Sikkil Gurucharan : A Promising Young Artiste

Concerts that are devoted to a particular composer tend to be slightly boring. But there was none of that in Sikkil Gurucharan's "Sri Purandaradasa Day" concert (organized by Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha) on Saturday, March 20, 2004. There was never-a-dull-moment in the concert for the rather small (150 or so) audience at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club hall.

That he has got a fantastic voice ("Gambeeram" is the adjective that comes to mind), became obvious from the sloka that he started with before rendering "Jaya Jaya Jaya" (in Naatai). He sang Kalyani as the main ragam and before that Bhairavi.

The accompaniments for the concert were M.A.Sundareswaran (Violin), Vellore G.Ramabadran (Mridangam) and B.S.Purushothaman (Ganjira). In fact, after Gurucharan finished the main raga, something quite unbelievable happened: Vellore Ramabadran gave him a smile. Naturally, it lasted only for a few milliseconds. But, still, how many other artistes (including very senior ones) can claim this achievement?

Here's predicting that Gurucharan will be singing post-6 pm concerts quite soon--and to much, much larger audiences.

He is certainly one young artiste to watch out for.

Tips to other fans: Better catch as much as you can of Gurucharan which he still sings free concerts.