Vocal: Malladi Brothers
Violin: Embar Kannan
Mrudangam: Umayalpuram Sivaraman
Khanjira: Sreesundarkumar
Approximate Songlist:
(Might have missed a varnam; entered 5 min late)
01. sadAchalEshwaram (S @ pallavi) - bhUpAlam - rUpakam
02. pAhi srI girirAjasuthE (sketch, S @ pallavi) - Ananda bhairavi - rUpakam
03. ikatA valasina dEvi manasA (?) - bAlahamsa - mishra chApu
04. nIdu charanamuLE (R, N @ vEdavEdAntha vidi, S) - simmhEndramadhyamam - mishra chApu
05. mari mari ninnE (R, N @ tharanu vElayu thyAgarAja sannutha, S, T)- kAmbOji - Adi
06. RTP - sAvEri - chatushra rUpakam ? (khanda nadai ) (eduppu on little finger) (UKS accompanied for the entire thAnam)
Pallavi: saravaNa bhava guhanE vara shaNmuganE
Ragamaliga swaras in AbhEri, brindAvani ?, kAnada, ?
07. appan avadarItha - kharaharapriya - Adi
08. parAthparA bhaktha - sindhu bhairavi - Adi
09. mangaLam - madhyamAvathi
Too tired to write comments, but it was generally a very good concert, with an excellent raga expansion of kAmbOji and the entire rendition of simmhEndramadhyamam, especially the neraval, was top-notch. Pallavi was neat. Wonderful accompaniment by Embar Kannan and UKS. Sreesundarkumar was okay.
Malladi Brothers at MA on 29 Dec 2008
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bilahari
- Posts: 2631
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 09:02
Let me add some notes on the concert:
02. Swaras were sung in higher madhyama kala but bhavam of raga was not lost at all. Excellent effort by the brothers.
03. This was a great rendition. First time I'm hearing this very melodious krithi, and not knowing anything about Balahamsa, I was confused and associated it mostly with Narayanagowla. There was a very soft touch in the rendition of this krithi that was moving.
04. The Simmhendramadhyamam alapanai showed me that the brothers have improved the modulation of their voices when singing ragam, and have become more judicious in their use of fast brigha passages, and also give a pause after phrases. These seemingly minor changes have had a significant positive impact on their singing. The neraval for this composition was mostly in vilamba kAlam and was just excellently executed with the sahitya kept intact at all times. In the swaras, my highlight was the darker brother pulling off a sublime gamaka from the madhya shadjam all the way to the tara rishabam in one swoop, creating a wonderful contour of the raga.
05. The raga elaboration was shared by both brothers (darker one took over in tara sthayi; good decision because the other one wasn't reaching that octave easily). The alapanai was excellent and threw up quite a few new phrases (new for me, anyhow), and the tara sthayi exploration was really outstanding, especially when he sang RGMP with each note flat. It's not often one hears gamakaless phrases in Kamboji! The violinist played a more classical kAmbOji, especially taking advantage of the sure-to-please phrases like pulling the nishadam slowly all the way from the next octave's rishabam and gandharam, and also pulling the madhyamam all the way from P and D. Mari mari ninnE was rendered very well, though I thought the krithi would have more sangathis (from what I've heard on the forum), but it's definitely a remarkable composition. The neraval and swaras for the piece were very crisp and effective. Neraval's highlight was the excellent long pause at the tara shadjam.
06. The pallavi was in Tamil and I've decided the brothers don't have any pronunciation excuse for not expanding their Tamil repertoire since their articulation was just excellent (including where to use the 3-chuzhi and 2-chuzhi na-- a distinction which eludes even native speakers). Since the thanam was short (running out of time), I liked mrudangam accompaniment for it since it kept the flow of the thanam going and all the artistes adjusted well to the rhythm UKS was maintaining. Swaras in Abheri were particularly good in an otherwise competent rendition.
07. Nice, weighty thukkada!
Embar Kannan was great on the violin, often repeating phrases in the mandra sthayi, his shruti was good, bowing was flawless, and he came up with excellent responses in all manodharma components.
UKS was excellent as well, with typically crystal clear strokes and his accompaniment during the simmhendramadhyamam and pallavi was really outstanding. Nothing much to say here about the maestro that hasn't been said already.
Sreesundarkumar was rather reticent, but played quite well during the thani, which was good.
