Trichur Brothers@Austin on Sept 10th,2016

[rajeshnat]

Trichur Brothers@Austin on Sept 10th,2016
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Vocal : Srikrishna Mohan and Ramkumar Mohan - Mainly tutored by Neyyattinkara Mohanachandran
Violin : L Ramakrishnan
Mrudangam : Trichur Mohan

Concert Type : Nirvana - No concert to follow ;Ticketed concert
Day/Duration : Saturday/3 hours and 25 mins inclusive of 5 mins of introduction
sabha/Hall : robert and pearle ragsdale center,St. Edwards University ,Austin,Texas,USA

1. maatE malayathwaja - varnam (raga sketch) - kamas - HMB
2. VAthApi (RS ,S) - hamsadhwani - MD
swaras for 11 mins

3. kamAkshi(R) - bhairavi - SS
2 mins alapana in bhairavi

4.seethammA mAyammA(R,N,S) - vasanta -T
5 mins alapana and 3 mins violin return
7 mins neraval in dharaija bhAgavatA
8 mins swaras

5. nAn oru vilayAttu bommaiyA - navarasa kannada- Psivan
6. Bhogeendra Sayinam - kantuvarAli -ST

7A. Shree kAnthimathim (R S T)- hemavati - MD
13 mins alapana and 7 mins violin return
14 mins swaras
7B. tani for 14 mins

8. kandu dhanyanAdE (Raga sketch)- behag - Kamalesha vittala

9. RTP in brindavana sAranga for 45 mins
14 mins alapana and 9 mins taanam
22 mins pallavi and swaras
Pallavi line - Brindavana sArangA bhoolOka vaikunta srirangA
swaras in Brindavana sAranga + DarbAri (srikrishna) + dwijAvanthi (ramkumar) + sumanEsaRanjani?? or madhuvanti?? (L Ramakrishnan) + sindhubhairavi (srikrishna) + Bilahari (Ramkumar) + subhapantuvarali(L ramakrishnan)+charukEsi?? (srikrishna)

10.narayaneeyamAm ... nAdambalathiL ..... avatara krishnanE - kharaharapriyA - ?????
11. jagadOdhAranA - hindustani kApi(piloo) - PD

12. rama neela megha shyama- yamunakalyani - Gabbita Venkata Rao
13. ramachandrAya janaka - kurinji -BR
14. Brief Slokham - chandrasEkaram sAyeeswaram+ sreenivAsaya mangalam - shurutti + madhyamavati mangalam

[rajeshnat]

Roughly 3 weeks back or so , one of the days in hamsadhwani sabha in adayar, trichur brothers had a concert - I could not make it due to traffic on a weekday.THen I did not know that I would be travelling to this city Austin for work. What matters is the same brothers came in with a different and actual hamsadhwani, the venue moved from adayar to austin.

The brothers stared the concert with a ,,,,, , I could not hear the violin certainly their strong shruthi and the masculine voice power was indeed there and they hit the ground running . The next hum sAth won Hi was well greeted by the audience , the brothers have their USP centered on kalpana swaras and hamsadhwani came as a downpour . I always love to hear vathapi , the swaras did have a lot of aloo paratha sangathis , possibly I preferred bit more of Urulakazhangu pOdimAs.Neverthelesss well done

Bhairavi with swarajathi is very special . Shyama sastri must have surely got the goddess kamakshi grace in composing this , the layering of sangathis with a very different and progressive shades of bhairavi rasa was what I expected . I indeed got that and it was well done .

Vasantha was the submain . Alapana was slightly rushed and the song continued with their paramaguru like flourishes (semmangudi). I enjoyed it a lot , the neraval could have been bit more considering it was the only neraval . THe brothers youth and their flamboyance matched in vasanta swaras.The toy krithi nAn oru vilayAttu bommaiyya was a good filler , i felt few more alankarams in the lines alaruvathai kEtka ... amma amma would have better.

The filler Bhogeendra sayinam is used to actually indicate that the pallavi is coming next , usually dropped between main and RTP. I was thinking they are going to sing a very longish pallavi and skip main .I was proven wrong as there was also a main krithi .They started with hemavati and the alapana was well done . I usually take bit more time than even a near dying tubelight to disambiguate vachaspathi and hemavati when they sang more sangathis I thought it has to be hemavati and i got it right.

