Hyderabad brothers @South India Fine Arts, San Jose CA

Review the latest concerts you have listened to.
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ramakriya
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Post by ramakriya »

This is not a review - but just a view :) I am not qualified to to do a review, IMO.

On 14th October, Hyderabad brothers presented a nice concert. Sri Varadarajan (I hope I got the name correctly) was on the violin, and Sri K V Prasad was on the Mridanga.

The items included (The order may have slipped and/or I may have forgot some items)

1. Vanajakshi - Adi tALa varNa in kalyANi
2. Pahi Sri giri - Syama Sastri kriti (O)
3. annapUrnE viSAlAkShi - sama - MD kriti (O)
4. pAmara jana pAlini - sumadyuti - MD ( A, S, N)
5. idi samayamurA - chAyAnATa - Tyagaraja
6. mitri bhAgyamE - kharaharapriya - Tyagaraja ( A, S, N, T)
7. lAvanYa rAma - pUrNa shaDja - Tyagaraja
8. RTP in kOkilapriya - set to trishra gati tripuTa tALa - Pallavi line went some thing like "Rama daya chUDara" - Ragamalika svaras in Saveri and bilahari
9. A number of "minor compositions" - 'cause I hate the term 'TukkaDa' :lol: including

sarvam brahmamayam
gAyati vanamALi
pahADi tillAna of LGJ
couple more shorties
pavamAna

I was hearing them live after a gap of several years and enjoued it. SM was sung with very imaginatively and had some unusual phrases by both vocalists and the violinist. Throughout the concert, the violinists replies were very nice. During the rAgamAlika svaras, Seshachari said, he almost forgot which rAga to take next after being immersed in the violin.

My best pick of the concert was Simhendramadhyama - even though the kriti is samashTi charana, it was very much made up by the neraval and AlApane - and this took almost one third the duration of the concert. After the 2 mains, the RTP was a short 30minute affair. There was a Tani Avartane during the RTP. Unlike in some other concerts, I did not see the mridanga being played during tAnam.

Another novelty was singing svaras in sarvam brahma mayam, as they would do in a chOTa khyal (in hindustani)

-Ramakriya
Last edited by ramakriya on 16 Oct 2007, 03:38, edited 1 time in total.

arasi
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Post by arasi »

Ramakriya,
Thank you for the list and a 'minor' review.
I have heard the brothers sing a good pAmara jana pAlini too, and why do you think samashTi SaraNam is a limiting thing? Those who think that lyrics are an intrusion might enjoy it more, don't you think?!!
I suppose you say minor compositions in the 'end of the concert' sense. Otherwise, by word count, the musically grand pallavi would be in the minor league.
No tamizh or Purandara dAsa (or any other kannada) kriti? While many musicians go for them as end of the concert pieces, they can be sung earlier in the concert as well.

Several of their guru's favorites too in the list...
Last edited by arasi on 16 Oct 2007, 01:16, edited 1 time in total.

ramakriya
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Post by ramakriya »

arasi wrote:No tamizh or Purandara dAsa (or any other kannada) kriti? While many musicians go for them as end of the concert pieces, they can be sung earlier in the concert as well.

Several of their guru's favorites too in the list...
There was karunai daivame karpagame in Sindhu bhairavi among the "monor compositions". ( Is is PSivan's?). No dEvaranAma. There was one more in Poorva kalyAni - I am not sure if it is annamayya/Ramadasa's or some jAvaLi.

-Ramakriya

mdrgnb
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Joined: 18 Aug 2007, 08:34

Post by mdrgnb »

As I mentioned in some other thread, it has become mandatory to sing one or two tamil krithis or Purandharadasa krithis in a concert. I do not understand this mandate.

Hyderabad Brothers have a very good repertoire of Thyagaraja krithis, Dikshitar krithis, Padams & Javalis, Annamacharya krithis, .... I would love to listen to their Padams, Javalis etc rather than a perfunctory krithi in tamil.

