Abhishek Raghuram@kapAli temple on Apr 07th,2018
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Vocal : Abhishek Raghuram
Violin : BU Ganesh Prasad
Mrudangam : Vijay Natesan
Ghatam : GotHim Suresh
Concert Type : Nirvana - no concert to follow
Day/Duration : Saturday/ 2 hours and 50 mins
Concert Type/Crowd : Free concert
Hall : kapalieeshwarar temple, mylapore
Occasion : Paguni Isai Festival
1.shree parvathi parameshwaram - bowli - MD
2. Ananda natana prakAsam (S) - kedaram - MD
4 mins swaras
3. sambhO mahAdeva (R, N, S) - pantuvarAli - T
4 mins alapana with no violin return
neraval for 8 mins in parama dayAkara mrgadhara hara gangAdhara
3 mins swaras
4. sadAshiva bhajanamE (R) - todi - psivan
2 mins alapana
5. diwAkara tanujam (R) - yadhukulakAmbOdhi - mD
7 mins alapana and 4 mins violin return
6. karpaga manOHarA (R,S) - malayamArutham - psivan
4 mins alapana with no violin return
7. nambikettavar evaraiyyA - Hindolam - psivan
8A. akshayalinga vibhO (R N S T) - shankarabharanam - MD
19 mins alapana and 10 mins violin return
neraval in sadAshiva sachidAnanda for 4 mins
swaras for 14 mins
8B. tani for 18 mins
9. navasiddhi petrAlum - kharaharapriya - Neelakanta sivan
10. mangalam
Abhishek Raghuram@kapAli temple on Apr 07th,2018
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rajeshnat
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rajeshnat
- Posts: 10144
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
Re: Abhishek Raghuram@kapAli temple on Apr 07th,2018
Being saturday ,It was not a tough call to choose this concert over other concerts . It was a call whether to watch the CSK roar with bravO but i preferred to hear abhishek to roar . Abishek is one original and wholesome musician - a true Carnatic Super King who roars. The concert started bit late and I felt it was ok as i was late . Abhishek ended with the finishing part of shree parvathi, did not get that much from bowli but felt bad I missed it as i came up late. I never go late to concerts but once you lose touch as I heard only last concert in March , it just happens. Bowli sunrise or sunset musical muse just did not happen as i was late.
Abhishek delicately started the second with Ananda natana prakasam , another MD beauty. I created within me a collapse like situation. i checked my pocket for my mobile and i did not find it - called getting the iPhone from another prolific CM listener and dialling to my android phone , for few minutes i bit panicked. Did I lose it in the auto or did i keep it in the ambika appalam store where i had a puff . The phone did ring one full round no one picked up - more panic engulfed me. Second time one person picked up and said sir neenga ambika applam store la phone vechentunga you can come and collect .See Mylapore 150 year legacy even ambika appalam store is helping the rasika to hear carnatic music- that is thirumayilai CM supporting patronage at its best.
Few phrases in ananda natana prakasham went by and i came and heard from banu koti koti what a krithi and what a joy is to generally hear kedaram. Dikshitar gives a rigid structure and a long runway with enough phrases to sing with passion. Kedaram and Abhishek will be perhaps talked as much as his vasantha bhairavi , todi, shanmughapriya as I move on in my life. Lovely swaras bit short nevertheless great.
The next alapana in pantuvarali flowed with aggression and I was ready to take it too . The alapana was bit short and I felt he just abruptly ended . I was thinking siva siva enarAdha but i was wrong only with song but not the composer. SambhO mahadeva did have the usual aggressive thrust but the neraval that he sang was really superb . I heard the phrase dayakara mrgadhara where i heard mrgadhara as brighadhara , what can one say i immediately connected to my friend who gave me his iphone and pantuvarali of his all time favourite GNB. The neraval lines had brighas there in plenty and i thoroughly enjoyed ,the neraval excellence was followed with bit short dose of swaras , i love more swaras but i did not get it that too when the raga is pantuvarali it is a bit of disappointment.
The next alapana in todi was wonderfully started but he stopped midway and started a very rare krithi in todi . The krithi was sadashiva bhajanamE, googling i find only reference where prashant has asked lyrics and meaning .I see references of R vedavalli singing and I am not sure if any one else has sung in the past (I am assuming may be DKJ sang , can any one tell me who has sung this rare krithi sadashiva bhajanamE in todi please)
YadhukulakAmbodhi alapana was bit foggy i was not too sure if he sang a clean raga but that is some times abhishek , in my opinion he is bringing perhaps a little heavy shade of instrument like cuts that too a mix of lalgudi and mandolin shrinivas. For me i felt his krithi diwakara tanuja was sung well but the alapana before could have been bit better .