Thiruvidaimarudhur Rajagopalan Subramaniam Jr came as two brothers not with a tanjore belt krithi but choosing Sri kanthimathim in hemavati was well received by me (how many concerts gets finally dropped in kalyani as the only prathi main)- The brothers had an intense Tirunelveli BuddhisAlithanam when they galloped with lovely dhaatu swaras the evergreen TRS mAmA had indeed blessed them . I immmensely enjoyed the hemavati krithi with swaras

The filler in behag brought in good shade of calmness in the kvnish krithi kandu dhanya in behag . What a joy and what a pallavi . The RTP was in brindavana saranga . Strong voice with manoevarable sangathi by the dominant srikrisha anchored by more steady and bass voice of Ramkumar . THey gave me an intensely satisfying experience in Raagam and Taanam . Taanam was not metered but both the brothers had a very high share of manodharmam .

THe pallavi neraval was a touch and go with they completing the trikaalam at the end . THe swaras were exceptional and out of the world .From brindavana saranga they contined with darbari (srikrishna) competing with emote in dwijAvanti(ramkumar) more on the lines of singing chethashri krithi. THe tie of darbari and chetashri was made into a 3 way tie with equally good return by Ramakrishnan brilliantly joining in his violin with sumanesaranjani(I hope it is not madhuvanti) .

While the first 3 ragas did not have any ferrari ride , the sindhubhairavi by srikrisha was a ferrari ride . The bilahari fast sangathis is usually not sung in Ragamaliga and I liked the presentation by ramkumar with an ending reminding listeners of rA rA venu . The violinst followed with a faster bowing to produce a lovely subha pantuvarali. Srikrishna always has the most command and took a home run with a lovely rendition of chArukesi?? in the last 7th segment of ragamaliga.They brought in passion with swaras and I always like swaras .

THe malayalam krithi narayaneeyamAm in kharaharapriya was nice . Perhaps apart from navasidhi petralum drop by semmangudi this kharaharapriya is only boxed as main krithi. I liked malayalam drops this one is great and I am assuming it is a thalaatu of Lord Guruvayoorapa. I am assuming the usual slokham that chembai sings with narayaneeyamAm and the krithi with the same phrase(narayaneeyamAM ... avatara krishna) is different . I am not sure of the composer of this malayalam krithi which had a lightish shade of kharaharapriya (help crama,sivaramakrishnan and lji).

I did not like the next rama neela megha shyama , for those brief 5 minutes i thought i am hearing a film song that too with the other brother giving a different humming for the line brova ramaiyya . All of a sudden they lost their core carnatic idiom with rama leela megha shyamam that too with the elder brother asking all of us to clap and many did ,the concert became a radha kalyAna dolotsavam. The bhadrachala ramadas ramachandrAya janaka in kurinji was bit catchy but I expected bit more leisure in tukkada .

L ramakrishnan once grew in bombay and then learnt from A kanyakumari and is working in Connecticut . His play was superb in return and alapana,there was not even one bombay Bhelpoori sangathi and he anchored it extremely well with carnatic idioms- he lifted the concert and kind of camouflaged the brothers foray away from carnatic idioms. During krithi rendition may be the press of ramakrishnan could have bit more stronger or may be the vocal volume could have been bit reduced(one of the two would have been perfect) .

What can I say about Trichur Brothers mother Trichur Mohan . He was giving the right mrudhu angam motherly affection to his vaadhyam then the usual fatherly thrashing that is common with many mrudangist .He completed 5 decades is what i heard since the day he played for chembai(Srikrishna anncounced that) .Interestingly chembai has given vidwan mohan the title sangeetha lOgathil dhuruvan . Mohan defined his play with sarvalaghu and had a great control by varying volumes for preset sangathis . I am pretty sure that he and his sons had clearly practiced where to play with force where to drive it with less volume . .There are vocalist who benefit a lot when they have more intense relationship and high quality mrudangam artist (like say neyveli venkatesh, anantha R krishnan , J Vaidyanathan , trichur mohan etal). Trichur mohan is an asset and is an exclusive trump card for their sons.

