Sriram Gangadharan's Vocal Concert on 16th June 2013

Vidwan Sriram Gangadharan                                    - Vocal

Vidwan B.Raghuram                                                    - Violin

Vidwan V.Krishna                                                         - Mridangam

Vidwan G.Omkar Rao                                                  - Ghatam

Electrifying concert of Sriram Gangadharan at Nadasurabhi.

The artist for the month of June 2013 at Nadasurabhi was Vidwan Sriram Gangadharan from Chennai. Sriram is a man with an impressive personality, tall, well built and majestic.  His concert was equally majestic. He sings at a very high pitch and at the same time his voice is deeply masculine, with a full volume that fills the hall with its intensity. Commencing his concert with a Mayamalavagowla varnam, he went on to the popular Nattai Ganapathi Sthuthi, Mahaganapathim. He presented an elaborate swaraprastharam for this song,part of which at supersonic speed. The flawless rendering of this song set the platform and gave a good preview of the high quality of performance that can be expected during the rest of the concert.

Sriram did not disappoint. One after another he presented three heavy well known numbers, each with fairly detailed raga alapana and kalpana swaras. Pantuvarali and

Ranjani also had crisp neravals. Sankari Sankuru, a Shyama Sastri masterpiece too, was wonderfully sung. A fast paced Vasudevayani in Kalyani led to the 'main' of the

evening in Thodi. The beauty of Thodi was brought out in all its grandeur during the alapana which included a lovely sruthi bedam, as well. Papanasam sivan's Thaamadam En swami was the kriti, for which swarams were sung on the pallavi line (another neraval was skipped).

Tukkadas after tani avarthanam were almost entirely Sri.GN Balasubramaniam specialities, presumably Sriram's maanaseeha guru. The GNB style and selection was there for everyone to see, throughout the concert.

There was an excellent accompaniment team. Sri. B.Raghuram on violin rose to the occasion by matching the high-speed, high- octave rendition of the main artist, without at any stage losing the melody or beauty. Percussion by Sri. V.Krishna on Mridangam and Sri. Omkar Rao on Ghatam gave a fitting support and maintained the tempo of the concert right through the concert.

Overall the audience enjoyed an extremely satisfactory, power packed, fully traditional concert by Sriram Gangadharan and party.

List of songs :

1. Sriraja Rajeshwari          Mayamalavagowlam     Varnam
2. Mahaganapathim            Naattai  (S)
3.Ennaganu Ramabhajana  Pantuvarali ( R ) – Ramarama rama enuchu neraval & (S)
4.Ranjani niranjani             Ranjani   ( R )  - kanjadala lochani  neraval & (S)
5.Sankari sankuru               Saveri     ( R )
6. Vasudevaeni                   Kalyani
7. Taamadam en swami      Thodi (R with sruthi bedam ), (S at Pallavi), Tani avartanam
8. Kaliyugadolu hari           Jhanjhooti
9. Radha sametha Krishna  Yaman kalyani
10.Jagajjanani shuka paani  Ratipatipriya
11.Pavamana                       Mangalam.

Invitation:

Vidwan Sriram Gangadharan is one of the leading carnatic vocalists from Chennai. Equally proficient in vocal and flute, he is an A Grade artist in both the fields. Sriram has performed extensively in India and abroad including Canada, USA, UK, Australia and Singapore. He is a winner of various prizes over the years for outstanding performances in the December Music Festival in Chennai from esteemed institutions such as The Music academy, Narada Gana Sabha and Krishna Gana Sabha amongst others. Sriram Gangadharan is also an Asthana Vidwan of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam.