Abhishek Raghuram@Vanimahal on Jan 12th,2019

[rajeshnat]

Abhishek Raghuram@Vanimahal on Jan 12th,2019
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Vocal : Abhishek Raghuram
Violin : Mysore Shrikanth
Mrudangam : Trichy B Harikumar
Ghatam : Suresh
Tambura : ???

Concert Type : Nirvana - no concert to follow
Day/Duration : Saturday/ 2 hours and 30 mins - 6:50 to 09:20pm
Hall : Vanimahal- Main Hall

01. chalamela jEsEvayya - nAttaikurinji - Srirangam Moolaiveedu Rangaswamy Nattuvanar
02. maravanu nE ninnu maravanu nE (R,S) -Arabi- GNB

• 3 mins alapana with no violin return
• 3 mins swaras

03. shree varalakshmi (R,S)- shreeragam -MD

• 6 mins alapana with no violin return
• 5 mins swaras

04. nannu brOvu rAdA (R N S)- janaranjani -SS

• 8 mins alapana with 4 mins violin return
• 6 mins neraval in shyama krishna sahodari omkari And also in shambavi janani
• 6 mins swaras

05. rAkA sasivadana(R) - takka - T

• 3 mins alapana

06A. RTP in ranjani for 39 mins

• 16 mins alapana by vocalist
• 7 mins taanam by violinist
• Pallavi line -->>ranjani niranjani! rathnakanjuka bharana bhooshani talli

06B. tani for 14 mins

07. govindam miha gOpika - bhageshri - NT
08. gAyati vanamAli - durga - SB
09. nee nama - mangalam -T

[rajeshnat]

Abhishek concert of vanimahal during dec season was cancelled as he was not feeling well. This concert was held in an alternate date and I am glad such a thing happened as that day when it was cancelled i had no chance to make it to Mambalam. Personally heard Mridangist B Harikumar only once in a live concert a decade or so back in Academy with maharajapuram ramachandran. Abhishek in this concert was bit more restrained ,the brighas were certainly not overdone and incidentally there were quite a few rare compositions along with rarer exhibition of elaborations with few ragas like ranjani ,takka and janaranjani.

Abhishek started with dearest nattaikurinji varnam . Voice was right there and he did very well, i do have a lot of liking for this particular raga.Arabi came out next with a sparkling raga alapana and i loved his strategy of not giving alapana return to violinist. Brigas were brilliant in arabi and he took a rare GNB briga brimmming krthi. Krithi and swaras were well done .Abhishek and Arabi are always a great pair.

Another lovely alapana came in without violin return. Shree ragam was great but the krithi shree varalakshmi had few problems in rendition.I think it had to do with more he moving away from a closer sensitive microphone. Still shree ragam was weighty and I liked it. A rare alapana again unfolded with janaranjani , i did not have any problems in identifying it and my head did not trespass to other neighbouring ragas like poornachandrika. The violin return of janaranjani was more accurate janaranjani . A rare shyama sastri krithi in janaranjani unfolded and IIRC I am hearing this janaranjani krithi and also the previous GNB Arabi krithi for the very first time . Abhishek tried taking neraval in two lines in janaranjani ,the first(shyama krishna sohadari) was very engrossing the second(shAmbavi jaNani) was bit touch and go and I did not hear a complete neraval swaroopam

The next two were the best portions of this concert . How often one hears takka alapana , it was brief without violin return. When the alapana was On I knew it was near lalita but I did not recognize the alapana as takka . He started the krithi with other keywords other than rAka sasivadana, takka was really takkar. I immensely enjoyed his presentation. The vishranthi and balance that he did with takka was brilliant .

Abhishek and Harikumar discussed some thing which i got it in parts . I knew pallavi was coming as he was discussing 1 kalai , 2 kalai ,idam thalli etc. At that time I was thinking please no kalyani may be shanmughapriya or simmhendramadhyamam. Abhishek surprised me with one of the finest prathi madhyama ragas for RTP . It was ranjani . Abhishek ideas in ranjani was really grand . It was 16 mins vocal only alapana in ranjani and I dont think any one has sung this long an alapana in ranjani .Abhishek forte is his alapana and there was superb contextual display of voice with shades of distinct texture. Distinct aaaaa ,hmmmmm and then steady ta da ri na shifting distinctly to mel sthayi, ranjani was not sung as a tick mark it was sung as heavy raga as a shanmughapriya.

Abhishek after a dazzling alapana in ranjani frustrated as usual by asking violinist to play taanam. Has abhishek gone recently to varanasi in the last 8 years and taken a vow to NOT TO SING taanam. I just dont get this taanam skipping musical attitude of Abhishek which is always a norm. Pallavi was well done he liberally took the pallavi neraval lines with ranjani niranjani! rathnakanjuka bharana bhooshani talli. He did a nice trikalam at one stage he even sang rasika ranjani niranjani , the raga bhavam of rasikaranjani was not that clear it was bit sketchy.

Then he moved to lines kanchadhala lochani kamakshi and did a swara kalpana only in ranjani with this line . That change was more Creative to laya aficionados than to me .Both the tukkadas were sung beautifully. The bhageshri krithi of NT was sung with great feeling and the gayati vanamali in durga was aesthetically great.

The violinist Mysore shrikant was bit of mixed bag . His play for songs was nice and also during alapana was neat. When swaras are bit long his returns were not the best.B Harikumar had great sarvalaghu and Suresh paired very well . May be a bit reduced sound of ghatam could have been better.

Vanimahal and Pricing of tickets
The NRI's are all back in their pavilion. Vanimahal is pricing tickets at 300,500 and 1000.The hall is just 20 to 30% full. Instead of pricing the tickets bit lower and welcoming more rasikas keeping it this high is a failure move. This concert was discouraging more participation of rasikas and with this pricing I doubt if there will be any fresh blood rasikas . About 2 months back I saw a drama theedum nandrum again in vanimahal, that also was priced as high as this concert with only 10 to 20% attendance . Sabhas have to think long term in building next gen rasikas .Can family of 4 spend min of 1200 or 2000 (usually the lowest gets filled first as it is just few rows) for a carnatic concert. Artist and sabhas have to price it lower for sure to encourage more patronage

One has to give it to Abhishek for taking considerably rare krithis and elaborating few ragas like ranjani, janaranjani and takka. Abhishek was on a bit reduced overdrive laya and kanakku mode . Instead Abhishek was intense with nice spread of sowkhyam and melody with a bit more share of sarvalaghu - this intensity suits me much more.

Overall an excellent concert for 2 hours and 30 mins.

[SrinathK]

The NRI's are all back in their pavilion. Vanimahal is pricing tickets at 300,500 and 1000.The hall is just 20 to 30% full. Instead of pricing the tickets bit lower and welcoming more rasikas keeping it this high is a failure move. This concert was discouraging more participation of rasikas and with this pricing I doubt if there will be any fresh blood rasikas . About 2 months back I saw a drama theedum nandrum again in vanimahal, that also was priced as high as this concert with only 10 to 20% attendance . Sabhas have to think long term in building next gen rasikas .Can family of 4 spend min of 1200 or 2000 (usually the lowest gets filled first as it is just few rows) for a carnatic concert. Artist and sabhas have to price it lower for sure to encourage more patronage

@rajeshnat The pricing is turning into a farce -- if it continues, I think singing on a bus will attract more crowds. We cannot take a family to watch this concert. But if you want to know, this video on class economics will tell you what's really going on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzB5xtGGsTc -- but airlines know how to fill up 90-95% of their seats as well.

Even by this yardstick, sabhas are being atrocious.