Few things could be better
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1. Vilambit can be more v i l a m b i t with some leisurely sangathis slightly repeated again to give more oomph

2. THe brothers take a little excess formula like treatment in the tukkadas section . Despite a non sagging strong voice they can channel bit more in neraval that too considering it was only one in the concert. Their expertise is in swaras they can give nearly the same highest quality rasa in raga alapana with more raga bhava gamaka curves with a significant purge in flat notes.

3. The biggest crib is this point .They are taking conscious populist route like asking all of us joining encore and clapping where they sing phrases like "raghu rAm rAm jaya rAm rAm" is like a sudden belching (pulippu Yepppam) after a very good meal.

Shout out for the sabha Indian Fine Arts,Austin
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The hall was nearly full and it was a ticketed concert . THis hall in austin is the usual venue for the concert is what i am told. I am also told they also usually hold it in the 1st floor auditorium which is more acoustically posh, for whatever the reason the 3rd floor hall was used for this concert- certainly the quality was great . The last time I think I heard them in kalakruthi in spurtank road in chennai - certainly moonshot leap to Austin, St Edwards Hall. Kudos to the IFA team

All said they are the best siblings as of today. THey have passion and it comes immensely with immense shruthi suddham. They enjoy and make us enjoy with their powerful booming voice being the guide. There are going to be lot of fresh blood rasikas getting into CM because of these brothers.- I am told that it is the first time they are performing in austin and also their first concert in the US tour. I have no clue about their US schedule but please dont miss them . Best wishes for Mohan and his team (as the mc introduced )a great 2016 tour .

Overall an excellent concert for 3 hours and 25 minutes .

[arasi]

Rajesh,
Welcome to our shores, and as always, welcome is your review

I haven't heard the bros in four or five years. I'm sure they sound even better now.

Please E-mail me...

[kvchellappa]

Is mention of Mohan as 'mother' a slip or intentional because of the following 'motherly affection'?

[rajeshnat]

Is mention of Mohan as 'mother' a slip or intentional because of the following 'motherly affection'?

No slip KVC, Trichur NAdabadran gives a motherly mrudhu beat on the prime percussion vadhyam.

[rajeshnat]

[rshankar]

Rajesh - nice to hear a US-based review from you. Call me.

[vnk1001]

rajeshnat,

Thanks for the great review. I too was at the concert, and agree with most of your opinions. A bit of populist appeal is OK. I like Aruna Sairam because as a non-expert listener, I like the hand-clapping and audience involvement that she brings in.

vnk1001

[rajeshnat]

10.narayaneeyamAm ... nAdambalathiL ..... avatara krishnanE - kharaharapriyA - ?????
......
THe malayalam krithi narayaneeyamAm in kharaharapriya was nice . Perhaps apart from navasidhi petralum drop by semmangudi this kharaharapriya is only boxed as main krithi. I liked malayalam drops this one is great and I am assuming it is a thalaatu of Lord Guruvayoorapa. I am assuming the usual slokham that chembai sings with narayaneeyamAm and the krithi with the same phrase(narayaneeyamAM ... avatara krishna) is different . I am not sure of the composer of this malayalam krithi which had a lightish shade of kharaharapriya (help crama,sivaramakrishnan and lji).

SRK/CRama or any one else from mammooty /mohanlal land,

Gentle Reminder of whether the song that was sung and the usual chembai rendition of this slokham are different . May I know the composer of this exotic song?? The same rendition of the brothers is there in youtube scroll from 2nd minute onwards. I see references to Narayana bhattadri, is that the same composer that chembai sang or is there too many Narayana bhattadris . Is he a composer of recent times or is he from the era of jayadeva. I also see references to Dasakam Where some links say narayneeyam dasakam . What is dasakam and what is narayaneeyam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lt2dKcW7Gg

[rshankar]

Rajesh - nArAyaNa bhaTTAdri/bhaTTadri is the mahAn who composed the magnum opus, the nArAyaNIyam somewhere in the 16-17 centuries. AFAIK, there's only one of him.

The nArAyaNIyam in sanskRt describes the entire bhAgavata purANam (stories of kRshNa), composed in sections of 10 verses each, called the daSakam. Myth has it that guruvAyUrappan nodded his agreement to the story told in each daSakam.

Sri KVN has sung the entire nArAyaNIyam, and IIRC, so has the late Ms. P. Leela, the playback singer.

