Abhishek Raghuram, VV Mohalla 8th Cross, Mysore

[matterwaves]

Garuda Gamana Nagaswarali RS
Kaa Vaa Vaa Varali RS (short sketch)
Sujana Jeevana Kamach N
Manavyalakinchara Nalinakanti S
Kaddanuvariki RNST --short shruti bheda to shankarabharana
Bhavani Dayani Sindhu Bhairavi
Enna Paliso Karunakara -Bhimsen Joshi style (Alhaiya Bilawal?)
Pavamana

Yours truly was witness to an outrageous display of virtuosity by the young abhishek Raghuram at VV mohalla Mysore. I haven't heard anything as electrifying in the last couple of years.His torrentous manodharma plus amazing control over laya were on full display. I'm cussing myself for dropping in slightly late.

All of the ragas he sung had some fantastic sancharas, often unheard or not presented so effectively.It was one aha moment after another. His voice, slightly nasal, traverses all octaves with effortless ease and is slave to his manodharma.He sang some breathtaking gamakas and brigas.Nagaswarali and Nalinakanti were sung with a lot of gusto and with breezy swaraprastharas, even while weaving intricate calculative patterns. Kamas was sung more like the Hindustani Kamaj(much different from Brocheva or Seetapate Kamach), though i'm not sure if Sujana Jeevana has more of the hindustani shade.

Piece de resistance was Todi.He had so many ideas, he could have easily sung the raga alone for two hours. Icing on the cake was Sindhu Bhairavi. It was sung almost like a thumri and in a mere 4 mins, it probably touched upon more sancharas than you will hear in a 40 min khyal(NOM).The crowd was transformed into veritable lizards with the 'tchu tchu tchu's. Enna Paliso was sung in the Bhimsen joshi style, liked it very much

Akkarai subbulakshmi was good but i have heard her play better.Shri Eshwaran played with a lot of gusto and Guruprasanna was equal to the task.

This was the first time i heard Abhishek and completely bowled over.He has a few problems with the shurti, especially while traversing the higher octaves. He is a true inheritor of the palghat ragu mantle

Mysoreans are in for a treat in the next few days. Please find the list below

http://8thcrossganesha.org/html/2011_eng.html

[srikant1987]

Thanks for the review, matterwaves. Mysore's having a big festival this month! Good that some of them're going to be reviewed on rasikas.org too, after all.

[mahavishnu]

THanks for the review, Matterwaves. It is nice to see concerts from Mysore reviewed here.
The schedule looks very nice; excellent rotation of the accompanists by the organizers.

[rajeshnat]

matterwaves
Keep them coming, very good line up at mysore.It is quite a long since we had a review from mysore.

[arasi]

Matterwaves,
Yes, the concert seems to have been an exciting experience for Mysore rasikAs, and we enjoyed reading your review! Please write more, keeping up with your music season there.
I loved the lizard bit!

[Sreeni Rajarao]

Matterwaves,

I do not know if you were answering my call here
http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=17218

or not,

but Thanks for your report!

Please keep writing about events in Mysore and if there are other forum members in Mysore that you know of, please encourage them to write!

(I hope there are more veena concerts happening in Mysore than the sampler we see here in this list!)

[Sindhuja]

Goodness, what a terrific list!! Really wish I could've attended this one. Nagaswaravali, Khamas, Nalinakanthi, Thodi with grahabhedam, Sindhubhairavi -- that sounds almost like a custom made concert for me Going by his rendition of raag Deepak (on youtube) I think his Hindustani-ish rendering is also very good.
I've heard a most soulful Bhavani Dayani by the great Parween Sultana - very curious how Abhiskek handled it. And Thodi certainly seems to be his strength - his thodi at MA last season I think will go down in history as one of the most electrifying thodis ever. I also have a thodi recording of his which is again very good.
I often have a gripe with him in the "emoting department" though - like some ppl expressed here in another thread, it seems like he often tends to get a little lost in display of talent: how was he on that front this time?
Can't wait to hear him here next month.

[matterwaves]

Thanks all for your kind words.
@sreeni, I hadn't looked at that thread.
@sindhuja,
Yes..I agree on the bhava/soukhya bit. On second thoughts it is fine to enjoy this 'fantasticism' of his unbridled manodharma until it lasts.It was like watching tendulkar in his teens.I'm sure he will temper with age. And the lack of soukhya was entirely compensated by Ravikiran's chitraveena yesterday.

N Ravikiran--Chitraveena
Akkarai Subbulakshmi- Violin
Mannargudi Eshwaran-- Mridanga
?? -- Ghatam

Incomplete list:

Pariyachakama-Vanaspathi-- S
Manonmani - shubhapantuvarali (Muthaiah Bhagavathar Composition) RNS
Sarasijanabhasodari - Naga Gandhari
Kamakshi -- Bhairavi Swarajathi RNST
Taarakka bindige -- Thilang

Today, it was the turn of the maestro N Ravikiran to enthrall us. Ravikiran has a special connection with mysore. His Grandfather was one of the asthana vidwans of Mysore princely state(probably during the reign of jayachamaraja Wodeyar). The man is a gentle genius, soft spoken, humility personified with a smiling visage . Ravikiran often asks about their liking for the main piece. This time was no different

Ravikiran's music also exudes his persona..shorn of all bluster bravado and gimmicks-- Simple, pure, pristine and and every bit dripped in classicism and each swara full of jeeva(reminds me of brinda muktha style) and the first meetu of the instrument giving out the raga.A few years ago as a teenager, I remember ravikiran playing an instrument which resembled the veena but the one he plays today takes after the guitar.

Vanaspathi was played beautifully in a liesurely unhurried tempo. Shubapantuvarali was neat--some lovely phrases there.Though this raga is rightfully associated with sorrow/ pathos, he tried to explore the some 'lively' facets of it, in line with the Kriti.People tend to borrow heavily from hindustani todi when playing this. However Ravikiran's handling of this was entirely shubhapantuvarali.

Sarasijanabha sodari instantly reminded me of Ariyakudi's recital(released by AIR).Not once in the concert did I feel like I was listening to an instrument. I always felt that i was listening to high class vocal music. Such is the incorporation of gayaki in his playing. Bhairavi was pristine pure, like a Nedanuri exposition with lovely gamakas and subtle soulful sangatis. Eshwaran's playing today was sedate and gentle,in line with the overall mood. I loved the way Sri Eshwaran encourages the junior percussionists, never trying to put them in a fix or cast them in poor light. When the ghatam player failed to pick up subtle calculations during the 'QA' he just skipped it and went straight into the mukthaya.Greatness of the man.

After Thilang , my wife started to get edgy and had to leave.Not her fault,it probably was an overdose for a person who has grown on a staple diet of the 'menaces of Bengaluru'-- its FM stations.

[srikant1987]

Mods, could a new thread be carved out for Sri Ravi Kiran's concert?

matterwaves, Don't hesitate to open new threads for each of the remaining concerts.

[kssr]

Let the waves of music matters keep flowing. Thanks

[vasanthakokilam]

mw, please open a new thread for RK's concert review and copy/paste the contents there. We will then edit this thread as needed.