For e.g. when you go to a Mexican restaurant, the selection is from many Mexican dishes - burrito, chimichanga, ... and

vasanthakokilam
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Post by vasanthakokilam »

well, 'karunai daivame karpagame' is a Taco :)

ramakriya
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Post by ramakriya »

I agree with mdrgnb - I don't worry if Hyderabad Brother's don't sing a dEvaranAma in kannaDa. I woud rather listen to some of the rarer Tyagaraja kritis they sing -than listen to the same cookie-cutter renditions of dharmashravaNavEtake or nArAyaNa ninna. It is a different question if a rAga is taken for elaboration and a dEvaranAma is sung. Even there, the preference is because of the elaboration, and not because the composition is in my mother tongue.

I had never heard before 2 of the compositions they sang in this concert - mitri bhAgyame in khp, and the one in pUrva kalyANi.

-Ramakriya

ramakriya
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Post by ramakriya »

arasi wrote:why do you think samashTi SaraNam is a limiting thing? Those who think that lyrics are an intrusion might enjoy it more, don't you think?!!
That's one way of looking at it :P

In general, I feel a longer kriti - the usual suspects for main kritis like nidhi chAla, EtA unnAra, svararAga sudhA, chakkani rAjamArgamu, evari mATa etc etc - lead themselves for a variety of manodharama (different points for neraval, svara etc) compared to a samashti charana, just because of its size, offers fewer such opportunities.

-Ramakriya

vasanthakokilam
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Post by vasanthakokilam »

Ramakriya, did you miss the Simhendramadhyama item in the list?

ramakriya
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Post by ramakriya »

No...

Now I see that in the list I wrote it as sumadyuti - which is correct too - the name of Simhendra madhyama in Muttuswami dIkShita's tradition!

pAmara jana pAlini - sumadyuti, popularly known as Simhendramadhyama :)

In another MD kriti, kAmAkShI kAmakOTi pIThavAsini - the rAgamudre appears as kaumAri kusumAdyuti hEmAbharaNa bhUShiNi.

-Ramakriya

vasanthakokilam
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Post by vasanthakokilam »

Thanks Ramakriya.

BTW, What do you mean by 'even though the kriti is samashTi charana'? First I thought that is the name of the piece :(

ramakriya
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Post by ramakriya »

I meant to say "Even though it is a samasTi charaNa kriti" or "Even thogh it is a kriti with samaSTi charaNa". Bad sentence formation. That's it :(

SamashTi charaNa is a charaNa that takes the place of anupallavi. Or you can say that the kriti has a pallavi and charaNa, with no anu pallavi. So most of such kritis are short.

-Ramakriya

vasanthakokilam
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Post by vasanthakokilam »

Thanks Ramakriya.

vasanthakokilam
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Post by vasanthakokilam »

I agree with mdrgnb - I don't worry if Hyderabad Brother's don't sing a dEvaranAma in kannaDa.
I also agree..no mandate.. but it should be pointed out that dEvaranAmas should be afforded atleast a Nachos status ;) mdrgnb's implication with that analogy was a bit odd but no big deal.

mdrgnb
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Post by mdrgnb »

Each artist has something unique to offer. As a rasika, I want to listen to the best aspects of that musician.

When RK Srikantan sings, I love to hear Devarnama krithis or when TNS sings, I want to listen to his Pallavi so on. My contrived example was to drive home the point.

A few years back, Hyderabad Brothers concert classic choice of krithis that were very well rendered - Mapala Velasi - Asaveri, Abhayambikayam - Kedaragowla, Sadachaleswaram - Boopalam, Sree Narasimha - Phalamanjari, Tulasamma - Devagandhari, Rama Rama Pranasakhi - Bhairavi, Samayamidhe - Behag.

At the end of the concert, a rasika went to artists and expressed disappointment, that Hyderabad Brothers did not sing a single tamil composition. Alas, ...

vasanthakokilam
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Post by vasanthakokilam »

Understood mdrgnb. Thanks for the clarification.

gravikiran
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Post by gravikiran »

ramakriya wrote:No...

