Abhishek Raghuram@Narada Gana Sabha on Dec 27th,2017

[rajeshnat]

Abhishek Raghuram@Narada Gana Sabha on Dec 27th,2017
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Vocal : Abhishek Raghuram
Violin : Akkarai Subhalakshmi
Mrudangam : Anantha R Krishan

Concert Type : Nirvana - No concert to follow
Day/Duration : Wednesday/ 2 hours and 15 mins (7:05 pm to 09:20 pm)
Concert Type: Ticketed Concert
Hall : NGS Main Hall

1. BuddhamAsryAmi (R) - nAttaikurinji -MD
4 mins alapana

2. ninnE nammiti nayya (R N S)- simmhendra madhyamam - MV
4 mins alapana
7 mins nerval in pannagendra sayanA
10 mins swaras

3A. koniyAdina nApai (R ,CS ,S ,T)- kAmbOdhi - Veenai kuppaiyer
22 mins alapana 10 mins violin return
swaras for 15 mins
3B. tani for 19 mins

4. bhaja bhaja mAnasa hari(R) - sindhubhairavi -ST
5A. prathiki hAra theerE - shurutti
5B. nee nAma roopamulaku - sowrashtram


There are quite a few crowd pullers in year 2017 season . Few dont interest me despite their crowd pulling capacity but atleast sanjay in MA and Abhishek in NGS interests me . I guess it was an A Plus team for both .Sanjay had Varadu,Venkatesh and Anirudh in Academy and Abhishek had a Akkarai and Anantha R krishnan and the time clashed. I was particularly interested in hearing Anantha R Krishnan and the memory of hearing him is bit more far when compared to hearing Neyveli Venkatesh. All said I decided to go to NGS for listening to the finest brother combo .

Abhishek has a great voice , his strength is always alapana where quite frankly many have struggled to keep up with this kind of pouring ideas. Also at times I have just noticed Abhishek brings in a lot of Lalgudi or a mandolin typecast where the sangathis have an instrumental finish and it is not complete open throated singing. This was the mind set that I had before the start based on my atleast 20 to 30 concerts that i have heard of him since 2003/2004 time frame.

The start was lovely being wednesday the MD krithi on buddhan was so apt . HIs alapana and krithi rendition had a very poignant texture , kind of reminded me of MDR . I guess buddhamasryami has predominantly 2 flavours one is MMI and may be the other is MDR. I felt abhishek zoned with slow phrases , the voice texture in nattaikurinji with its descent was well done . The krithi rendition of MD was clean .

He next moved to a fairly detailed alapana of simmhendra madhyamam , the taps of anantha was getting more regimented and it was a lovely presentation with adequate drops by the third AAA Akkarai. The krithi neraval in pannagendra sayana was done with extreme artisty and I enjoyed it . Swaras were in his zone with a nice pointed brigas and overall it was well done.

Then the next Big 6 raga came . Quite frankly all these years I have wondered that Abhishek has been not singing that much of kambOdhi . My experience of hearing say todi, kalyani , sbharanam is high in count , the Kharaharapriya and bhairavi has been also there but I have not heard him sing in any live concert a kAmbOdhi main. In short among Big 6 Abhishek does not take too often kAMbOdhi, This young genius presented the expressive KAMbOdhi in a fantafabulous way atleast till almost 70% of the course. Unquestionably it was one of the finest alapana that I have heard , abhishek does not pause and give a sag and he keeps ideating with intense sparkling swirls of the majestic kAmbODhi. There were few pointers like adhara na na that reminded a bit of Semmangudi but overall the alapana showed his artistry that is championed with a very high manodharmam. HE moved on to the magnum opus koniYadina , how many sangathis with the first phrase kOniyadina alone in pallavi ,it was kAmbodhi in different shades . The cittaswaras were nice and in swaras he started very well . Till this time my occassional crib of abhishek going in an excess freewheeling mode was certainly not there . In swaras I felt a kind of unease sometime during the midpoint as I felt there was a slight lapse in concentration in me . I believe his excess grip in layam may have contributed to me within me a sense of slight kAmbOdhi fatigue . The joy of the two accompanist was superbly demonstrated in KAmBOdhi . IF there was one thing that I did not like is abhishek not giving an enough rasa for me to get his swara swirls - a bit of higher intellect with a dose of entropy . Post swaras abhishek just had one try with a swati tirunal tukkada in sindhu bhairavi with his deep throated sindhubhairavi

Akkarai played very well and her reply in both simmhendra madhyamam and kAmbodhi was clean. What can i Say with this genius Anantha KRishnan , I am not sure if he played tani or was Mannargudi vasudevan a thavil vidwan who played tani. Such fast fingers with such high intensity MR Mrudangam created magic , mrudangam was played in a tavil super fast mode . Anantha is a true legend in the making.

NGS Main is just not giving time and the artist had to wrap in 2 hours and 15 mins time . There was not much time for artists to showcase say an RTP . A big sabha should give more time atleast 2 hours and 30 mins to may be 3 hours for every artist . Post KAmbOdhi the concert got quickly wrapped.

Overall an excellent concert for 2 hours and 20 minutes .

