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Makarandam in Sanskrit means nectar, and here it refers to the ‘Nada Makarandam’ i.e., the essence of the good notes that converge to bring in melody. The album’s name lives up to its character.

Abhishek’s choice of composers – Tyagaraja, Papanasam Sivan, Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar, Aanai Vaidyanatha Iyer, apart from one tillana by himelf – lends a variety, just as his selection of ragas that bring in the much needed diversity to the scales and his presentation. That a young adult can delve into such serious staging of talent is something refreshing, as the young master is known to bring in styles of yesteryear stalwarts too in his approach. Abhishek is accompanied by Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi on the violin and Patri Satish Kumar on the mridangam that adds to the mellowed production.

The 63 minutes of ‘Makarandam’ starts with Tyagaraja’s Kedaram kriti, “Rama Nee Pai” which packs up with some excellent swara exchanges from the vocalist and the violinist that linger in your ears for some time. The Papanasam Sivan’s “Maa Ramanan” has Abhishek sketching raga Hindola briefly, but the essence is thoughtfully outlined. The kriti itself is paced easily to bring out the thought flow in the sahitya that does demand this kind of a relaxed tempo.

Lalgudi Rajalakshmi’s accompaniment in the base strings in the first few avarthanas in “Maa Ramanan” is worth mentioning as the effect it creates for the neatly etched sangathis is an aural treat. So is the mellowed mridanga by Satish Kumar another factor to get this overall effect. Raga Poorvikalyani gets all the attention and Abhishek has attempted to picturise the scale in its true contours with the neraval and swaras in good measure. Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar’s ‘Paramapavana’ comes out stately and dignified.

If that was handling a master vaggeyakara in rearing spirits at this young age, Abhishek has put on the composer hat too with his own composition of a tillana in raga Nalinakanti that brims with swaras and passages. This is where his appetite for creativity comes to the fore. Performing is in itself a feat, but setting one’s thoughts to raga and tala is an appreciable weave that stamps him a ‘young master’.

Abhishek Raghuram, hailing from a musical family, is the grandson of Palghat Raghu. Before taking up vocal music he was initially trained in mridanga from his grandfather. He was later trained in vocal music under P.S. Narayanaswamy. He is also proficient in khanjira and has accompanied various artistes, and had his first performance at the age of nine.

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