The inaugural event of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Cultural Festival was a vocal concert by the up-and-coming Abishek Raguram, who was accompanied on the violin by B.U. Ganesh Prasad and on the mridangam by young Sumesh Narayan. Abishek began his recital with initial hiccups with the sound system, but soon settled down to entertain the audience with his ‘a-kaara’ strong and vibrant voice. He began with the Tamizh Tevaram hymn, ‘Vananai Madhi Soodiya Mainthanai’ in lilting Keeravani. ‘Vinaradhana Manavi’ the Devagandhari kriti of Tyagaraja followed, at madhyamakaala speed.
The speciality of Abishek’s voice is that it traverses all three octaves comfortably and the timbre acquires the needed strength when he glides from upper to lower octaves. Alapana is his forte. He enjoys singing the raga, almost self-possessed, elaborating it till he is satisfied that he has done it full justice.
His Pantuvarali raga alapana was evocative. The ‘Sarame Gani Anya Marga’ of Tyagaraja was handled with the customary niraval at ‘Sama Gana Loludav’ followed by swara prastara. The main item of the concert was not a major raga, but Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi, a format most suited for Abishek to showcase his alapana prowess. It was in Devamanohari and the pallavi line was ‘Ithi manchi samayamu’ in Khanda Eka talam.
Abishek indulged in a longish Tanam, carried away by his own skill. After exhausting Devamanohari to the full extent, Abishek branched off to Kamala Manohari and then took up swara sallies. He received full percussion support. The music season had arrived, heavy rains notwithstanding.
