Abhishek Raghuram@Aastika samAjam(alwarpet)on Dec 09th,2012

[rajeshnat]

Abhishek Raghuram@Aastika samAjam(alwarpet)on Dec 09th,2012
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Vocal : Abhishek Raghuram
Violin : Mysore Shrikant
Mrudangam : Neyveli Narayanan
Concert duration/Day : 2 hrs /Sunday

Concert Type : Nirvana (no concert to follow)
Sabha : Shruthi Laya trust , championed by Guru Karaikudi Mani

1.sAmi ninnE kOri - shree ragam - Karur Devudu Iyer(garbhapurivAsar)
2.vArana mukha vA(RS,S)- hamsadhwani - KI
2 mins swaras
3.lOkavana chaturA (R,N) - bEgaDa - T
7 mins alapana and 3 mins violin return
neraval in "sAkEtAdhipa sarasa gunApramEya sarasijAsana " for 10 mins

4A. sama gAna priyakaram (R S T) - keeravani - Swami surajAnandA(tuned by Shri TMT)
17 mins of alapana and 9 mins violin return
15 mins of swaram
4B. Tani for 11 mins

5. anjAdE nenjE(RS) - kamAs - tiruvarutpA (tuned by PSN)
6. yEru mayiLeri - bhAgeshri + hamsAnandi + ?? + ShuruTTi - AGN Thirruppugazh
7. pavamAna - mangalam

It is quite a long time since I attended any concerts that too with the season in real swing , i am personally bit tied with not having time to attend concerts . Went to alwarpet where I attended the preceding last 20 mins of Ganesh Kumaresh concert where Abhishek's cousin Ananta Krishnan was just rocking with Sv ramani in ghatam producing a great tani.

Guru Karaidudi Mani conducts a short festival and prior to Abhishek's concert he honoured with Rs 15,000 Cash which is a previous years earnings and his sabha contribution. He awarded to nadaswara vidwan EP Lakshmanan (who is the son of Injikuddi pichaikannu). Incidentally I have not heard this nadaswara vidwan EP Lakshmanan but his nephews Tiruppambaram brothers are quite well known. Only yesterday I knew the injikuddi and tiruppambaram families are related.Incidentally this vidwan EP Lakshmanan is 9th generation nadaswara vidwan. One has to really appreciate what Karaikudi Mani is doing , helping a vidwan /vidushi who needs the most, than going with another award for already rewarded vidwans/vidushis. Guru Karaikudi mani also mentioned Palakkad raghu asked him about 10 years back to accompany Abhishek , and very recently he did it in London. So it takes a decade of effort to make Karaikudi Mani to play for a vidwan/vidushi(hmmm...)

Putting aside Abhishek gave a concert that always has his personal stamp .There was always creative bursts in plenty that I like,and few hyper indulgence in kanakku which I also donot like. Abhishek started with a lovely anchor in shree ragam ,when I meant anchor I am meaning how as a vocalist he is able to control proceedings with a stamp of rightful assertion .Shree Ragam varnam was lovely and with a brisk rendition , he moved on with a very neatly chiselled rendition of varana mukha vA thunai , the swaras could have been bit more but he curtailed it.

The submain was in bEgAda , his alapAna was well done still didnot get that abhishek raga alapana zing , but with the krithi and lovely neraval it slowly zoned in to abhishek creative zone of passion. The neraval was excellent, bEgaDa is a raga always demands heavy sangathis , and abhishek indeed produced that heavy ganam sangathis.

To me the highlight was indeed keeravani . Abhishek's greatest strength to me is always his alapanai , and when he sang keeravani alapana for 17 mins he brought in so much of brahmippu effect. His voice was majestic and without an iota of strain or rough edges in his voice(in thamizh they say pisuru) , he sang a brilliant keeravani alapana . It was freewheeeling flow of ideas with rAga bhAvam in plenty and I was completely hooked by his keeravani alapana.

I just googled to find that the main krithi by Swami Surajananda with its cittaswaras was tuned by TMT . He continued with his alapana flow and sang beautifuly the krithi sAma gAna priyakaram. His keeravani muse was magically hooking me and when he sang few lines some where in anupallavi or charanam where it had phrases like soma sundaram bhaskaram chandrasekaram , I was in my mind thinking he should go for a detailed neraval there . But he disappointed me a bit in not singing a neraval . Then he started with laya kanakku swaras in keeravani . I thought it would just be there for few avartanas and then he would move along the same keeravani magical raga bhavam muse that he anchored in alapana . But it was intense laya kanakku swaras that kind of negated what he built before . At times too much of swara prasthAra kanakku takes out the rAga bhAvam muse and melody indeed becomes a casualty.

Both the tukkadas were nice.The first began with a kamas alapana and the tiruarutpa tuned by his guru PSN( who was there) was well sung by Abhishek. That too with the lines starting with "anjAdE nenjE" it appeard to suit this brilliant vidwan abhishek who has no fears in exploring music. The tiruppugazh rAgamAliga was in a cocktail of 4 ragas and had quick turns and cuts which was very good.

Mysore Shrikanth gave very good support , I would have enjoyed if he had a bit more sweater nAdam. Neyveli Narayanan gave very good support his tani was nice. Narayanan generally excels very well when the beats are bit faster . The concert exactly ended in 2 hours , I would have been happier if he had sung an RTP.THe crowd was about 70% full (maybe 400+) .This was a paid concent where minimum of Rs 30 is collected to honour another deserving artist next year.

The keeravani alapana was a key takeaway when Abhishek was at his creative best .Overall a very good to excellent concert for 2 hours.

[Muthuraman]

Hi,

Did any rasika attend the Tani concert of Palakkad Rajamani & Kamalakara Rao on Sat'day at the same venue...???

[rajeshnat]

review in the hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/che ... 195665.ece