Abhishek Raghuram@MFAC(pallavi DarbAr) on Aug 04th,2011

[rajeshnat]

Abhishek Raghuram@MFAC(pallavi DarbAr) on Aug 04th,2011
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Vocal : Abhishek Raghuram
Violin : Akkarai subbulakshmi
Mrudangam : Ananth Krishnan
KanjirA : KV Gopalakrishnan

Concert duration/Day : 1 hour and 40 minutes / Thursday
Occassion : Exclusive Pallavi Concert - TrikAla trirAga pallavi
Sponsors : Carnatica

It was an exlusive TrikAla trirAga pallavi concert .The budding and brilliant youngster Abhishek choosed Saveri, tOdi and behAg ragas and the pallavi was in Tisra Ekam - Kanda nadai .

RAgas Rendering (37 mins inclusive of violin return):
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Abhishek is blessed with a voice and as the curtains were just not opened as he hummed , we could get a taste of his voice quality. The curtains unfolded with Abhishek's voice already unfolded with the Saveri rAga .SAveri a raga that usually is dwelt in a tranquilizing mode has been handled bit different by few musicians like SSI ,GNB etal . Abhishek's strength in general is unquestionably alApana , he built sangathi after sangathi in a methodical fashion in SAveri for about 13 mins and handed over to akkarai , who in my opinion played a more pracheena rAgam of saveri for about 6 mins.

The alAp continued with tOdi , and it was more brigha inbuilt and I liked his manodharmam touch, the voice was cooperating with his
manodharmam and tOdi was for about 10 mins .behAg had no vocal alapana it was only akkarai who played in violin for about 6 mins.

Overall alApana was extremely fulfilling with abhishek winding in the last few minutes with each avarthana in rotation with all 3 ragas , I and cool were bit restless but audience seemed to lap it up more. I personally wished he had given more stickiness it was changing too rapidly, nevertheless this is pallavi concert one has to experiment , I have to give it to this brilliant youngster.

Tanam Rendering (19 mins):
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Tanam was almost in and out in Todi , he started in todi and it had his nadaswara style of rendering ,brigas in plenty . todi tanAm for 14 mis was followed with behAg for 5 mins, the behag had more alapanish phrases , strangely the sAveri was just touched once towards the end , looked almost it was a 2 raga tanam . Though I would have loved the addition of mridangam with tanam. tAnam was creative presentation for sure

[rajeshnat]

Pallavi Rendering (for 34 mins):
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The pallavi line was in nilathA(5) maRulu KONtini(8) vAni Pai chAlA(5) sadAnandA(8)
The no's indicate the beats , abhishek did not sing those numbers (ahA ahA)

While in tanam sAveri was almost not touched , here he neravified (spread fairly well) in all 3 ragas with todi taking a lion's share.The first kAlam was in tOdi, the second in sAveri and the third in behAg.Pallavi had a very layam and rhythmn centric flavour and I liked his endurance in belting sangathis after sangathis.

Also the tani was interspersed where mridangam was played at the end of todi and kanjira was played before the trikAlam , the tani was distributed for 8 mins in the 34 mins pallavi.

Swaras Rendering (for 8 mins):
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I am swara phile , but obviously Abhishek planned a laya phile pallavi .Swaras were done very good , especially behag was very nice that brimmed with energy.

Accompanist:
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Akkarai usually has a more melodic bowing but overall she played good. Anantha Krishnan played well though overall the volume was bit too loud in general and there was wonderful support by KVG.

Few Shortcomings :
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1. behAg alapana was handed over to violin and without vocal alapana. possibly if had reduced todi or saveri and also sang behag alapana I would have loved it better.

2. In tAnam without Saveri it was bit scratching our heads scenario , i wish abhishek channelises and goes in line with alapana and did not skip.

Possibly #1 and #2 are all today's (un?)wanted innovation.

