Vidwan Sri VVS Murari - Violin
Sri Aravind Venkatraman - Mridangam (disciple of Sri Trichy Sankaran)
Sri Karthi Venkataraman - Khanjira
I am delighted to present a short report on our fellow forumite Abishek's debut concert in Toronto. Abhishek, who posts under that name in the forum, is a precocious seventeen year old kid with an amazing sense of manodharmam, strong stage presence and a bucket load of talent. To top it all off, he has an incredible voice that can handle complex brighas while maintaining excellent fidelity in the higher octaves.
The song list:
1. VanajAkshirO - Kalyani varnam
2. Ekadantam - Bilahari - Misrachapu MD (S)
3. siva siva enarAdha - pantuvarALi - T (RNS)
4. Ninnuvina mari galadA - ritigowla - SS
5. Gathi neeyE endru - tOdi- ambujam Krishna (RNST)
6. rAkA sasivadanA - TakkA - T
7. RTP - Triraga pallavi: kamas, gowrimanohari, ranjani; Khanda jati ata
Pallavi line:
mA kamAsOtsvapriya lAsinim (in khamas, first lagu)
Gowrimanohari mAnini (in Gowrimanohari, second lagu)
SadAniranjani ranjini, mAmava (in Ranjani, drutam).
[ Ragamalika swarams in hamsanadham, bagesri, dvijavanti (Misra?), revati ]
9. Short viruttam: nanmaiyum selvamum nAlum nalgumE, followed by
rAmanamE thudi manamE - Desh - TSI
10. (I had to step out)
11. Mangalam
As you can see from the weighty songlist, Abhishek presented a very elegantly planned concert. There were many highlights. The fast paced sivasiva ena radha in Pantuvarali was very well handled. When he broke into the neraval in "Agamamula nutiyunchi", it became clear that Abhishek is no amateur. While the swarams were a bit on the pacy side, his control of talam was quite impeccable. It became apparent that he has learned this composition from the TM Tyaragaran (and SSI) tradition, when he used a very elegant koraippu to end the kalpana swarams. The Todi piece was also taught to him by Smt Raji Gopalakrishnan who had directly learned it from the tunesmith SSI.
The pallavi was beautifully organized. It is a fairly complex pallavi, and Abhishek performed trikalam on the pallavi line and traversed between the three ragams with a sense of ease. At this point, it did not seem like a debut concert at all, but it felt like listening to a singer who has been on the stage for several decades. I walked away from the concert extremely impressed, for he far exceeded my expectations. Abhishek sings with the maturity that you expect from a veteran.
Talking of veterans, VVS Murari was incredible. His violin accompaniment was supportive, encouraging and it enabled Abhishek to reach extraordinary heights with his own manodharmam. All the while, Murari did this without interference. It is indeed Abhishek's good fortune that he got a top-ranked vidwan to join him on stage on his debut. Murari's bowing was like VVS, especially in the Todi alapanai and his tAnam was textbook perfect.
The percussion accompaniment was adequate. The young mridangist had a good sound, characteristic of the pudukkottai school, but it felt like he has a long road ahead in terms of kriti accompaniment, anticipation and thoppi use. He needs to look no further than his guru's recordings to get a firm handle on this; Sri TS is the last word in all three.
So, the next time you see a review from Abhishek, read it carefully. This is no armchair rasika but a serious vidwan in the making. This boy knows what he is talking about and more. If this is his debut concert, I can only imagine what the future has in store for him.
Abhishek has just finished high school earlier this summer and is entering the University of Toronto this fall. I wish him the very best in everything, both musically and otherwise.
This is the end of an excellent summer music season in Toronto. The fall line-up looks terrific. I am sure you will see a review or two, maybe even from Abhishek
.
I will be doing some new work on music cognition and this forum is a great place to bounce ideas related to those interests too.