What a spectacular malayamArutham alapana . It was just 4 mins he cut all the unnecessary frills in his home and came up with a very condensed alapana very very GNBish malayamArutham , the karpaga manohara song was well sung , there was definitely originality in abundance . Nambi kettavar started well but i felt he could have gone with more dash of swaras to bring the universal appealing hindolam rasa but I and many many rasikas were happy with nambi kettavar as many in the audience sang the first few lines that is the power of hindolam and psivan and thamizh and mylapore - you sing few lines and get joy.
Abhishek alapana is his forte . He did not show his extreme competence infact i was irritated a bit that he stopped halfway in todi and pantuvarali, but in main raga shankarabharanam he showed his class. Shankarabharanam alapana is tricky raga to keep me hooked , ideas were cohesive and so original and towards the end his orientation towards aakaram were fantastic . My mind was thinking mahalakshmi jaganmathaa a bit shorter krithi , or daksinamoorthe or akshayalingavibho. In my books The best rendition of dakshinamoorthe is sung by ssi and the best of akshyalingavibho is by Ramnadkrishan . I was thinking i want ssi parama sishya to take up dakshinamoorthe but he took up akshayalinga vibho .Rendition of krithi was very nice but i felt in neraval he was bit hazy (not sure if he sang neraval or just extended the phrase bit more), not very directed with right neraval rasa in the neraval line sadashiva- possibly poor time management . In swaras konjam lot of kanakkus but he then came up with lovely sarvalaghu. The wish of SSI came up last with a brilliant navasiddhi petrAlum , these are the songs that gives so much of oomph , the kharaharapriya did not have even one phrase of khara khara thonda , i loved his navasiddhi petralum
The violinist BU ganesh prasad has his strength in controlling with extreme steadiness. I always like a bit of restrained violinist who keeps a check and that too with abhishek that check is great. But however his tone was not uniformly heard for the first half for first few songs .The mrudangist vijay natesan plays with passion , and enjoys playing . I only wish he builds a bit more muscle for mrudangam. I guess for that he need not go to his guru TVG but spend bit more time in ambika appalam before the concert . Always a pleasure to see and hear the musician ghatam suresh, for many many years in chennai i only see him in december rest of the year i donot know where he is??? Suresh is a star and a legend in the making , lovely patterns with exceptional clarity that too in tani he played with so much passion.
Abhishek Raghuram's originality was in abundance, and his voice had both deep modulation and more importantly was intensely masculine. At times a bit of irritant factor where he goes away from microphone did come a bit (I thought he lost that bad habit after 2010 , but that posture problem is again coming in). After all rajesh came to hear and not to see bale bale . I wish abhishek gives bit more time to swaras and permenantly corrects the posture problem of singing always into the microphone . All said the best part of the concert was to declare with the navasiddhi petrAlum and pavamANa. All songs were on lord shiva except the last pavamAna , i am ok with that in kapAli temple . Lovely song selection keep it up Abhishek.It was ellAm sivamayam inside the iconic kapalieeswaran temple .
Overall an excellent concert for 2 hours and 50 minutes.
Abhishek delicately started the second with Ananda natana prakasam , another MD beauty. I created within me a collapse like situation. i checked my pocket for my mobile and i did not find it - called getting the iPhone from another prolific CM listener and dialling to my android phone , for few minutes i bit panicked. Did I lose it in the auto or did i keep it in the ambika appalam store where i had a puff . The phone did ring one full round no one picked up - more panic engulfed me. Second time one person picked up and said sir neenga ambika applam store la phone vechentunga you can come and collect .See Mylapore 150 year legacy even ambika appalam store is helping the rasika to hear carnatic music- that is thirumayilai CM supporting patronage at its best.
Few phrases in ananda natana prakasham went by and i came and heard from banu koti koti what a krithi and what a joy is to generally hear kedaram. Dikshitar gives a rigid structure and a long runway with enough phrases to sing with passion. Kedaram and Abhishek will be perhaps talked as much as his vasantha bhairavi , todi, shanmughapriya as I move on in my life. Lovely swaras bit short nevertheless great.
