Veeramani Raju’s ‘bhakti innisai’ draws applause at music fest

Veeramani Raju along with his son Abhishek presented a memorable “bakthi innisai” on the fifth day of the 52nd Tamil Isai Vizha at the Raja Muthiah Mandram.

Raju began his concert by invoking the blessings of Ganapathy through Avvaiyar’s “Vakkundam nalla manamundam.” Then he sang “Orumanikorumani” from Sirkazhi’s Ganapathy Gaanangal. 

“Kothaiin Thiruppavai,” (on Andal) a song popularised by his father, was well sung and appreciated by the audience. He also sung “Chinnanchiru penn pole”(on Goddess Sivakami of Thillai), Madurai Somu’s “Marudamalai mamaniye”(lord Muruga of Marudamalai), velundu vinaiyillai,“ Mannanalum Thiruchendhoril” (importance of surrender to God ), En Appan Allavaa En Thaayum (Nandanar Charitram), verses from Tamil Siddhar Sivavakkiyar, “irumudi thangi”, Deivam Enbatha unnai, Enthamalai sevithalum, (all on Lord Ayyappa). He also sang on Lord Karuppasamy “Enga Karuppasami” , in which he delved deep into the fierce and protective nature of Lord Karuppasamy, devotional bhajan in Kabir-style “Sitapati Ramchandra ki jai” ( sung as an abhang).

He concluded the concert with “Harivarasanam.” 

The concert witnessed improvisation of various ragas in his own style.

The percussionist Hari Ram Kumar on the keyboard, Narayanan and Krishna on Tabla, Saravanan and Ganesh on electronic pad and Harish raghavan who supported on voice, gave invaluable support throughout the concert.

It was a retro experience for the audience as the songs rendered were popularised by great artistes of yester years viz. Sirkazhi Govindarajan, Madurai Somu, T. M. Soundararajan, K. Veeramani and P Suseela.

The concert was deeply immersive, high-energy with spiritual experience and maintained an authoritative yet moving spiritual depth that created energy in the auditorium, as the audience were made to sing whenever possible.

The naturally robust and resonant voice of both father and son maintained structural clarity even at a high pitch be in Tamil or Sanskrit.