Now I see that in the list I wrote it as sumadyuti - which is correct too - the name of Simhendra madhyama in Muttuswami dIkShita's tradition!

pAmara jana pAlini - sumadyuti, popularly known as Simhendramadhyama :)

In another MD kriti, kAmAkShI kAmakOTi pIThavAsini - the rAgamudre appears as kaumAri kusumAdyuti hEmAbharaNa bhUShiNi.

-Ramakriya
an interesting observation is that the SSP says that sumadyuti is also known as seemanthini and in pAmara jana pAlini we have the words:
"...seemanthini natha manthrini...."
which would imply that dikshitar had adopted the name seemanthini for this raga.
it is reasonable to assume that dikshitar was consistent in his raga name usage and therefore the other kriti "kAmAkshi kAmakOti pIthavAsini" could be spurious because there the raga name is suggestive of sumadyuthi.
fyi, the SSP mentions only "pAmara jana pAlini" and no other kriti.
Last edited by gravikiran on 16 Oct 2007, 08:47, edited 1 time in total.

Shyama
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Post by Shyama »

The pUrvi kalyaNi piece was the jAvaLi nI mATalEmAyanurA.

rajeshnat
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Post by rajeshnat »

ramakriya wrote:There was karunai daivame karpagame in Sindhu bhairavi among the "monor compositions".
-Ramakriya
karnunai deivamE karpagame is by madurai SreenivAsan

ramakriya,
In what rAga was sarvam brahmamayam sung ? There are 3 versions of this sadashiva brahmendra's krithi .Was it madhuvanti or Ahirbhairav or darbAri kAnaDA?

vijay
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Post by vijay »

Interesting Ravikiran. To me it sounds just like Simhendramadhyamam. The neraval of the Hyd Brothers was one of my first listening experiences in CM (it was part of an Album on Deekshitar krithis brought out by Music Today) - quite exquisite.

On the language issue, I largely agree with mdrgnb except for a couple of issues. I think it is important for a musician to develop a diverse repertoire, cutting across language barriers rather than limiting oneself to compositions in one's mother tongue or to trinity compositions - to me that is being about as catholic as the Tamizh isai movement. While one's musical background may tilt one's repertoire in a certain direction, the process of musical evolution demands that the artist seek out quality compositions from traditions other than his/her own. However such a diversification should be language-agnostic and focus on musical merit alone - dishing out mediocre compositions just to please certain sections of the audience is not what I am suggesting.

Once, the musician's composition bank is adequately diverse, there is no harm in ensuring that the song selection is in line with audience demographics and/or the occasion.

ramakriya
Posts: 1876
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Post by ramakriya »

gravikiran wrote:
ramakriya wrote:No...

Now I see that in the list I wrote it as sumadyuti - which is correct too - the name of Simhendra madhyama in Muttuswami dIkShita's tradition!

pAmara jana pAlini - sumadyuti, popularly known as Simhendramadhyama :)

In another MD kriti, kAmAkShI kAmakOTi pIThavAsini - the rAgamudre appears as kaumAri kusumAdyuti hEmAbharaNa bhUShiNi.

-Ramakriya
an interesting observation is that the SSP says that sumadyuti is also known as seemanthini and in pAmara jana pAlini we have the words:
"...seemanthini natha manthrini...."
which would imply that dikshitar had adopted the name seemanthini for this raga.
it is reasonable to assume that dikshitar was consistent in his raga name usage and therefore the other kriti "kAmAkshi kAmakOti pIthavAsini" could be spurious because there the raga name is suggestive of sumadyuthi.
fyi, the SSP mentions only "pAmara jana pAlini" and no other kriti.
Seemantini - was the name of 57th mELa in older kanakAmbari nomenclature ( Post Venkatamakhi , but before Muddu Venkatamakhi - In this name set, not all rAgas have the katapayAdi prefixes. However, the anubandha to CDP by Muddu Venkatamakhi has the name as sumadyuti.

I do not see any problem if MD intended to use the rAgamudre as sImantini in one and sumadyuti in the other. I mean, unless there are other compelling reasons, pAmara jana pAlini does not have to be spurious. ( I do not know if any such factors exist for this kriti. Also, doesn't this kriti fit the structure of the kritis he is supposed to have composed while at Tanjavoor, to illustrate the 72 mELas? Most of these kritis are on brihannAyaki IIRC.

