Abhishek Raghuram-Balaji Temple, Aurora, IL - 28th Oct 2011

[vasanthakokilam]

Sri Venkateswara Swani (Balaji ) Temple and Chicago Thyagaraja Utsavam presented the following concert on Friday, Oct. 28th 2011 at the S.V.S. Temple auditorium

Vocal: Abhishek Raghuram
Mridangam: Trivandrum V. Balaji
Violin: Vittal Ramamurthy

- chalamela, Nattakurinji varnam, Adi, Kuppuswami Iyer
- rArA mAyiNTidAka - Asaveri - madhyAdi, Thyagaraja ( from Prahlaada Bhakti Vijayam ) (S)
- sAdhinchanE - Arabhi - Adi - Thyagaraja (R)
- kA vA vA - varALi - Adi - pApanAsam Sivan (RS)
- mOhanam-ayi tava muraLI-gAnam ahO, yadukulakAmbhOji,misra chApu, Swati Tirunal (R)
- satta lEni dinamulu vaccenA - nAgAnandini - desAdi - Thyagaraja (RS) short flourishes around palumAru
- kaligiyuNTE kadA kalgunu - keeravani - Adi - tyAgarAja (RNS ), Niraval @ bAguga SrI raghu rAmuni padamula
- Thani
- rAmachandru Dithadu raghuvIrudu-Dwijavanthi-Adi (tisra nadai)-Annamacharya (R) (tuned by Sri. Nedunoori Krishnamurhty)
- alayum manamE - Viruththam - Hamsanandi
- srinivAsa tiruvEnkaTa - Hamsanandi - Adi - pApanAsam Sivan
- pavamAna sutuDu baTTu pAdAra vindamulaku - Saurashtram - Adi - Thyagaraja

It was a great concert. Abhishek Raghuram is an excellent singer with a great contemporary voice with a wide range.
It was quite an intellectual, imaginative and creative concert with delightful variations on some well known songs.

He was quite at ease with himself which puts the audience at ease. That "ease" goes to a higher gear when he enters the kalpana aspects of the concert whether it is alapana, niraval, kalpanaswaras or just some extemporaneous flourishes at various places in a song ( sort of Somu like, but in an appropriate manner for his age ). It may just be my perception, but I could sense a slightly different persona when he is in those sections, I could see it in his face and body language.

'rArA mAyiNTidAka' (Asaveri) was sung very well with good raga bhAva and sAhitya bhAva. It is a song I like very much. It is a great raga with some unique aesthetics but not many elaborate treatments embodied in compositions that are sung usually. In a way it adds to a certain mystique surrounding this raga. Abhishek handled it very well. One can see that extra gait/enthusiasm in his demeanor when he got to the brisk kalpanaswaras.

I very much enjoyed 'mOhanam-ayi tava muraLI-gAnam ahO' (Yadukula Kambhoji). He sang it beautifully. It is a new song for me, in this raga I like very much. He sang it in a slower tempo which is quite appropriate for this song and raga. In fact, he could have slowed it down even further.

Arabhi Alapana was fairly elaborate and Sadhinchane was decent, sung in a medium+ tempo.

It took me sometime to adjust to the varALi alapana since it came too close on the heels of Asaveri. In my own personal perceptions, these two ragas have some common aesthetics. But once that lifted, I got on his wavelength and joined in the journey of his varALi interpretation. His handling of kA vA vA was quite different in many places and there are no complaints from me. It was quite refreshing and it was delightful. In addition, his mastery over his voice and his technical expertise allows him to bring about some uniqueness. He brought about a freshness with some deft wrapping of varALi with slight modifications to the laya skeleton thereby changing the pathways on which a sangathi is built. It worked very well for me. The kalpanaswara passages were brilliant, soaked in many variations in laya.

Naganandini - I did not know this raga. He did a couple of minutes of alapana. The song started fast like many of
Thyagaraja's desAdi thala songs. At first I thought it was odd that there was a 2 minute alapana for what is typically a fast filler song before the main. So I thought but I was wrong. It turned out to be much more than a filler. He sang it for 10 minutes with some imagninative flourishes in a few places and with a fairly long kalpanaswara section. He ended it with a viriththam like bhAvam filled elaboration at 'dinamulu'. The mridangist stopped playing during that time ( the thala was running of course ) and then picked it back up again with a finishing theermanam. It was quite a satisfying presentation..

