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It is a delight to listen to the pleasantly matured voice of Abhishek Raghuram, with all the gamaka and briga intact, along with the settled tone and accent in his newly released album Makarandam.

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. 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. The Papanasam Sivan’s Maa Ramanan has Abhishek sketching raga Hindola briefly, but the essence is thoughtfully outlined.

Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi’s accompaniment on the base strings in the first avarthanas in Maa Ramanan is worth mentioning as the effect it creates for the neatly etched sangathis is an aural treat. The mridangam by Satish Kumar adds to the overall effect.

Abhishek Raghuram is the grandson of Palghat Raghu. Before taking up vocal music he was initially trained in mridangam from his grandfather. He was later trained in vocal music under P.S. Narayanaswamy. He is also proficient in khanjira.

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