Abhishek Raghuram-Bellevue WA 03-02-08

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 03 Mar 2008, 13:15

Abhishek Raghuram- Vocal
Mysore Srikant- Violin
Ganapathy Raman- Mridangam
Ravi Balasubramanian- Ghatam

nAdatanumanisham- cittaranjani- Adi (T) -R
tyAgaraja gurum AshrayE â€“kEdAram Adi (MDR) -R
nI samAnamevaru- SubhapantuvarALi- Adi (GNB)-Main -R,N,S
SAntamu lEkha- sAma- Adi (T) -R
AndavanE unnai nambinEn-ShanmukhapriyA (PS) -R,S
nanEke badavanu- bEhAg (PD)-R N?S
tillAnA- darbAri kAnaDa- (L J)
mangaLam (T)

When I heard this youngster was going to perform I went to attend not knowing what to expect. I thought it must be someone with less mature voice, less experienceâ€¦.
I came out saying wow!

He seemed to have a unique style of presentation. He sang with lot of imagination, unusual at some places-maybe thatâ€™s what he was trying to convey -that he is different.
I liked his brigha-laden singing-didnâ€™t seem excessive.
And his voice- very good bass voice, sounded good in all three octaves. His voice cracked a couple of times but it did not affect the overall performance. His laya gnanam was so excellent and he could sing to the beat not having to keep one with his hands (he certainly has inherited this).

He sang alapana for almost all the pieces.
I wish he had started the concert with a varnam . The kEdAram sketch was very good and the MDR kriti presentation was excellent. He soon jumped into the main piece â€“SubhapantuvarALi. This was superb and I thoroughly enjoyed having just learnt a kriti in this raga recently. I couldnâ€™t identify the GNB piece he presented but the neraval at "vAsudEvuni prIya sOdari" was done well. This piece lasted for more than 1 Hour. This was followed by tani Avartanam-I enjoyed it even though I didnâ€™t follow much. Both the mridangist and the ghatam players were good throughout the concert and were well appreciated.

Now who says CM artists cannot elaborate a Hindustani raga bEhAg? Abhishek presented a bEhAg alapana which was good yet seemed at places a bit unusual. It took me a while to identify. I thought it would be short sketch but it went on and on. After he finished his alapana the violinist asked to continue singing the kriti, but Abhishek prodded him to present a solo. Mysore Srikant presented a real bEhAg which was a pleasure to hear. He was just excellent throughout the concert.

Lalgudi tillAnA in darbAri kAnaDa was a scintillating one.

Overall I felt this youngster was performing his best to himself. The message seemed â€œif you are a true rasika then you will listen to meâ€

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 03 Mar 2008, 13:57

Suji Ram wrote:tillAnA- darbAri kAnaDa- (L J)

Suji,
Abhishek is certainly a great artist , we all need to watch this promising vidwan. To the best of my knowledge the tillAnA in darbAri kAnaDA is a composition of Thanjavur S KalyAnarAman. Tx for your review ,could you add R N S too in your reviews.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 03 Mar 2008, 14:31

Suji: That is a nice review..

How big was the crowd at Bellevue? Being close to Microsoft and Amazon and the heavy concentration of Indians in that area, I would expect a fairly big turn out.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 03 Mar 2008, 21:19

Suji,
Welcome to the club of reviewers! You did better than I did when I wrote my first one. Of course, we appreciate your playing the violin for us too.
Abhishek's khanjira playing is just as impressive.
It is interesting what you say about his singing a subhapantuvarALi which was great and behAg which was intriguing. I had the same mixed feelings about his handling a couple of rAgAs when I heard him in the 2007 season...

basukrish · Post by **basukrish** » 03 Mar 2008, 21:59

If u have taken a Picture I wud like to see it... can u upload it here?

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 04 Mar 2008, 01:26

Thanks all. I am not a real reviewer here. Just a dabblers point of view...but evolving surely.

rajesh
I overheard someone say the thillAna is LJ -wish I asked the artist. Now after hearing both the darbAri kAnaDa thillana on the web I cannot pin point which he presented but would lean towards LJ. I had written down some parts which include taka tarikita dhIm thillana, not sure if both have these wordings. The caranam seemed like LJ's too. Wish I could press a button in my brain to listen to the entire concert again.

