Abhishek Raghuram@rathnagireeshwarar temple on Feb 23rd,2014

[rajeshnat]

Abhishek Raghuram@rathnagireeshwarar temple on Feb 23rd,2014
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Violin : BU GaneshPrasad
Mrudangam : Neyveli Narayanan

Concert Type : Nirvana - no concert to follow
Day/Duration : Sunday/ 2 hours and 25 mins(inclusive of 5 mins speech and garland)
Concert Type/Crowd : Free concert - around 325 to 350

1. chalamEla jEsE -varnam - darbAr - TT
2. karunAkaranE shivashankaranE(raga sketch) - keeravani - Psivan
3. shree mAthrubhootham (R,S)- kannada - MD
3 mins alapanaa and no violin return
3 mins swaras

4. sabhApathikku (R,S) - AbhOgi - GKB
3 mins alapana and 2 mins violin return
7 mins swaras

5A. parAtpara paramEshwarA (R N S T) - vAchaspathi - psivan
16 mins alapana and 9 mins violin return
neraval for 13 mins in "hari ayanum kAnA ariya jyOti Adi antam illA pazhama nAdi"
swaras for 11 mins
5B.tani for 11 mins

Speech and garland break for 5 mins.

6.kAppaduvE uNadhu pAtham -Anandabhairavi- Tanjore sivanandam
7.brihaDEEshwaram rakshatumAm(R) - gAnasAmavarAli- MD
3 mins alapana

8. ardhanEeshwaram (rAga Sketch) - kumudakriyA- MD
9. chandrasekhArA eesaa - sindhubhairavi - AnaiayyA
10. pavamAna - sowrAshtram - T

[rajeshnat]

Abhishek has a creative quotient which always interests me . This concert had a spread of all compositions of Lord Shiva excepting the first Darbar varnam and the last mangalam of T. Abhishek started with darbAr varnam , the mike setting was bit too sharp and his voice did not have that much usual zing to my ears . Anyway still the darbAr was not a dabbling number for abhishek. Mikes were adjusted as the feedback was also not that good as per the artists.

The second number started with a little breezy touch of keeravani. Balaji Shankar has sung this karunAkaranE and I felt abhishek sang very well and his voice zing came from there on . He could have gone with a keeravani neraval or swaras ,but abhishek wrapped up . I could also notice that he was still not that happy with the mike - may be that was the unfortunate reason for him to just sing the krithi. Post keeravani with too much of maatram (change)the ghostly bhootam of mike settled for the artists with shri mAthrubhootam . The preceding kannada alapana was concise and I liked his style of not giving violin return and just jumping to the kannada krithi .The swaras of kannada were bit too short but I liked his ideas immensely.

Abhishek and TNS have a lot of overlap. I could spot a lot in sabhapathikku in aabhOgi. His rendition with a neravalified sangathis even during pallavi , anupallavi and charanam of Abhogi was very TNS'ish. The Abhogi swaras had a touch of lot of kanakku but it was fairly too quick and I have no reason to complain and I enjoyed it immensely.

Abhishek alapana in main was vachaspathi. I made up my mind as vAchaspathi for a considerable time -in alapana may be I thought there could have been raga bhavam signal in pure vachaspathi. The parAtparA rendition was exceptionally well sung especially the neraval . Neraval of vachaspathi in hari ayanum was top class . The swaras followed up well - with a lot of alankara swaras - reminding a bit more of TNS.I wish he went bit more in swaras in vAchaspathi.

Post main all the tukkadas were exceptional and made my day. The anandabhairavi with 2 rounds of cittaswaras was very nice. I vaguely recollect tv ramprasadh used to sing the rare gAnasAmavarAli and I think i heard it once . I liked his gAnasAmavarAli alapana - if T mesemerized with ganamoorthE , MD has equally mesemerized us with brihadeeshwara.

There was a listener request where Abhishek asked if indeed kumadakriya rasika requestor was there. I think he/she was there and he sang ardhaneeshwaram in a gold standard - I will keep the platinum standard of ardhaneeshwaram which he sang few years back at the same temple as a better memoire. The last alathur school number chandrasekara in sindhubhairavi was also excellent . It is worth to mention that Abhishek generally avoids singing viruththam/slokham -usually apportions that time to his strength - namely alapana for one krithi post main. sadguru T finally came up with only the pavamAna.

