Toronto Brothers Ashwin and Rohin Iyer gave a crisp concert in Krishna Gana Sabha Mini Hall on December 14, 2008. I went to the Sabha one hour early. Shashank was performing (Flute) with Mysore Manjunath (Violin), acccompanied by Satish on Mridangam and a Tavil Player (whom I do not know). After Shashank concluded his concert, I was waiting, but nothing happened. So, I came out to find out the location of Toronto Brothers Concert and I was directed to the Mini Hall.
I entered the Mini Hall at about 12:05 p.m., and the concert had already started. Ashwin acknowledged me from the stage as he was singing Krishnananda Mukunda in Gowlipantu (Misra Chapu Thalam), a Muthuswami Dikshitar Krithi. I guess they had started a bit earlier than 12 noon.
I later found out that I had missed their rendering of the Nayaki Varnam Sarasijakshi - Kanda Triputa Talam, composed by Rudrapatnam Venkatramayya, and Raghunayaka in Hamsadhwani (Adi - Saint Thyagaraja).
Yagnadulu (Jayamanohari - Adi - Saint Thyagaraja) followed with a short Raga Sketch and Swara Kalpana. I was reminded of Ramnad Raghavan when I heard this krithi.
The highlight of the concert was Meenakshi me Mudam Dehi in Gamakakriya (Poorvikalyani ??) by Dikshitar. The Raga Alapana was shared by the Brothers, with Rohin leading. The Niraval of the line "Madurapuri Nilaye" was heart filling. The swaras were simply superb.
If I may digress a bit here, I note that there is no set pattern between the Brothers as to who sits where. In Narada Gana Sabha, Ashwin sat to the right of Rohin. In this concert, Rohin sat to the right of Ashwin. Does it matter who sits where? (That should be a discussion topic by itself).
It appeared to me that Rohin was the lead singer in this concert (leading the swaras).
The next piece Asai Muham (composed by Subramania Bharathiar) was refreshing after the heavy dose of Meenakshi Me Mudham Dehi. Shri S.R. Janakiraman, their Guru, had set the tune for this song in the Ragas: Jonpuri, Mand, Kapi, Brindavana Saranga, Behag, and Sindhu Bhairavi. SRJ Sir was in the front row, keenly listening to and approving the performance of his sishyas.
The Brothers then took me by surprise by singing an Annamacharya Krithi "AkaTi VELala" in the Raga Shubhali, tuned by SRJ sir. I was struck with wonder and awe when I heard them sing this rather complicated and rare piece. The ease with which the Brothers handle rare ragas like
Vandanadharini and Shubali amazes me. It is cliche to say that the credit goes entirely to the Guru, but in this case the Toronto Brothers deserve full credit for faithfully following (and remembering) what they have been taught by their great Master.
The concert concluded with a Thillana in Thodi by Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyengar ("Poochi Iyengar").
The accompanying artits were: Kandadevi Vijayaraghavan on the vioin, Trivandrum Balaji on the Mridangam and H. Prasanna on the Ghatam.
The Thani avardhanam went a little longer than I had expected, and seemed to me to end abruptly, and not in the usual way.
Congratulations to the Toronto Brothers for their fine performance, and we wish them many years of concert singing in the Chennai music season and all over the world.
I hear that Ashwin is going to get his doctorate in electrical engineering in Toronto in January 2009. Congratulations Ashwin, we are all very proud of your achievements. Keep it up.
S S Krishna