Harish Sivaramakrishnan at Changampuzha Park, 16 September 2024

I took a seat in this concert with no expectation of a 'strictly' classical concert. However, the main vocalist of Carnatic rock band Agam presented a kacheri that was as traditional as any kacheri in the modern day could get. Just before the concert began, I heard from the row in front of me that Harish was a maverick and that his popularity was mostly with the new generation of Carnatic rasikas, comfortably disconnected from 'traditional' Carnatic music. He dismissed all such beliefs, proving that he is a Carnatic rock musician precisely because he is a Carnatic musician.

Joining this outstanding vaggeyakara that evening were Sri Edappally Ajith on the violin, Sri Radhakrishna Kamath on the mridangam, Sri Vellattanjoor Sreejith on the ghatam and Sri Paravur Gopakumar on the morsing. 

Harish began the evening by testing the new venue's acoustics on the pallavi of Vatapi Ganapatim Bhajeham. This was an auspicious beginning not only for Harish, but for the renovated hall at Changampuzha Park as well. Singing the sloka 'Krishnaya Vasudevaya' in Reethigowla, he inaugurated his kacheri with the Tamil kriti 'Guruvayoorappane Appan' in the same ragam. It was rendered with the appropriate raga features, slowly, as Reethigowla usually is. The first among the sub-main pieces came next, in the ragam Saramati: 'Enna Thunivai Naan Bhayappattaal' of Marimuthu Pillai (of the Tamil Trinity). Chittaswarams strongly based on the aarohanam-avarohanam of Saramati added to the beauty of this piece. Bridging this sub-main and the next, 'Manamu Kavalanu Thalli' was sung in Sahana. The typical emotion of Sahana was subdued because of the speed of this kriti. Afterwards, raga alapanam and a violin solo in Varali prepared the audience for the famous 'Kaa Vaa Vaa'.

Breathing the mood of Onam into the hall, Harish moved on to performed a scintillating alapanam in Arabhi. Edappally Ajith's response to it on the violin was ephemeral. In a slight surprise, he sang a ragamalika virutham through Arabhi, Saveri, Surati and Bageshri, and thereafter in reverse order to Arabhi. The transition from Arabhi to Saveri he made that day still rings in my ears. Those 30 seconds alone can be used to dispel any doubt on whether Harish is a 'traditional' Carnatic musician. Edappally Ajith's support on violin to these adventures requires a blog post of its own!

The virutham introduced the Pancharatna kriti 'Sadhinchene O Manasa'. The rendition of this extremely popular kriti sent waves of goosebumps through the audience. The swarams were taken up by the violin, leaving the ettugada 'Samayaniki dagu mata ladene' and the charanasahityam to Harish. A little improvisation was performed on the ettugada before entering the swara-sahityam section.

'Sri Valli Devasenapate' in Natabhairavi was next. The ragam-tanam-pallavi of the night was in Brindavan Sarang, Harish's favourite ragam. Two bouts of alapanam and violin solo were followed by a tanam. As the tanam concluded, Radhakrishna Kamath took up the beat. The pallavi was

nathanai dinam ninai maname

brindavana saranga ranga-

No ragamalika swarams were sung. Following many bouts of swarams and pallavi, the thani started. Radhakrishna Kamath was undoubtedly the star of the exercise. Vellattanjoor Sreejith and Paravur Gopakumar both took part in the koraippu. It was an ecstatic twenty or so minutes with the three percussionists.

Harish then sang two famous thukkadas, 'Venkatachala Nilayam' in Sindhubhairavi and 'Kanden Sitaiye' in Bageshri and closed off with a percussion-less slokam in Madhyamavati.

The concert was recorded and will likely be online soon on the Edappally Sangeetha Sadas's YouTube channel.

EDIT: concert uploaded online here.