Hindustani Flute : Pt Pravin Godkhindi
Supporting Flute : Shadaj Godkhindi
Tabla : Pt Ravindra Yavagal
Carnatic Vocal : Abhishek Raghuram
Violin : Parur M S Ananthakrishnan
Ghatam : Vazhappilli Krishnakumar
Phase 1 – Hindustani ( Pravin Godkhindi – Shadaj Godkhindi – Pt Ravindra Yavagal )
01 Raag madhuvanti for 1 hr
Phase 2 – Carnatic Vocal Concert ( Abhishek – Ananthakrishnan-Ravindra Yavagal – Krishnakumar ) – 1 hr
01 girirAja sutA tanayA – bangALA – Adi – Thyagaraja
02 inta sowkhyamAni nE – kApi – Adi – Thyagaraja ( A )
03 bhAvayAmi raghurAmam – rAgamAlika – Roopakam – Swathi Thirunal ( A – sAveri, nAtakurinji and dhanyAsi in detail, rest in a sweeping take )
Phase 3 – Jugalbandi for 1 hr
01 dIpALi (h) / mOhanam (c) – Alap & tarAna/tAnam
02 tani Avartanam ( Adi )
03 bhairavi (h) / sindhubhairavi (c) – chandrashEkharA eesha
This was supposed to be a 2 hr concert of Pt Pravin Godkhindi followed by 2 hour of Abhishek’s concert. The unavailability ( unavoidable circumstances, says Abhishek) of ArjunKumar, who had to accompany Abhishek for his concert made the whole program to undergo a dramatic change. The 2+2 hr concerts have been combined ( and split into 3 phases) into a 3 hr affair. On a positive side, one could watch Pt Ravindra Yavagal, accompanying for a carnatic concert.
The first part of Pt Pravin Godkhindi was fabulous. A sedate madhuvanti ( late afternoon raga) was very impressive. His son, young Shadaj joined in brilliantly. With my near zero knowledge, I restrain myself here from further describing the concert.
Abhishek and the team replaced the Hindustani counterparts for the next session. He was in super form, albeit a short concert. A quick Bangala kriti followed by a captivating kApi alapana and inta sowkhyamani. There was no time for a violin return. But I expected him to sing a few rounds of swaras. Probably owing to the time availability, he quickly started sAvEri alapana. He glided mesmerisingly into nAtakurinji. That opened up the hint. Ananthakrishnan had his chance now for playing a quick return. Dhanyasi was again sang in detail and moved on to Mohanam. The rest of the alapana was done in a long single take before retracting back in the same sequence to sAvEri. All the characteristics takes expected from Abhishek was performed for the kriti. Some twists, some sudden takes, move up and down the sthAyi, laya variations at the chittasvaras , different sangatis on return to ‘bhAvayAmi’. I hope, he takes this up in a much larger scope in one of his future concerts, where his imaginations are not constrained by time.
The third phase was not very attractive. It was mostly a mutual admiration club on the stage and was largely satisfying to their own excesses. It did have its own ‘aha’ moments, but by and large, it disappointed me. There was insistence by both the lead artists to Pt Yavagal to play the percussion solo. And they duo definitely won a lot of applause with their electrifying tani avartanam. There was a quick bhairavi/sindhuharavi piece to conclude, where Abhishek part of the kriti ‘chandrashEkharA Eesha’.
Both the individual concerts were super class, despite the short duration.
Brain Drain 