The next alapana in pantuvarali flowed with aggression and I was ready to take it too . The alapana was bit short and I felt he just abruptly ended . I was thinking siva siva enarAdha but i was wrong only with song but not the composer. SambhO mahadeva did have the usual aggressive thrust but the neraval that he sang was really superb . I heard the phrase dayakara mrgadhara where i heard mrgadhara as brighadhara , what can one say i immediately connected to my friend who gave me his iphone and pantuvarali of his all time favourite GNB. The neraval lines had brighas there in plenty and i thoroughly enjoyed ,the neraval excellence was followed with bit short dose of swaras , i love more swaras but i did not get it that too when the raga is pantuvarali it is a bit of disappointment.
The next alapana in todi was wonderfully started but he stopped midway and started a very rare krithi in todi . The krithi was sadashiva bhajanamE, googling i find only reference where prashant has asked lyrics and meaning .I see references of R vedavalli singing and I am not sure if any one else has sung in the past (I am assuming may be DKJ sang , can any one tell me who has sung this rare krithi sadashiva bhajanamE in todi please)
YadhukulakAmbodhi alapana was bit foggy i was not too sure if he sang a clean raga but that is some times abhishek , in my opinion he is bringing perhaps a little heavy shade of instrument like cuts that too a mix of lalgudi and mandolin shrinivas. For me i felt his krithi diwakara tanuja was sung well but the alapana before could have been bit better .
What a spectacular malayamArutham alapana . It was just 4 mins he cut all the unnecessary frills in his home and came up with a very condensed alapana very very GNBish malayamArutham , the karpaga manohara song was well sung , there was definitely originality in abundance . Nambi kettavar started well but i felt he could have gone with more dash of swaras to bring the universal appealing hindolam rasa but I and many many rasikas were happy with nambi kettavar as many in the audience sang the first few lines that is the power of hindolam and psivan and thamizh and mylapore - you sing few lines and get joy.
Abhishek alapana is his forte . He did not show his extreme competence infact i was irritated a bit that he stopped halfway in todi and pantuvarali, but in main raga shankarabharanam he showed his class. Shankarabharanam alapana is tricky raga to keep me hooked , ideas were cohesive and so original and towards the end his orientation towards aakaram were fantastic . My mind was thinking mahalakshmi jaganmathaa a bit shorter krithi , or daksinamoorthe or akshayalingavibho. In my books The best rendition of dakshinamoorthe is sung by ssi and the best of akshyalingavibho is by Ramnadkrishan . I was thinking i want ssi parama sishya to take up dakshinamoorthe but he took up akshayalinga vibho .Rendition of krithi was very nice but i felt in neraval he was bit hazy (not sure if he sang neraval or just extended the phrase bit more), not very directed with right neraval rasa in the neraval line sadashiva- possibly poor time management . In swaras konjam lot of kanakkus but he then came up with lovely sarvalaghu. The wish of SSI came up last with a brilliant navasiddhi petrAlum , these are the songs that gives so much of oomph , the kharaharapriya did not have even one phrase of khara khara thonda , i loved his navasiddhi petralum
The violinist BU ganesh prasad has his strength in controlling with extreme steadiness. I always like a bit of restrained violinist who keeps a check and that too with abhishek that check is great. But however his tone was not uniformly heard for the first half for first few songs .The mrudangist vijay natesan plays with passion , and enjoys playing . I only wish he builds a bit more muscle for mrudangam. I guess for that he need not go to his guru TVG but spend bit more time in ambika appalam before the concert . Always a pleasure to see and hear the musician ghatam suresh, for many many years in chennai i only see him in december rest of the year i donot know where he is??? Suresh is a star and a legend in the making , lovely patterns with exceptional clarity that too in tani he played with so much passion.
Abhishek Raghuram's originality was in abundance, and his voice had both deep modulation and more importantly was intensely masculine. At times a bit of irritant factor where he goes away from microphone did come a bit (I thought he lost that bad habit after 2010 , but that posture problem is again coming in). After all rajesh came to hear and not to see bale bale . I wish abhishek gives bit more time to swaras and permenantly corrects the posture problem of singing always into the microphone . All said the best part of the concert was to declare with the navasiddhi petrAlum and pavamANa. All songs were on lord shiva except the last pavamAna , i am ok with that in kapAli temple . Lovely song selection keep it up Abhishek.It was ellAm sivamayam inside the iconic kapalieeswaran temple .
Overall an excellent concert for 2 hours and 50 minutes.