[CRama]

Reg Narayaneeyam.
Rajesh, Narayaneeyam is a magnum opus composition of Narayana Bhattathiri in Sanskrit composed when he was afflicted by Vaatha rogam (Arthritis) praying to Lord Guruvayoorappan to cure his disease. It has got 1000 slokams divided into 100 dasakams, each dasakam will end with his prayer to Krishna to cure him of the disease. It is said that Krishna sat before him and heard the Narayaneeyam. It contains entire Bhagavata puranam. Chembai, being a great bhaktha of Guruvayoorappan, used to sing the first slokam (Agre pasyami) and/or the last slokam (Yogeendranam) in various ragams in his concerts. This was greatly looked forward by the rasikas in his concerts.

In this video, Thrissur Brothers has sung the last slokam Yogeendranam in Kharaharapriya and followed up with a Malayalam devotional song naaraayaNeeyamam naRuveNNayozhukum ee naalambalathinuLLil in the same ragam. This song looks like the composition of some contemporary composer. I do not know the name of the composer.

KVN has not sung the entire Narayaneeyam. Thrissur Ramachandran has given LP records (10 records) of the full Narayaneeyam- 1000 slokams in 100 ragams. Herculian task indeed. An excellent rendition. Music is by S.V.Venkatraman and he has chosen most appropriate ragams for the verses. But these records became popular only among CM aficionados. V.Ramachandran used to sing select slokams from Narayaneeyam in his concerts as Ragamalika slokams which had received wide appreciation from the music lovers. But the LP record given by P.Leela containing select verses (IIRC, first dasakam, Rasakreeda and last dasakam) tuned by V.Dakshinamurthy has taken Narayaneeyam to each household of devotees and is in great demand even now. Very melodious and bhakthi laden singing of P.Leela with the music in chaste Carnatic ragas by the legendary music composer Dakshinamurthy is everybody’s delight any day.

10.narayaneeyamAm ... nAdambalathiL ..... avatara krishnanE - kharaharapriyA - ?????
......
THe malayalam krithi narayaneeyamAm in kharaharapriya was nice . Perhaps apart from navasidhi petralum drop by semmangudi this kharaharapriya is only boxed as main krithi.

Rajesh, I did not understand what you meant. Do you say that this song is suitable to be sung as main song. No. It can be sung as a tukkada song only.
Thanks Rajesh for pointing to this very good concert of Thrissur Bros. Without your reference, I would not have heard this concert.

[rajeshnat]

Rajesh, I did not understand what you meant. Do you say that this song is suitable to be sung as main song. No. It can be sung as a tukkada song only.

Kharaharapriya usually settles 9 out of 10 as a main song (chakkani , rama nee samanevaru etc).I can only recollect Kharaharapriya has been taken as a tukkada when SSI and his varisu sishyas have taken one song like navasiddhi petrAlum . Other than that this is the second occasion I am hearing a Kharaharapriya thukkada. I am certainly with you that this song that the brothers sang can only be a tukkada .

[CRama]

A song in Kharaharapriya that comes in the post tani segment is Dayavillaya Dayalo- of Papanasam Sivan.

[rajeshnat]

A song in Kharaharapriya that comes in the post tani segment is Dayavillaya Dayalo- of Papanasam Sivan.

Crama,
I have heard this sung only as main when santhanam sang . Even this concert recording was available in Tape then. Santhanam sings neraval too in the line kanna kanna namamE solven. Where/From whom did you hear this song as a post tani song?

[CRama]

dayavillaya dayalo- I have heard from Santhanam. Don't remember whether he sang neraval and swaram. Radha Jayalakshmi used to sing in the post tani segment in many concerts.

[pperumal]

The brothers usually saddle both worlds of classical and light in the same concert - not too much my cup of team.
Their lights go a bit too "filmy" to me I guess.

- PP.

[pscompanies]

Great review!

Just wanted to provide some information: there are a few more concerts left in Trichur Brothers US tour
(http://carnaticamerica.com/events/?trib ... r+Brothers)
October 2 at Toronto, Canada
October 7 at San Jose, California, USA
October 8 at Portland, Oregon, USA

Other artiste concert tour schedules are also available at http://carnaticamerica.com/concert-tours/.