02. Swaras were sung in higher madhyama kala but bhavam of raga was not lost at all. Excellent effort by the brothers.
03. This was a great rendition. First time I'm hearing this very melodious krithi, and not knowing anything about Balahamsa, I was confused and associated it mostly with Narayanagowla. There was a very soft touch in the rendition of this krithi that was moving.
04. The Simmhendramadhyamam alapanai showed me that the brothers have improved the modulation of their voices when singing ragam, and have become more judicious in their use of fast brigha passages, and also give a pause after phrases. These seemingly minor changes have had a significant positive impact on their singing. The neraval for this composition was mostly in vilamba kAlam and was just excellently executed with the sahitya kept intact at all times. In the swaras, my highlight was the darker brother pulling off a sublime gamaka from the madhya shadjam all the way to the tara rishabam in one swoop, creating a wonderful contour of the raga.
05. The raga elaboration was shared by both brothers (darker one took over in tara sthayi; good decision because the other one wasn't reaching that octave easily). The alapanai was excellent and threw up quite a few new phrases (new for me, anyhow), and the tara sthayi exploration was really outstanding, especially when he sang RGMP with each note flat. It's not often one hears gamakaless phrases in Kamboji! The violinist played a more classical kAmbOji, especially taking advantage of the sure-to-please phrases like pulling the nishadam slowly all the way from the next octave's rishabam and gandharam, and also pulling the madhyamam all the way from P and D. Mari mari ninnE was rendered very well, though I thought the krithi would have more sangathis (from what I've heard on the forum), but it's definitely a remarkable composition. The neraval and swaras for the piece were very crisp and effective. Neraval's highlight was the excellent long pause at the tara shadjam.
06. The pallavi was in Tamil and I've decided the brothers don't have any pronunciation excuse for not expanding their Tamil repertoire since their articulation was just excellent (including where to use the 3-chuzhi and 2-chuzhi na-- a distinction which eludes even native speakers). Since the thanam was short (running out of time), I liked mrudangam accompaniment for it since it kept the flow of the thanam going and all the artistes adjusted well to the rhythm UKS was maintaining. Swaras in Abheri were particularly good in an otherwise competent rendition.
07. Nice, weighty thukkada!
Embar Kannan was great on the violin, often repeating phrases in the mandra sthayi, his shruti was good, bowing was flawless, and he came up with excellent responses in all manodharma components.
UKS was excellent as well, with typically crystal clear strokes and his accompaniment during the simmhendramadhyamam and pallavi was really outstanding. Nothing much to say here about the maestro that hasn't been said already.
Sreesundarkumar was rather reticent, but played quite well during the thani, which was good.
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grsastrigal
- Posts: 884
- Joined: 27 Dec 2006, 10:52
I envy Bilahari for attending an excellant concert. Thanks for your review.
There was complete chaos outside the hall for ticket. Looked like Rajni film first show. When Sadachaleshwaram was being rendered, some 30 people (incl me) were wating for the balcony ticekt or near the artists (platform/dais). None of the orgainising people were able to tell what is happening.. whether we would get the ticket or house full. Middle of Anandha Bhairavi, we were asked to go since the hall was full. Knowing Sat evening and Malladi, they could have organised it better way. 45 minutes waiting at the queue....
Very frustrating. So many security guards. Then I was sitting outside the vip entrance and listening to the (could also see UKS and back of Embar) audio for full ananda bharavi and baahamsa ragam. Then I left.
I attended many Mallad Concertrs. But attending in MA is unique experience.
There was complete chaos outside the hall for ticket. Looked like Rajni film first show. When Sadachaleshwaram was being rendered, some 30 people (incl me) were wating for the balcony ticekt or near the artists (platform/dais). None of the orgainising people were able to tell what is happening.. whether we would get the ticket or house full. Middle of Anandha Bhairavi, we were asked to go since the hall was full. Knowing Sat evening and Malladi, they could have organised it better way. 45 minutes waiting at the queue....
Very frustrating. So many security guards. Then I was sitting outside the vip entrance and listening to the (could also see UKS and back of Embar) audio for full ananda bharavi and baahamsa ragam. Then I left.
I attended many Mallad Concertrs. But attending in MA is unique experience.
Last edited by grsastrigal on 21 Dec 2008, 14:00, edited 1 time in total.