Hyderabad brothers @ SGBS, Bangalore, Gokulashtami celebrati

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 16 Aug 2008, 21:49

Vid Raghavachari & Vid Seshachari - vocal
Vid Mysore Nagaraj - Violin
Vid Hari Kumar - Mridangam
Vid V.R.Ranganatha chakravarthy - ghatam

1. inta chalamu - begada - varnam (Raga outline)
2. vinarada na manavi - devagandhari - thyagaraja - adi (Raga alapana)
3 nenarunchinanu - malavi - thyagaraja
4. mamava meenakshi - varali - MD - Misra chapu (ragam, neraval & swara @ shyame shankari digvijaya pratapini)
5. Dandamu pettenura kodandapani choodara - balahamsa - thyagaraja
6. saraguda paalima - kedara gowlai - RSI - Adi 2 kalai (ragam and swara @ saraguna palima, thani)
7. mayamma - ahiri - SS - adi 2 kalai
8. karunai delvame - sindhu bhairavi - adi
9. Dharma ShravaNa Videtake - Durga - PD -
10. pavamana - sourashtram - mangalam - thyagaraja

Comments in next post...

-hari

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 16 Aug 2008, 22:17

concert started 35 minutes late, thanks to Harikumar, mridangam vidwan - coming late..

begada raga outline was very good, and in mandara stayi, was in mediative mood for a grand start. pallavi, anu pallavi, chittaswaram rendered in 2 speed. In 2nd kalam, each of the line were rendered in two speeds, making the starting of line beginning in starting of tala.

devagandhari alapana was very classic and for about 5 minute. Nagaraj didn't get to play violin in reply, and the song was rendered in madhyama kalam.

malavi keerthana was also rendered in madhyama kalam, and there was no chittaswaras. Brothers rendered the keerthana with help of text.

just when i was wondering what direction is taking with back to back madhyamakala keerthanas, there comes leisurely paced varali... seshachari rendered it well, covering all stayis. Contours and colors of the raga came out quite well. Mel kala sangathis and brigas were handled well. Nagaraj's reply was equally good. after pallavi and samasti charanam - madhrua vani varali veni was sung in 2nd kalam, two times, while ending pallavi. during swara kalpana, for most of the swara rounds, it ended with some kanakku, and harikumar enjoyed it well, and aptly replied.

kedara gowlai alapana was a master piece, and rendered in a pure classical ways, with popular sangathis - m g r, p - m g r, r m p -; r m p - m g r etc. Today being birthday of poochi srinivasa iyengar, duo sang his keerthana.. for rendering this keerthana also, text was referred, not sure about reason - this being a very popular, still established artist referring notes. The ending korvai was like r m- g r s-; p s- n d p-; p m- g r s- rendered multiple times (eight times?? - laya experts - does this sound okay???).. Tani avarthanam was very good to listen, very energetic...kept everyone on their seats...

Ahiri keerthana was sung with lot of bhavam, emotion, in right kalapramanam. The raga outline contained phrases of sangathis from the keerthana giving hint about upcoming song.

sindhu bhairavi, durga keertanas were sung quite well, one gets feeling that artist understand clearly the lyric and meaning of the songs not in their mother tongue also.

After mangalam, nitya jaya mangalam was rendered in madhyamavathi bringing down curtains for a grand concert.

side note - ramesh swami's speech and felicitation was short and sweet, for 5 minutes... Seshachari mentioned that he never tasted payasam before, today being upakarma day, ramesh swami wife treated him with payasam with both sugar & jaggery!!!

-hari

sbala · Post by **sbala** » 17 Aug 2008, 12:21

They sang Inta Calamu, Vinaradha,Mamava Meenakshi and Mayamma at KGS as well this week. For a fleeting second, I thought it was a review of the same concert! Established artistes referring notebooks is quite common. Not a pleasant sight but this is another one of those things that has been "thrust upon" rasikas! Contrast this with what Vijay Siva said during a lecdem.."Do not present a krithi until you can recite it like a sloka. Do not change,include new or exclude old sangathis". Few artistes of today can reach such standards when it comes to krithi renditions.

vanamali · Post by **vanamali** » 18 Aug 2008, 10:37

sbala wrote:They sang Inta Calamu, Vinaradha,Mamava Meenakshi and Mayamma at KGS as well this week. For a fleeting second, I thought it was a review of the same concert!

And they have been singing " Dandamu pettenura" also very often these days! Wonder why they dont sing RTP at all nowadays...