His kIravANi alapana was 20+ minutes long and he showcased his vocal techniques well here. The pUrvAnga of the middle sthayi of a male voice in kIravANi is something I usually do not latch on to. But that is where most artists start the alapana. It is my own personal preference, a very specific one as you can see, but once he went above that, it was absolutely wonderful. I enjoyed the alapana, at the higher sthayi (where he spent considerable time in the alapana), and the mandhra sthayi, The niraval at 'bAguga SrI raghu rAmuni' was done quite aesthetically and with emotion. Kalpanaswarams were quite exciting and so was the final kOrvai.

The Thani by Sri. Trivandrum Balaji was quite satisfying. It was fairly elaborate.

Sri. Vittal Ramamurthy provided excellent support throughout and his replies were quite crisp and to the point.

I am sure he would have sung an RTP had there been more time left.

The Dwijavanthi in tisra nadai was quite nice. A lot of uruttal vocal techniques were employed with good effect. His voice cooperated very well . viruththam was sung with emotion and the popular song in Hamsanandi was sung well.

There were a few places where the BMK bANi was felt, that was mostly in singing flat notes or traversing the octaves or going from low to high in quick succession and in one or two places a stylized oscillation of 'Ni' of Nattakurinji.

If I want to pick any nit, it would be to ask Abhishek to consider varying the tempo of his songs. It felt to be at the same pace which to some people may seem like some sort of 'sameness' ('orE mAdiri') through out. It is definitely an incorrect reading since laya variations were plenty and it was absolutely delightful. I am offering the suggestion of changing the outer tempo of the songs in a very noticeable manner as a counter to that. He could have definitely slowed down the tempo for kA vA vA but the tempo he chose set him up nicely for his style of kalpanaswaras which worked out very well. I am sure he can think of a way to achieve this. kaligiyuNTE is another definite possibility to slow down considerably.

It was a 3 hour concert (without an RTP) and it did not feel like it was that long. It was an excellent and very enjoyable concert.

[kalyani_ragam]

satta lEni dinamulu vaccenA - nAgAnandini. Rarely rendered!
Sri Nookala renders this quite often. He has done a elaborate raga alapana in one of the DD recordings.

[mahavishnu]

thanks, VK. Sounds like a very intellectual yet entertaining concert.
Pity he didn't sing a pallavi, his tAnam singing is quite extraordinary.

As mentioned above, few people venture into mela ragams like nAganandhini. I think this could be part of an indirect BMK influence on Abhishek's music as well.

VK, I also liked your Somu analogy when it comes to the ease of Abhishek's manodharma. Very apt.

[arasi]

VK,
Excellent review!
I liked the Somu bit too!
My guess is...the person in him (a young one at that) is trying to catch up with the vidvAn in him--what many child prodigies have to deal with...
I hope I get to hear an RTP from him when I go to his concert during the season.

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

VK: Excellent review--short of being there personally(having heard Abhishek before) I felt I was there from the way you reviewed it. I liked the balance in the review--if the Ka Va Va was sung in a faster tempo than you thought could have been slower,you wove it into your review deftly!! As regards the elaborate Naganandini being young he wants to display his virtuosity--time and experience will teach him where the sukham in Music lies!!

ARI always used to pooh pooh the "rare" raga elaborate alapanas saying how many krithis have the trinity composed in these ragas--I need them for me to get a handle on these ragas--mere Arohanam and Avarohanam is not enough for me to understand the raga lakshanam.
As a young man I used to attribute it to "fear" of the unknown. Now I am fond of the familiar!!
One thing about any PR pertaining to Abhishek--there is mention of his being Palghat Raghu's Grandson but seldom any reference to his lineage on the mother's side-namely Lalgudi's sister's Grandson--As much as I happen to admire Palghat Raghu Sir's tutelage in shaping Abhishek's career, the Lalgudi lineage cannot be denied but seldom mentioned in any PR material!!

Sorry for the nitpicking!!!!