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SrinathK
- Posts: 2481
- Joined: 13 Jan 2013, 16:10
Re: Abhishek Raghuram@kapAli temple on Apr 07th,2018
One interesting thing was that he increased the shruti by a whole step before starting the Hindolam. This was preplanned. Interesting. I've never seen that before.
The concert went all the way past 9 30 (and might have gone even longer had it not been time to close) making it the longest one in the Utsavam by far. Magnificent tani avartanam (though interrupted by the temple bell at one point)
Abhishek's grip over laya allows him to do some complicated things in his manodharma on a whole other level. He goes for totally no holds barred cerebral exuberance and thoroughly enjoys every moment of his singing. His swara singing is a tani avartanam in itself. The alapana is a roller coaster of traditional phrases, extensive brighas and many unusual phrases. Brain and Brawn overwhelm and astonish.
Just for good measure, at the end of Navasiddhi petrAlum, he sang the same brigha that Semmangudi popularized in his alapana for the plate recording of this song. Even the mangalam was no exemption.
His intensity has a special appeal to his audience. In the process, boundaries often blur, but he wouldn't be Abhishek otherwise.
He's almost mastered the bridge between his chest and mid voices (which he uses for his upper octave almost seamlessly and which gives him huge range). He has a huge lower octave down to the lower Sa which he showed in his Hindolam.
An Abhishek concert can only be described as being a seated passenger in a two seat F1 car and hanging on for dear life as he thrashes it through the corners in ways you wouldn't think a car could handle. Absolutely flat out ballistic. I hope however, that in the long run he doesn't wear himself or his voice out, but looking at the way he sings, he throws his voice around a lot, but he doesn't seem to strain at any point in his vocal range, which is good.
Now if you were expecting a very classic aura like that of Vijaysiva the previous day, he isn't the type. But he is a rockstar in the CM world, even senior citizens turn into long forgotten youngsters, such is the palpable impact of the energy in his music.
The concert went all the way past 9 30 (and might have gone even longer had it not been time to close) making it the longest one in the Utsavam by far. Magnificent tani avartanam (though interrupted by the temple bell at one point)
Abhishek's grip over laya allows him to do some complicated things in his manodharma on a whole other level. He goes for totally no holds barred cerebral exuberance and thoroughly enjoys every moment of his singing. His swara singing is a tani avartanam in itself. The alapana is a roller coaster of traditional phrases, extensive brighas and many unusual phrases. Brain and Brawn overwhelm and astonish.
Just for good measure, at the end of Navasiddhi petrAlum, he sang the same brigha that Semmangudi popularized in his alapana for the plate recording of this song. Even the mangalam was no exemption.
His intensity has a special appeal to his audience. In the process, boundaries often blur, but he wouldn't be Abhishek otherwise.
He's almost mastered the bridge between his chest and mid voices (which he uses for his upper octave almost seamlessly and which gives him huge range). He has a huge lower octave down to the lower Sa which he showed in his Hindolam.
An Abhishek concert can only be described as being a seated passenger in a two seat F1 car and hanging on for dear life as he thrashes it through the corners in ways you wouldn't think a car could handle. Absolutely flat out ballistic. I hope however, that in the long run he doesn't wear himself or his voice out, but looking at the way he sings, he throws his voice around a lot, but he doesn't seem to strain at any point in his vocal range, which is good.
Now if you were expecting a very classic aura like that of Vijaysiva the previous day, he isn't the type. But he is a rockstar in the CM world, even senior citizens turn into long forgotten youngsters, such is the palpable impact of the energy in his music.
Last edited by SrinathK on 09 Apr 2018, 07:56, edited 1 time in total.
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newid
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Re: Abhishek Raghuram@kapAli temple on Apr 07th,2018
I like this description. I feel like he is in his adventurous prime at the moment, and hope he will settle into little more accessible and musical presentation style eventually. His voice has dramatically matured over the past 3 years, and so has his penchant for cerebral, mathematical explorations. Incredibly virtuosic as his kanakku might be, his voice, range and throw are themselves extraordinary, and draping them around some melodic, linear songs would be a treat also.An Abhishek concert can only be described as being a seated passenger in a two seat F1 car and hanging on for dear life as he thrashes it through the corners in ways you wouldn't think a car could handle. Absolutely flat out ballistic. I hope however, that in the long run he doesn't wear himself or his voice out, but looking at the way he sings, he throws his voice around a lot, but he doesn't seem to strain at any point in his vocal range, which is good.