3. Volume for this concert was loud and also previous concert of Suguna P which was louder .

Conclusively:
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Abhishek is a very creative musician . What I liked immensely about this young vidwan is his voice and his brighas are just falling at right place always blending with his rich manOdharmam.

Overall an excellent concert for 1 hour and 40 mins

[mahavishnu]

Rajesh, thanks for your review. I think you have captured the essence of Abhishek's style in your review.
Akkarai is rapidly evolving into an extraordinary violinist. I happened to hear a recording of her Behag alapanai; it was very original.

Did you happen to attend Sandeep Narayanan's pallavi concert? I heard that he sang a very Sanjay-esque SarasAngi.

[CRama]

I was hearing the voice of Abhishek Raghuram for the first time. I have not heard him even in radio or CD. He has a very pleasant voice which can handle any octave with ease. Before the curtains were drawn he was singing Hameerkalyani which itself gave a glimpse of the wonderful exposition which was to come.
He started with a detailed alapana of Saveri which lasted for about 15 minutes. Such a detailed alapana of Saveri you will not hear very frequently. This was followed by another detailed alapana of Thodi-also for 15 minutes. Both the alapana were well structured, methodical, sumptuous and his manodharmam was reigning high. May be because of lack of time, he gave the alapana of Behag to Akkarai which she handled superbly for 7 minutes. This was also something you will not get always. His singing style reminded me of TNS of 70s- full of akaram, non stop, madai thirantha vellam pol. His voice facilitates execution of any sangathi which he imagines. One minus point. In the alapana - all sangathis were fast paced. That he should change. His thanam was also very elaborate- Thodi occupying a major share. While singing ragam and thanam and swarams he glided from one ragam to another in many rounds most effortlessly without bringing a tiny tinge of the earlier raga. This also reminded me of TNS. He deserves appreciation for this. Rajesh is not happy with this. But this theme of triraga pallavi required this exercise.
His pallavi was technically well executed. This pallavi is a famous pallavi done by Musiri in Adi thalam 4 kalai and recorded by Bombay Sisters in a Sangeetha label . It is one of my favourite pallavis. At the end, he rendered the pallavi in some other talams also. It was a feat as well as a delectable feast As one left the concert hall, there was a BHRAMIPPU about the concert.
A slight degression- Sometime in the early ninetees, in Malleswaram Sangeetha Sabha, Bangalore, Palghat Raghu Sir introduced both his grandsons to the audience. First one hour Abhishek Raghuram gave vocal concert and Ananthakrishnan played Mridangam and later the roles were changed. But I do not remember anything about that concert now.

[mahavishnu]

Sometime in the early ninetees, in Malleswaram Sangeetha Sabha, Bangalore, Palghat Raghu Sir introduced both his grandsons to the audience. First one hour Abhishek Raghuram gave vocal concert and Ananthakrishnan played Mridangam and later the roles were changed. But I do not remember anything about that concert now.

Interesting, CRama.
I am not sure if Anantha Krishnan sings, but he is an immensely talented mridangist... This should have been late 90s or early 00s since they would have been <10 in the early 90s.

[srikant1987]

KanjirA : KS Gopalakrishnan
...
Akkarai usually has a more melodic bowing but overall she played good. Anantha Krishnan played well though overall the volume was bit too loud in general and there was wonderful support by KSG.

KS Gopalakrishnan/KSG = flute maestro

It must be KV Gopalakrishnan who played khanjira in this concert.

[rajeshnat]

It is KVG only not KSG , corrected it . thanks , shrikant.

[mahavishnu]

Just heard a bootleg of this concert (I would share this elsewhere with those interested, but the recording quality is particularly bad; certainly a testament to the ambient bad acoustics in that auditorium).

What a mindblowing sAveri alapani! and that tAnam... Especially the behAg portions in high-speed.

As CRama says, there is a "bhramippu" factor that Abhishek brings. I have only heard this in recordings of GNB, MBK, TNS (maybe a young NSG also), Kalyanaraman, Sanjay (on a good day) and a handful of hindustAni vocalists.