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 19 Aug 2008, 17:49

Right, i was looking for their RTP - they are well known for laya, kannaku etc.. The problem is that only 'younger' brother Seshachari sing alapana, neraval etc.. The other sibling participate in swara and keerthana. Not sure how it will turn out in RTP...

-hari

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 20 Aug 2008, 19:30

In their Singapore concert, which featured an RTP in Kalyani, the younger one sang the whole RTP except a couple of rounds of swaras. Of course, both of them sang the pallavi initially.

vanamali · Post by **vanamali** » 21 Aug 2008, 10:10

I dont know why there is so much of dominance by the younger brother. It sometimes looks very odd. He sometimes has a book that he is referring to while singing, and keeping it near him, the older one tries to have a glance at the book but is not able to, because the younger one has it all for himself!!!
its not that the elder does not sing well. A couple of years ago in a concert, i heard him sing a brilliant Kalyani alapana, which was better than the younger's.
But whatever it is, i still like their singing!

arunsri · Post by **arunsri** » 21 Aug 2008, 10:21

It is better the brothers quit singing as a DUO and stick to singing individually. Attending their concerts nowadays is quite frustrating, since if it is a duo, you expect reasonable participation from both. It is not that the elder one cannot hold his own fort.
The younger brother's face and mannerisms reeks of arrogance and reveals a condescending attitude towards the younger one. When they came into limelight several years ago, it was great to listen to them, nowadays it is quite sad.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 21 Aug 2008, 11:48

I agree with arunsri. It was very disturbing to see the younger one waving to his elder brother to start singing, and barely a few seconds and midphrase in the alapanai, he cut him off and continued. I, too, feel the elder brother is more than capable of holding his own and needs to get his due!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 21 Aug 2008, 20:05

Who is the younger brother? In duos, it is difficult to remember them by name, I agree. Still, how do we know the younger from the elder? Our incapacity for telling them apart must be frustrating for brothers and sisters, just the way twins feel when folks get confused about their names and identity.
I wish that when they publish photographs of duos, they print their names in a clear way that we know who is who. Then we can learn to call them by their names, rather than refer to them as the older one (how do we know?), taller one, with a smile on his/her face, with curly hair, and so on...

sankirnam · Post by **sankirnam** » 21 Aug 2008, 20:12

Seshachary is the younger one (he is a mrudangam artist for AIR Hyderabad).

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 21 Aug 2008, 20:45

Thank you, sankirnam!

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 21 Aug 2008, 22:21

Arasi madam - i said that in my post #5

The problem is that only 'younger' brother Seshachari sing alapana, neraval etc.

Seshachari is on the left, and Raghavachari on right.. I think, they usually sit in this position. Am i right? May be all brothers/sister duo follow same position?

-hari

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 21 Aug 2008, 23:07

Yup at least in all the concerts I have attended - and I've heard a few.....top notch musicians representing the highest intellectual traditions of the art...despite the complains above, some of which I do agree with...

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 21 Aug 2008, 23:15

There's another brother too --- teaching music and singing occasionally, in London.

rajaglan · Post by **rajaglan** » 22 Aug 2008, 09:18

I feel we should be careful commenting on some of the attitude of duos. They both may have a perfect understanding between them.
It is probably that something didnot comeout as expected and younger brother took over.

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 22 Aug 2008, 10:21

I agree with rajaglan.. What we see is just observation, we don't have any insight on details. If elder brother is okay this way, why are we bothered? I just bought up a point that this kind of style will not be very effective in RTPs. that's it.

-hari

matterwaves · Post by **matterwaves** » 22 Aug 2008, 12:45

I have heard raghavachary sing alapanas (though not for the main item) and i have liked it immesnely. There is a commericial recording where he simgs a beautiful kalyani before Pankajalochana. His singing is more bhava oriented and i find it more pleasing than seshachary's style, which is more gamaka laden and 'brilliant' . However, in recent times,raghavachary hardly sings, execpt for swara prastara, where he invariably ends up singing the same swaras as his younger sibling!

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 22 Aug 2008, 16:26

s_hari wrote:I agree with rajaglan.. What we see is just observation, we don't have any insight on details. If elder brother is okay this way, why are we bothered?... ...

Because what appears to be going on on-stage can be more important than what is going on.

I write in general, not about this duo, who I have only seen two or three times and enjoyed every time --- but the audience's feeling about the relationships and interactions between all the artists will constitute an important part of it's feeling for, and appreciation of, the concert and the music