15 students of Shubha Ganesan presented a 90 minute vocal kutcheri on Friday evening as part of the Navaratri concerts series organised at the Sri Kapaleeswarar Temple.
Under the watchful eyes of their guru, the students presented songs that included Karpaga Manohara (Malayamarutham/Kandachapu), Maatha Parashakthi (Ragamalika/Aadhi), Karpagame (Madhamavathi/Aadhi), Amba Shambhavi (Ragamalika/ Chatushra Ekam) and Thirupugazh’s Oru Pozhuthum (Chakravakam).
There was a sizeable crowd encouraging the young artistes. Interestingly, Thirunavukarasu, one of the trustees of the temple, stood through the entire programme watching the presentation.
R. Harini has been a long time student of Shubha Ganesan and had presented a solo performance at the ‘mikeless’ kutcheri at the Nageswara Rao Park many years ago. She said she was delighted to have be in this group in front of such a big audience.
V Samyuktha, who is the daughter of ghatam artiste D V Venkatasubramaniam, has been learning under Shubha Ganesan for seven years and has presented group kutcheris at Thiru Kadaiyur and Thiruvarur temples.
She said this concert after the long pandemic-time break was particularly special for her. “We were performing as a group after two years. All of us were excited to be given this opportunity by our guru and we practiced hard as a team for well over a fortnight.”
The trustee took the students and the guru for a darshan of Kapaleeswarar and Karpagambal at the end of the programme.
Othuvar Sathgurunathan has been involved in identifying and selecting the groups for the kutcheris over the ten days.
- Report, photo; S. Prabhu