There are at least 2 other kritis where MD has used the mainstream rAga name (from kanakAngi -ratnagi schme) - in Sri Sulinim in SailadEshAkShi and hari yuvatIm haimavatIm in dEshi simharava ; In both these rAgas, there is no kriti indicating the name from the later kanakAmbari schme. So MD indicating as sImantini in this kriti is quite possible IMO.

-Ramakriya

ramakriya
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Post by ramakriya »

vijay wrote:Interesting Ravikiran. To me it sounds just like Simhendramadhyamam. .
It ought to :) Vijay. Ragas like Sumadyuti, chAmara, dEshi simharava, are rAgas that are defined identical to their sampUrNa counterparts - unlike many other asampUrna mELas like manOranjani or tarangiNi or kOkilArava, where you can definitely distinguish between the sampUrNa and asmpUrNa mELas.

-Ramakriya

ramakriya
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Post by ramakriya »

Oh Oh! I see Ravikiran's suggestion was that kAmAkShi kAmakOTI pIThavAsini could be spurious, and not pAmara jana pAlini (which is anyway in SSP).

But even here, since he followed the CDP anubandha to the letter - (I think there is only one rAga that is not described in it and he has composed) - Since the anubandha names the rAga as sumadyuti, it is quite possible that he composed one kriti with mudre as sImantini (to indicate the older name) , and the other with sumadyuti, as given by Muddu Venkatamakhi.

-Ramakriya
Last edited by ramakriya on 16 Oct 2007, 11:46, edited 1 time in total.

ramakriya
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Post by ramakriya »

rajeshnat wrote:ramakriya,
In what rAga was sarvam brahmamayam sung ? There are 3 versions of this sadashiva brahmendra's krithi .Was it madhuvanti or Ahirbhairav or darbAri kAnaDA?
It was sung in madhuvanti.

-Ramakriya

vageyakara
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Post by vageyakara »

Dr. BMK used to sing in Desh
Ramaraj

hsuvarna
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Post by hsuvarna »

I could only attend the last portion from SarvamBrahmamayam, followed by Pahadi Tillana. As reported by some rasikas, during the karunai daivam karpagame, notebook was opened. But it never seemed they used it nor the opening
seemed to have affected the flow of singing. The way they sang sarvambarhmamayam and pahadi, made me rue and rue for not attending it from beginning. They just exhibited that kind of vidwat, the swarass, taalam, raaga and any other singing aspect you name it, was just oozing from them just like the sweet rasam from the East Godavari
Cheruku-rassalu (a variety of sweet mango). This was my first time to see them live and I need to find anoither concert of them soon to satisfy the listener inside me.
Later on I could speak with the brothers on the stage and it was like chatting with my best freinds in alpha hotel in secunderabad. They were just down to the earth artists.
btw, the madhuvanti, was it composed by Voleti?
Many other rasikas inside the hall were commenting about their version of Pahadi tillana, being the best of all.

meena
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Post by meena »

hsuvarna

Sree Voleti has composed?
Last edited by meena on 17 Oct 2007, 10:10, edited 1 time in total.

hsuvarna
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Post by hsuvarna »

He composed a few like annamacharya's kandarpajanaka-kalavati. He composed music for few of
SadashivaBeahmendra's kirtanas too, as I read in the past in this forum. Padren-ji lnows well for sure..

HeyNarayana
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Joined: 27 Oct 2007, 03:41

Post by HeyNarayana »

Without getting into many technical details of the concert, I could say the concert was great. We were one of the fortunate who could attend. Like one of the rasikas mentioned it was like enjoying 'cheruku-rasalu-mango'. If you taste it, you won't leave it and you wouldn't mind the mess of eating it. So whether they sang all Tyagaraja krithis or sang from paper, it doesn't matter. What matters is the quality and passion at which they sang. We have been attending their concerts in India and US from several years and San Jose concert will stay as one of the memorable concerts. God Bless them.

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