Abhishek Anantha starrer: Blockbuster at SRLKM BGS 9/2/2017

[Sachi_R]

What do you call an Abhishek Anantha (+Charulatha GuruPrasanna) 3 hour 20 min concert with unprecedented melody, laya, eternal Thyagaraja classics, overflowing raga+niraval+swara+Tanam+grahabheda pallavi+Unforgettable masterclass tani concert that kept everyone on the edge of their seats ALL THE TIME?
A blockbuster to end all blockbusters.
1. Vanajakshi Kalyani adi varna
2. O jagadamba
3. Shobhillu
4. Sarame kani Pantuvarali, 40 min tani
5. Heccharikaga Rara
6. Nama kusuma
7. Shankarabharana RTP w grahabheda pallavi - Kalyani, Todi
8. Revathi Adi deva
9. Patiki Haratire
10. Pavamana

[arasi]

Sachi,

The concert had so many highlights. All on stage did shine. Yadukula kAmbOdhi was a treat for me. I hadn't heard Abhishek in a live concert for several years. All the talents he possesses were in full display today.

Cousin of course is an asset of an accompanist, Charulatha sparkled, and all the super speed sangathis were so well-matched by her. Her tAnam was topnotch. I look forward to listening to her again on Sunday when she accompanies Neela Ramgopal.

Guruprasanna's playing appeals to me no end. So, what more can I say?

And, where were you sitting? Wish I had spotted you...

[Sachi_R]

Arasi, Not taking away any credit from the excellent accompaniment of Charulatha or Guruprasanna.
I am a great admirer of Charulatha's violin playing and style of accompaniment especially to masters like Abhishek and RKM.
I don't need to emphasize how good Guruprasanna is.

But today belonged to Abhishek and Anantha. They were in a zone. In Pantuvarali, in the so many Thyagaraja masterpieces, in the improvisations.

Anantha's accompaniment and tani were full of the "Raghu factor of excellence". {I have heard Palghat Raghu for 35 years....} And Anantha played some really unbelievable passages of clarity, speed, laya tautness, combinations, wowowowow. And Abhishek, in the raga essays -Pantuvarali and Shankarabharana, Shree, in tanam, in pallavi. He rose to the stratosphere.


Just my opinion. Many rasikas were present and will add their bit. ( I was sitting less than six feet away from you ).

[arasi]

Agreed, Anantha's playing was a delight--even a tALA impaired person like me could relish every single minute of it. How many years is it now? A dozen? I heard him in Ramarao Mantap, accompanying Subhiksha Rangarajan. I didn't know his lineage then, but knew that he was going to shine.

Yes, that pantuvarALi of Abhishek was a special brand, and I failed to mention it...

[kssr]

Great. Two back to back electrifying concerts. As I have grown traffophobic and crowdophobic, did not attend these wonderful concerts.

Sankarabharanam main by Sanjay and RTP by Abhishek. That would have been a bit too much for me. In yester years artists would normally ask what the earlier artists in a series took up for Main and try not to repeat. It may be difficult today, in a jet setting world, I guess.

Will try to attend a couple of concerts in the rest of the series.

[Sachi_R]

KSSR,
The choice of main/RTP was triggered a bit by audience choice. After YK, Abhishek said he would like people to suggest the RTP raga. A wide range of enthusiastic shouts went up, from a vociferous Brindavana saranga to Nalinakanti. He said the requests were too many and so he will choose for himself Then Charulatha whispered to Abhishek that he should sing Nama Kusuma. Very sportingly, he told the audience RTP has been deferred and did a great job of Nama kusuma. He uses no notes so he got a slight cue for the second line from CR.
Then RTP.. again the raga shouts. He said smilingly that Brin Sar was not right just after Shree. The he said he will sing a raga closr enough to Nalinakanti (Shankarabharana). Since Guruprasanna had to catch a bus soon, AR said, the RTP will be proportioned accordingly.
Wrapped up in 25 min or so, I believe the Shankarabharana raga, tana, pallavi, grahabheda etc. were outstanding, and I would venture AR's S'bharana RTP would have been nothing like Sanjay's main (which I didn't hear ) Both are at the highest level of course
BTW the audio, from where I sat for RTP, sounded fabulous.

[hnbhagavan]

Sri RSachi and Madam Arasi have made my job easier by their detailed postings.What a concert?it can only be experienced.perhaps abhishek is doing what a young Balamurali did years ago. He is showing the maturity and confidence in his performances.Yesterday's concert was no exception.I also noticed he has improved on concert planning and timings.However the Thani was a bit longer than usual.When you give choices for a large audience,you are likely to get many shouts and hence better avoided.
The song Nama kusuma was really the icing on the cake.
Overall concert was very satisfying with great accompaniments and one could experience the united chemistry on stage.
BGS Managing Committee has done a good job in the renovation with limited resources available.They started with a grand multistory plan,but could not garner the required funds.Hence Rasikas have to be satisfied with better chairs,refurbished toilet and little cosmetic changes in the overall looks.
The problem of parking still remains.However arrangements in place for limited parking in the near by Compound.

[arasi]

kssr,
Distances in Bengaluru are more daunting nowadays, true.

What a line up! Would have loved to have attended M.S.Sheela's concert.Haven't heard her in a long while. Shashank was another miss. And today, I miss Amrutha Venkatesh (I listened to her Swathi concert in bits on You Tube, and hers is the best rendition of ViSvESvar darSan kar I've ever heard, I think). We rasikAs have our valid reasons for not being present at GS when such a feast of music is going on. And all the effort which goes into making such a thing happen!

Bhagwan,
I missed seeing you too.

As for performers taking up same rAgAs for elaborating in a concert series, it happens--and no harm done. Sanjay and Abhishek's concerts were a few days apart, and both had two different approaches to the majestic rAGA, and they were wrought with different textures. Moreover, both their SankarAbharaNams fitted into different schemes--the results of the two artistes building their concerts up in their own way.

No comparisons. Both gave us heaping helpings of very good music...