Young Genius - Abhishek Raghuram

Young and cheerful Abhishek Raghuram, student of Sri.P.S.Narayanaswami, presented a terrific three and a half hour concert on the 26th of December, 2012 at Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, in the company of Akkarai Subhalakshmi on the violin, Anantha.R.Krishnan on the mridangam and Vazapally Krishnakumar on the ghatam. It was a pleasant evening and Abhishek made it more enjoyable with his excellent performance. The concert began with the ‘Valachi vacchi’ varnam in Navaragamalika. It was first rendered very slowly and then he moved onto the second speed later on. The next song was ‘Vidulaku mrokkeda’ in Mayamalavagoula, composed by Thyagaraja. His way of rendering the kriti was really good, but the lyrics were not at all clear in this song. The neraval was done at ‘Kamala gowri vageeshwari vidhi nee’ and it was really beautiful. At times, Abhishek was getting really enthusiastic and would sing at all angles except towards the mike. This resulted in inaudibility and the mike-incharge person had to add an extra mike! He sang interesting swarams after the neraval in both the speeds. The swarams were sung mostly in the upper notes and they rarely came to the lower notes. A lot of rasikas came in after the first two songs. The next song was ‘Nee vaada ne gaana’ composed by Thyagaraja, in Saaranga. The raga alapana was short and crisp. Abhishek approaches ragams in such a direct and wonderful way that it can be easily deciphered by the audience. The swarams were sung at the charanam and the audience gave the verdict immediately – there was deafening applause from them. Akkarai Subhalakshmi played the ragam on the violin really well. It was very innovative but received a very few claps. Abhishek seemes to have chosen all rare ragams for this concert because the next song he rendered was ‘Vinathaasutha Vaahanaa’ in Jayantasena, composed by Thyagaraja. The ragam was beautiful. Every now and then, he would beam at his accompanists. The violin was really good for this piece. The swarams were sung at the charanam. In the last two avarthanams, he sang the swarams in the third speed! It was really exciting. There was a sudden burning smell on the stage, which seemed to be coming from one of the mikes!

Most of the songs that Abhishek sang were Thyagaraja’s compositions.
The main was ‘Raghuvara nannu’ in Kamavardhini, composed by Thyagaraja. The sangathis were exhilarating! The nuances and brihas were really good. The neraval was done at ‘Marulu konnaanuraa manasuna neekae’. The violinist did a brilliant job. At one time, every word in the line contained fast paced brihas! The neraval by Akkarai Subhalakshmi received thunderous claps. And the follow-up claps for Abhishek’s neraval, in return, were even more ear-splitting. In Akkarai’s hands, the violin seemed like a play toy, because she played it so causally, yet wonderfully. When Abhishek was doing the neraval, he was going really fast and was gliding up and down with the notes. There was applause from the rasikas halfway through the line itself! There were a lot of youngsters and they seemed to be cheering a lot. One could sense a huge wave of excitement in the crowd. Abhishek’s neraval brought such an effect! Though he is very young, Abhishek sings like a very seasoned person. He is what you call – a young mind with old wisdom! He sang swarams in both speeds. The swarams very really, really fast. He sang the swarams in a pattern – the first avarthanam was slow and the following 4 avarthanams were fast. It then again became slow and the pattern continued. He is an amazing trance-creator. The audience were completely mesmerized. The applause was nothing like I had seen – all of them raised theirs hands and were clapping hard – some even stood up. The applause prolonged for about 2 minutes. The thaniyavardhanam was really good. It went on for a really long time. Anantha.R.Krishnan did a good job. Vazapally Krishnakumar was amazing! It looked as though the percussionists were stringing swarams together.

Then came the Ragam-Thanam-Pallavi in Poornashadjam. The ragam displayed heights of Abhishek’s imagination. It was splendid and filled with brihas. The akarams were really good. Poornashadjam was rendered with complete aesthetic beauty. The thanam was very vigorous and captivating. It was racy and good to hear too. The pallavi was ‘Lavanya rama kanu laara judadhe seethe kara sadhaa nandhyaja’ set to khanda jathi triputa talam. He did both ragamalika and talamalika. The swarams were in ragamalika. They transited from Poornashadjam – Behag – Khamas – Vasantha and back to Poornashadjam. After that he sang ‘Idhu dhaano’ in Behag, composed by Gopalakrishna Bharathi. It was very appealing to hear. Last but not the least was a Thillana in Darbar. It was pleasing. The concert concluded with the mangalam, as usual, but he added a lot of brihas to that too! It was evident that the concert was fulfilling and satisfying from the unending claps from the audience.