[Sachi_R]

Rajesh,
Great review.
Three lines describe what I might have felt had I been sitting next to you:

abhishek not giving an enough rasa for me to get his swara swirls - a bit of higher intellect with a dose of entropy .

third AAA Akkarai.

mrudangam was played in a tavil super fast mode .

Easily the three most talented Carnatic musicians born between 1980 and 1990 or there about

[shankarabharanam]

Rajesh very good review. But if you look at the schedule, they seem to have one concert at 4 PM and the next one at 7Pm. So technically the first concert performer has 2.5hrs and the second one too can sing for 2.5hrs.

I feel Abhsihek got hit with concert planning.. he has done two 4
Min alapana and close to 10 mins swaram for simmhendra madhyamam. And he has take. 30 mins just for main piece Alapana which includes the violin return. Ideally a 2.5 hr concert one can have 40 min pallavi, one hourfor Main and the rest for others. Of course agree he is an artist who can’t be closed in a time capsule.

Also if the main piece was so fulfilling that one doesn’t need a RTP then so be it. Sometimes I feel a well rendered krithi with a fantastic Alapana, neraval and krithi is far better than namesake rtps

[sankark]

Also if the main piece was so fulfilling that one doesn’t need a RTP then so be it. Sometimes I feel a well rendered krithi with a fantastic Alapana, neraval and krithi is far better than namesake rtps

Hear hear!

[sureshvv]

Plus in Abhishek's concerts Ragam, Tanam etc, can be all one continuum.

[rajeshnat]

Plus in Abhishek's concerts Ragam, Tanam etc, can be all one continuum.

One continuum where the violin plays the taanam and the vocalist usually skips the taanam

[sureshvv]

Or sometimes even the raga alapana escapes into tanam domain. As he finishes the alapana, you feel like you have just heard the tanam sung (sans the syllables).

[rajeshnat]

Rajesh very good review. But if you look at the schedule, they seem to have one concert at 4 PM and the next one at 7Pm. So technically the first concert performer has 2.5hrs and the second one too can sing for 2.5hrs.

I feel Abhsihek got hit with concert planning.. he has done two 4
Min alapana and close to 10 mins swaram for simmhendra madhyamam. And he has take. 30 mins just for main piece Alapana which includes the violin return. Ideally a 2.5 hr concert one can have 40 min pallavi, one hourfor Main and the rest for others. Of course agree he is an artist who can’t be closed in a time capsule.

Also if the main piece was so fulfilling that one doesn’t need a RTP then so be it. Sometimes I feel a well rendered krithi with a fantastic Alapana, neraval and krithi is far better than namesake rtps

Getting 15 mins extra IS A HUGE plus 3 days back because of that extra 15 mins i got a 40 mins srothaswani pallavi for 40 mins which was superb, Of course in this case Abhishek and Anantha paired leaving out upapakkavadyam also , it was to showcase more Anantha , i was bit surprised for big sabhas upapakkavadyam is not there , all this may be a deliberate choice with them knowing it is a 15 mins censored concert than usual 150 mins . IN abhi's case in this concert the koniyadina itself is a very expansive krithi after his usual alapana (he is an alapana genius) , so as such 2 hours and 15 mins was constraining his delivery. i wish evening concerts are mandated especially open ended to atleast 2 hours and 30 minutes in smaller sabhas but big sabhas can have 3 hours. In abhi-anantha-akkarai it could have gone till 10 pm, those who want to leave they can leave . Some how only sanjay pulls that and stretches using his contacts and power .

[rajeshnat]

Or sometimes even the raga alapana escapes into tanam domain. As he finishes the alapana, you feel like you have just heard the tanam sung (sans the syllables).

taanum needs anom nam tom phrases . For me personally abhishek outsourcing taanam to violin is usually the case (happens even in many US concerts) , I find minimally irritated or maximum letdown . He takes voice rest some how he just does not showcase his potential. As such whatever you say above is not resonating at all to me.

[sureshvv]

Some how only sanjay pulls that and stretches using his contacts and power .

And most importantly, "intent".

[rajeshnat]

Some how only sanjay pulls that and stretches using his contacts and power .

And most importantly, "intent".

95% of musicians struggle with stamina , i would say may be around 10 in say 100 musicians are daring to sing and have "intent". But intent cannot be a controlling lever it is only secondary lever, positioning with power and contact is the key . To that extent I love academy yaara irundaalum 2 and half hours you have to wrap - no favoritism in time axis, They are the most fair sabha.

[sureshvv]

It is like in the David vs Goliath story. Some will credit the sling that David carried, some others will credit the God that he believed in. But anyone should be able to see that what got him through was his "intent".

Sanjay slays a 11 foot dragon in every one of his concerts. Sometimes there is blood. Sometimes lots of it. Sometimes it is surgical. Take it from someone who was watched them from close quarters.

[rajeshnat]

I was just googling to find if abhishek has sung koniyAdina before. I got a lovely link way back to dec 2001.I just got started in season but I did not know steve waugh and mark waugh then. I only knew Don bradman(palakkad raghu) then. See this writeup
http://carnatica.in/mmmela2001/abhishek.html

All said I was immensely pleased that he took stormbODhi main as he very rarely sings this main 6 raga - KAmbODhi