BU Ganeshprasad was solid , not much of contribution till the Abhogi started . Neyveli narayanan was exceptionally :ymapplause: - he is getting the sunAda nAdham of his present guru UKS. Liked every touch of his inclusive of tani - he was giving more space to Abhishek by playing a right quota of tani. One has to appreciate :ymapplause: Abhishek on having a spread of numbers all based on eeshwarA.

Overall an excellent concert for 2 hours and 25 mins (inclusive of 5 mins speech)

[arasi]

Rajesh,

Thanks for the review. Sounds like you enjoyed the concert a lot. I would have too, had I been there.

kAppaduvE unadu bhAram (not pAdam), I think, meaning, it's your responsibility to protect me.

[CRama]

Thanks for your wonderful review. I fully concur with your observation. Abhishek -TNSish in many aspects. I also have written the same in my earlier review. Parathpara- only very few people sing this song in concerts nowadays. Love to hear an elaborate vachaspathi.

[rshankar]

Thank you Rajesh...

neraval for 13 mins in "hari ayanum kAnA ar_iya jyOti Adi antam illA pazhama Gnani"

Should be "....pazhama nAdi"

[kvchellappa]

Is it parama nadi? (பரம நாதி)

[arasi]

I thought it was 'ariya jOthi' with no letter missing there.

Ravi and KVC,
What is pazhama nAdi?

[sankark]

Should be "....pazhama nAdi"

Me thinks it has to be split as pazham anAdi (ancient, none before/no start).

[rajeshnat]

Ravi
Changed the vachaspathi nAdi,Tx

[rshankar]

This is the text from the transliteration provided by the Sivan Project (or something like that):

1.74. raagam: vaacaSpati taaLam: dEsaadi
pallavi:
paraatpara paramESvara paarvateepatE harapaSupatE (paraat)
anupallavi:
suraasurar tozhum paavana sundara caraNaavinda aananda (paraat)
caraNam:
ariyayanum kaaNaa ariya jOti
aadiyantamillaap- pazhama naadip
purameritta mukkatkarumbE enRan[/b]
puNyamoorti subrahmaNyan tandaiyE (paraat)

pazhama nAdi I think means pazhamaiyAna nAdi - a protector (nAdi) of hoary antiquity (pazhma)... (SankarK can aklso be right, but I think with the Adi antam illA preceding it, it is unlikely to be anAdi)

[rajeshnat]

kAppaduvE unadu bhAram (not pAdam), I think, meaning, it's your responsibility to protect me.

Arasi
The last keyword I heard more as uNadu pAtham (just like how say MMI/alathur sings unadu pAtham thunaiyE in a famous pallavi ),I also heard it as bhAram. The words of whether it was pAtham or bhAram was not crystal clear when Abhi sang. Possibly is there a meaning where uNadu pAtham can also mean as the feet of god and the lyrics can still fit well.

[mahavishnu]

I thought kAppaduvE was composed by the Anai Ayya brothers?
I am inclined to think Arasi is right on the word being "bhAram".

[kunthalavarali]

kAppaduvE unadhu bhAram is by Shivanandam (of Tanjore quartet)

[mahavishnu]

Thanks, Kunthalavarali. Yes you are right.
I was thinking about etthanai than vitthai katralum in Ananda bhairavi...

[arasi]

Rajesh,
'pAdam' will fit too. But bhAram has more weight Musically too, I feel.
kAkkum karam, SaraN aLikkum pAdam.

Mahavishnu,
'ethanaidAn viddai kaTRAlum'
metha naliyavaikkum flu-vil
vizhundavar saTRu maRadi koLvarE--
mazhungumE apAra mULaith thiRamumE

Flu or not, some of us golden oldies here are granted forgetfulness in good health too, most of the time!

Hope (youthful) you are on the mend right now

[mahavishnu]

Arasi: Thanks for your spontaneous verse. I am doing much better, thank you.