Yadhunandan Nagarajan (drums) and Sivakumar Nagarajan (Indian percussion) were outstanding. The grand jugalbandi with the drums was a fitting finale.

Agam, which commenced its journey in 2003, has been experimenting to produce an eclectic dough of Carnatic music (Tyagaraja and Muthuswami Dikshitar), Blues and Funk Rock, all seemingly conflicting elements, kneaded together to deliver a concert. If audience support is any indication, the experiment should be declared a great success. Agam, though, would do well to expand its repertoire and incorporate more classical instruments.

The proceeds from Aikya annual concerts go towards supporting the education of girls from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, especially first generation learners, through the Global Adjustments Foundation, Championwoman.