ABHISHEK RAGHURAM IN VANI MAHAL- 24/12

[CRama]

Accompanists- Vittal Ramamurthy-Violin
Sumesh Narayan-Mridangam
Sreesunderkumar-Ganjira.
List of songs
Sree Raga varnam
Gajananayutham-Chakravakam-MD (S)
Thyagarajagurum-Kedaram-MDR
Rajagopalam Bhajeham-MD (R,S)
Sukhi evvaro-Kanada-T (R,S)
RTP-Kambodi- Chatusra triputa.
Thani

Woh. What a concert it was. It was indeed a blockbuster concert of sorts. Any amount of adjective will be incompetent to justify this concert. Mohanam alapana was brilliant, his imagination riding high throughout. For Rajagopalam bhajeham, sparkling swaras were rendered at Parijatha thanumoolam. Kanada alapana was brief. Elaborate all traversing swaras at Suswaramuganamutho was pretty refreshing.

Abhishek's flair for the Pallavi was demonstrated once again. This time, I am happy and felt fortunate that he chose Kambodi for detailed exploration. His sojourn into the tara sthayi and dwell into the mandra sthayi and his manodharam was simply astounding. The alapana took a solid 35 minutes and thanam took 25 minutes. His lightning brighas, jarus, flashy sangathis and long sangathis all made this Kambodi unforgettable. The pallavi was in chatusra triputa- words as Koniyada tharama- nee mahima. Neraval and swaras were in ragamalika- varali, begada, poorvikalyani and shanmugapriya. The entire RTP excluding thani took 90 minutes. Abhishek took us to a different world during this 90 minutes.

Abhishek is the unique amalgam of vidwath, manodharmam, craftsmanship and exhuberance. In an earlier review I had reported that sometimes sahithyam gets drowned because of brighas. Today the sahithyam quotient was very clear. Many people including me compare Abhishek with TNS of the seventees. One more strange coincidence. Out of my huge collections of TNS concerts, I have got only one RTP Kambodi. That he rendered in 82 in TVM and this was the pallavi. Strangely Abhishek also chose this pallavi to be rendered in Kambodi.

Vittal Ramamurthy gave good support. His Mohanam alapana was outstanding. His swara returns were most appropriate. Sumesh Narayan- I am hearing for the first time. I heard that he is Thiruvarur Bhakthavalsalam’s student. There was clarity, nadam, dexterity, excellent use of thoppi and that verve and gusto needed to match Abhishek. He will definitely make it big soon. Sreesunderkumar was a good match for Sumesh. He joined the concert at the time of fourth song only as he was engaged for accompanying Sudha Raghunathan in Academy. The thani took 15 minutes and was quite engaging.

This concert will be one among my best three concerts of this season. (Season has not concluded yet).

[sridhar_ranga]

yes, still under the spell of that 110 minute or so RTP, including a very high energy thani by Sumesh & Sreesundar that came like chocolate chips added to many scoops of a delightful ice cream.

Post RTP items were a sweet sindhubhairavi & Chandrasekhara Isha followed by a short Srinivasa thiruvenkatamudaiyay.

I made a last minute decision to try my luck and look for a ticket - and there sure were some premium-tatkal tickets still available 15 minutes after the scheduled start money well spent! (It seems a good number of season pass holders had given this concert a miss and I am thankful to at least one of them whose seat I must have been given)

truptosmi; santushtosmi;; dhanyosmi;;; Abhishek will rule!

[sankark]

I felt that while others are going for abridged RTPs and robbing RTPs of their sheen and grandiosity, this one y'day on the other hand fit "aLavukku mIrinAl amudhamum nanju" (is the english equivalent "too much of a good thing"?).

[pattamaa]

seems like another grand concert.... my only crib, the sahityam part need more clarity, many times it comes out as mumbling... If sing any rare keertana, it is almost hard to understand what he is singing...

[CRama]

pattamaa- I had also made the same observation in my earlier reviews. As I had written in this review, yesterday the sahithyam parts were not immersed in brighas. It came out clearly.
sankar- it was only amudu yesterday not nanju. This season I had heard lot of concerts. I did not get time to write reviews, But this one, so great so I posted this review. Let us be magnanimous to appreciate wherever it is due. No need to use inappropriate proverbs. But I admit that tastes do differ.

[rajeshnat]

crama
Thank you for the review and the pointer that TNS has also sung . I have attended many of Abhishek concert and I have noticed among big ragas he does not take kambOdhi, that he has taken is a joy for me that too RTP. Last year in the same hall , anantha krishnan and sundar kumar were performing . I heard a portion of their concert in academy few hours before when they paired for sudha, fortunately sundar kumar can join late but not anantha .
Keep it up Abhi.