Loko Binna Ruchihi

[rajeshnat]

One thing about any PR pertaining to Abhishek--there is mention of his being Palghat Raghu's Grandson but seldom any reference to his lineage on the mother's side-namely Lalgudi's sister's Grandson--As much as I happen to admire Palghat Raghu Sir's tutelage in shaping Abhishek's career, the Lalgudi lineage cannot be denied but seldom mentioned in any PR material!!

MKR Sir
If you look at the team to his right is his palakkad raghu lineage (Trivandrum balaji) and to his left is Vittal ramAmurthy(lalgudi's disciple who in my opinion is a brilliant violinist with his nidhanam).

VK
As usual a great review , kudos to the brilliant team , Yep I missed that you missed RTP.

[arasi]

Rajesh,
Good to hear you chime in. Hope you are going to bring in a lot of reviews during the season. I hope work doesn't weigh you down with too many demands in December.

[vasanthakokilam]

Rajesh: Good take on the two sides of Abhishek. If Anand plays the Mridangam, the parts still remain the same, except for the swapping of the sides.

[Suji Ram]

Great review VK. Your thoughts on AR's presentation of concert mirrors the one I attended. While you missed a RTP you got to listen to more pieces and rare ones too.

[mahesh3]

One of his best EVER! Voice was just flowing and gushing with a melody and rhythm that would have made any of our immortal musicians proud - be it Bhimsen/ BMK / Basavraj. Keeravani was like badamkeervani! And the Arabhi/Varali/Naganandini/Hamsanandi...just bliss. What a voice, what a guy, whatte musician...child of God!

[arasi]

Some gastronomic treat you experienced!
I liked your bAdam khIr-a.vANi.
Arabhi barfi, varALi vaRu payiRu and nAgAnandini nei vaDai?? !

[mahesh3]

A few seconds clip I shot on my iPhone4S with the artists' permission, the camera itself is in a daze..apparently . Needless to say, this blurry video's status is currently "Most Precious" in my pocket!

Abhi's voice is pure honey and kesar...Tri. Balaji's naadam just lovely....and Vittal's violin sweet and inscrutable...

http://youtu.be/Z-ctfeZvN_w

[Sindhuja]

He's otherworldly.

[sthyagaraja01]

Another fantastic concert from Abhishek! For those interested, here's the korvai he did for Kaligiyunte:

11,11,11 + 9,9,9 + 7,7,7 + 5,5,5 (GRSND N,,,,, ... GRSND N,,, ... GRSND N, ... GRSND ...) = 96
11,11,11 + 9,9,9 + 7,7,7 + 5,5,5 (GMPDP M,,P,, ... GMPDP M,P, ... GMPDP M, ... GMPDP ...) = 96
11,11,11 + 9,9,9 + 7,7,7 + 5,5,5 (GRSND N,N,N, ... GRSND N,N, ... GRSND N, ... GRSND ...) = 96
1 + 5,5,5 (, GMPDP MPDND PDNSR) = 16
1 + 5,5,5 (, GRSND RSNDP SNDPM) = 16

So a total of 320 = 5 cycles of Adi thalam (2 kalai)

Pretty intricate korvai, but Abhishek presented it so beautifully! The way he alternated the 11 patterns (with one swaram for six beats first time, 2 swarams for three beats second time, and 3 swarams for 2 beats the next time) as well as how he alternated with the violinist (where Vittal would play GRSND and Abhi would say just 'N' and keep alternating that away) just added to the beauty of the korvai .. overall just an amazing display of voice, speed, laya and presentation!

[mahavishnu]

Brilliant korvai. The symmetry in the arrangement is mind-blowing.

[mahesh3]

11 patterns in Chatusra Nadai - using such a long korvai. Juggling 11 patterns (others usually pick 5-6) in so many possible permutations...I have no clue how he is able to manage the complexity of estimation (both aksharams and intervals), and that too at jetspeed. On top of this, he is spot-modifying the korvai, alternating with the violinist, interspersing hums, akarams, brighas even during the swaras to bring out nuances of the raga in good shruti. If one were to slow down Abhi's Nee Dayarada in vasanthabhairavi - all the notes fall in place (every swaram falls on frequency). And for Varali, he did a khanda nadai - just can't forget it!