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rajeshnat
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Re: Abhishek Raghuram@kapAli temple on Apr 07th,2018
Great points srinathk and newid , I think his USP is to really get into such intensity in a very short time which comes as flashes . In krithi rendition and neraval it comes very well . In alapana he stands way too excellent as a kind of outlier. But swaras I would love to respectfully disagree with Srinathk (he states that swaras are a tani avartanam by itself).
VEry very happy that concert was not wrapped at 08 30 . Few years back i attended brinda and vijaysiva both were 2 + hours concert . If the concert did not go long towards 3 hours , how would i get the navasiddhi petralum in the grand kharaharapriya.
VEry very happy that concert was not wrapped at 08 30 . Few years back i attended brinda and vijaysiva both were 2 + hours concert . If the concert did not go long towards 3 hours , how would i get the navasiddhi petralum in the grand kharaharapriya.
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SrinathK
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Re: Abhishek Raghuram@kapAli temple on Apr 07th,2018
If I had known you were there, we could have met. Maybe another day...
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rajeshnat
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Re: Abhishek Raghuram@kapAli temple on Apr 07th,2018
I was there seated in 3rd row of forward shortleg position if you consider abhishek is a right handed batsman facing the crowd. Where were you seated . My fellow rasika who gave his iphone was lalitharam ramachandran- a phenomenal rasika who was there till half point of the concert he had to leave post the joy of hearing his idol GNB'ish malayamArutham.
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sureshvv
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SrinathK
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Re: Abhishek Raghuram@kapAli temple on Apr 07th,2018
I was amongst a bunch of people sitting on the floor right at Vayillar Nayanar. Right next to the stage (and a direct view to Karpagambal). The photographer's favourite spot.
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rajeshnat
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Re: Abhishek Raghuram@kapAli temple on Apr 07th,2018
You were seated in silly point and with two forward short leg (me and gamakam )atleast the last ball was a navasiddhi petrAlum that was a sixer that went of mylapore to the CSK occupied chepauk ground on that day. BravO abhishek
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Narayanan NB
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Re: Abhishek Raghuram@kapAli temple on Apr 07th,2018
Thanks for your review. His bass has developed very nicely over recently. Was he singing in 1.5 kattai shruti?
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Sivaramakrishnan
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Re: Abhishek Raghuram@kapAli temple on Apr 07th,2018
Pl clarify:
Did the accompanying artists too adjust the pitch of their instruments?
Did AR revert to the earlier sruti after Hindolam?
(I didn't attend the concert)
(There's a possibility that the singer might have tuned the pitch to Madhyamasruti as many do while handling Hindolam which is Panchama varjya and having suddha madhyama in the scale. This will not alter the base sruti.)
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SrinathK
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Re: Abhishek Raghuram@kapAli temple on Apr 07th,2018
No, he clearly did go up a whole key (+ 1 kattai). B U Ganesh Prasad changed to a second violin. The Mridangam was tuned up and Ghatam Suresh switched to a second ghatam. And that's where it stayed afterward till the end. Abhishek even announced a couple of minutes delay for everyone to finish tuning.
There was no acoustic tambura for this concert either. It was part of the concert planning.
There was no acoustic tambura for this concert either. It was part of the concert planning.
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Narayanan NB
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Re: Abhishek Raghuram@kapAli temple on Apr 07th,2018
Heard him sing a n 1.5 kattai in one of his recent concerts. What was his Shruti?
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Sivaramakrishnan
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Re: Abhishek Raghuram@kapAli temple on Apr 07th,2018
Thanks for the clarification, Srinath.
But this must be first time ever in the history of carnatic music!
There could have been rare instances in the past where a singer lowered the pitch due to tiresomeness half the way into the recital.
But here's a man opting for a higher Sruti that too before the 'Main'! Incredible. God bless!
But this must be first time ever in the history of carnatic music!
There could have been rare instances in the past where a singer lowered the pitch due to tiresomeness half the way into the recital.
But here's a man opting for a higher Sruti that too before the 'Main'! Incredible. God bless!
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SrinathK
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Re: Abhishek Raghuram@kapAli temple on Apr 07th,2018
I theorise his voice opened up as the concert went on, and he used the effect, but even then, I've never seen or heard anyone do this live. Curiously, this would be one thing all my teachers would strongly recommend against as they felt it would affect the voice in the long run.