VK,
Unfortunately the crowd was very sparse inspite of the Msoft and Amazon folks. Concerts here are always like that sadly. We also have a music school here but I did not see many from there either.
I sat in the front row and a quick glance behind saw mostly seniors!, and ragamala organizers. Only 2 kids in the whole auditorium.The only time we see big crowds is during temple fund-raising concerts with dinner included, for concerts such as KJY or L Subramanian or Ravikiran(jugalbandis). But then I do not know how appreciative this crowd is of the pure classical music. It is more about being there.

Arasi,
I cannot make any judgement about the ragas he presented. For sure I enjoyed his SubhapantuvarAli sketch as I knew the dimensions of the raga and could follow so well having recently learnt it. Same with kEdAram and sAma-both I have learnt in past 2 months. Such is the advantage when one is a learner and a rasika. I cannot say much on bEhAg but I liked it esp. the violinist's solo.

With Subhapantuvarali, bEhag and Darbari kanada even a HM rasika could have enjoyed this concert.

I did take a picture with my cellphone- will try to put it up here.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 04 Mar 2008, 01:57

It is more about being there.

Good observation and quite true. A lot of times that matters a lot even if one is only tangentially interested in music.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 04 Mar 2008, 09:20

VK,
The same story everywhere in the world. You scientists can't figure this one out, I'm sure. Why is a good concert sparsely attended on a given day?
Among rasikAs:
Seriously wanted to be there but unexpected company at the last minute. Indisposition. Too far from your place and the question of finding transportation t that hour and so on.
For those who weren't there otherwise:
Knows CM, even learnt it, but is happy to listen to CM in the comfort of one's own home, prefers film music any day, is not curious even to attend one concert, spouse is not at all interested, has to go to a party etc.
It is interesting you mention a music school. How about the students from there? May be a sports meet at school, who knows?

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 04 Mar 2008, 09:33

Suji Ram wrote:rajesh
I overheard someone say the thillAna is LJ -wish I asked the artist. Now after hearing both the darbAri kAnaDa thillana on the web I cannot pin point which he presented but would lean towards LJ. I had written down some parts which include taka tarikita dhIm thillana, not sure if both have these wordings. The caranam seemed like LJ's too. Wish I could press a button in my brain to listen to the entire concert again.

Shri LGJ has indeed composed a thillana in darbAri KAnaDA as per this url http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?pid=70656 and the phrase "taka tarikita dhIm" is indeed there.

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 04 Mar 2008, 10:00

Arasi,
what you say is so true. But the reasons are not the same for a film music concert or any other program.
I sent out a special email for students/parents to attend this concert esp because Manoj Siva was originally going to perform. The students here are learning the same style and I thought it would be interesting for them. None of them turned up.

But here I am who has 100 reasons why I want to attend a concert. I cancelled a preplanned dinner to attend Neyveli's concert next week

I myself couldn't attend few in the past because I couldn't find an escort- esp those that are far off in shady places, otherwise I would at any cost. And then I have this immense fear of crossing the floating bridges here late night(that is the only valid reason for me sometimes).

basukrish · Post by **basukrish** » 04 Mar 2008, 21:57

Excuse me photo!!!

basukrish · Post by **basukrish** » 04 Mar 2008, 21:58

basukrish wrote:Excuse me photo!!!

.

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 05 Mar 2008, 00:08

basukrish · Post by **basukrish** » 05 Mar 2008, 15:52

Suji Ram wrote:http://i32.tinypic.com/j8eh02.jpg

That is so nice of u Suji ram

drrppankaja · Post by **drrppankaja** » 26 Apr 2008, 23:21

nothing like listening to a concert by abhishek, right from the varnam to the mangalam through the ragas, neravals , swaras and, even the momentary pause in between will be significant and simply leaves one mesmerised by the saukhyam in his music.