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Cascade of Divine Music - Sri. Sakethraman at Marghazi

I have always nursed a dream of attending a live concert of young and prodigiously talented Saketharaman the Carnatic Vocal * on the horizon. There is something about Saketh that leaves you craving for more and you submit an urgent wish list looking yonder at sky and a prayer in your lips to soon grant you the wish of next concert. He has a knack of disproving that there is satiation as your greed and appetite increases multifold and Eh Dil Mange More.







Saketh lit the auditorium with cascaded divine Carnatic music and it was music for the souls as evidenced by earth quake of applause repeatedly at every subtle nuances he scaled effortlessly.

The repertoire :

Palayasumam – Arabhi
Sundaratara deham – Pantuvarali
Amba Neelambari – Neelambari
VaraNarada – VijayaSri
Marakathavalli – Kambhoji
Ragam Tanam Pallavi – Varamu & Saveri (dwi-raga)
Aadu Chidambaramo – Behag
Tirupugazh – Hamir Kalyani



Saketh started the concert with a slokam in Arabhi and he just sang and soared.

A very beautiful aalapana in Neelambari was a treat to the audience. These kind of ragas in slow pace actually add a great variety to the concerts! Having started with a slokam yet again, Manikyaveena.., he brought out his typical soulful rendition of Ponnaiah Pillai’s composition Amba Neelambari in a lovely fashion!






The meandering Kambhoji aalapana was outstanding. It was obvious he will sing a composition of his favourite Swami Shri Muthuswamy Dikshitar. The masterpiece Marakathavalli descended in the auditorium and enveloped all Saketh then released an amazing Varamu aalapana and transitioned well to Saveri. A dwi-raga pallavi with Poorvangam in Varamu and Uttarangam in Saveri with raga names inpoured in. He explained that this piece Varamulosagi Brovavayya Saveri Ragapriya Kaveri Rangayya was set to 35 beat cycle and the Talam has 5 beats per cycle with kalapramanam decreasing in geometric progression! So first cycle will have 5 * 4 = 20 aksharas, second 5 * 2 = 10 and the last 5 * 1 = 5, with a total of 35. ( courtesy of this technical riders from Shri Kausal who explained to me ) I left Academy soaked , drenched , drowned , and craving for more.







Written by
Sri C.S. Pancham Author is an Art Critic and frequently writes reviews in leading national news papers.

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