When music-lovers walked along the beach with Carnatic vocalist Sandeep Narayan

Sandeep Narayan, Akshay Yashodharan on the guitar, Lalit Talluri on the flute and Chandrasekara Sharma on the ghatam
| Photo Credit: Courtesy: Event Art

The twilight breeze caressed the trees. You intermittently heard the birds chirp. The water in the pool shimmered in the glow of candles placed on either side of the minimalist stage. As music lovers begun to occupy the neatly arranged vintage chairs, they feared the dark grey sky might open up and play spoilsport. Titled ‘By the Sea’, it was an unusual intimate concert setting.

Soon the emcees introduced the talented group of musicians led by vocalist Sandeep Narayan. Without taking much time, they launched into ‘Naada tanumanisham’ in raga Chitta Ranjani. The music was seamless, and almost pitch-perfect.

Expressing his desire to take his informal jamming sessions to a larger audience, Sandeep said this concert was an effort in that direction. Organised along with Event Art, which had curated the event, the concert allowed to experience music in a new ambience and format.

His second song ‘Oru murai unnai kandaen’ (from the album Alai) was as gentle as the breeze. Akshay Yashodharan on the guitar and Lalit Talluri on the flute took turns to play, and their imagination blended well with Sandeep’s singing.  

The flute, guitar and voice came together particularly well in these lines: 

Ootredutta uyir oinduvitta pinnum

Kaatchi theliya villaye 

Aatru vellam karai thaandi vanda pinnum 

Daagam thaniya villaye 

Lalit’s choice of bansuri was atmospheric, and Akshay’s strumming was fluent while Chandrasekara Sharma’s ghatam accompaniment was sublime, with appropriate grooves elevating the rendition with right pace. 

Sandeep Narayan enjoying the concert
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy: Event Art

Sandeep next chose Jayadeva’s Ashtapathi ‘Dheera sameere yamuna theere’ composed by Tanjore S. Kalyanaraman in raga Pahadi. He effortlessly traversed between low and high registers and embellished the kriti with vibrant brigas. It reminded of hisguru Sanjay Subrahmanyan.  

His heart-warming presentation of ‘Aadum Chidambaramo’ again came with guitar and flute accompaniments. Though it began to drizzle, Sandeep continued in the same spirit. He next sang ‘Chandra chooda siva shankara’, followed by ‘Naadha vindhu’ and ‘Gopala gokula vallabha’. The guitar-voice harmony stood out in these pieces.  

Sandeep Narayan singing by the beach.
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy: Event Art

There was a surprise towards the end. The audience got a chance to walk up to the beach with Sandeep as singing a medley of kritis by the sea. He started with a Kannada song ‘Akka kelava nan ondhu’ followed by a couple of songs on Rama such as ‘Ramaiya Rama’ and ‘Ramanai bhajithal’. As he made the audience sing along, one was reminded of unchavrittis in mada vedhis in Mylapore during Margazhi.