Malladi brothers at karthik fine arts

[kedharam]

Malladi brothers
Varadarajan, K.V Prasad, Vaikam gopalakrishnan
Kedharam -ramA nee pai- T, S
Asaveri - samayamu thelisimu, T
Lathangi - vEnkata ramanA un thiru viLayAdalai yAr arivAr, R, S
sAma - shAnthamulEka - T - with absolute sowkhyam
nagagandari - nagagandari, MD
mayamalava gowlai - dEvi srI thullasamA , T, N, S
thani
slokam - rAmudu gorapathaka -kamas followed by evELa nannu brOvarA
desh - kasthuri thilakam followed by srInilayam sakhi srinilayam, narayaa theerthar tuned by Sri. Malladi Suri babu
chenchurruti - narayanAyA namOnamO
Shivaranjani- brahmmy bArumilla
When a concert starts with kedharam:) and ends with desh, kamas, shivaranjani, it has to be an awesome one"¦
Lathangi
The ragam’s evergreen appeal was presented with stately flourishes and fluid phrasing unfolding the spirt of the ragam affirming serenity with varadarajan’s solo with an elegant restraint"¦in the sublime composition " vEnkata ramanA un thiru viLayAdalai yAr arivAr " the composer's imagery was unearthed revealing the devotional and emotional content of the composition with steely articulation in tamizh, ( I get a kick when they sing tamizh compositions with absolute control over the diction) capturing the composer’s whimsy with immaculate control, as the brothers brought the expressivity of the lyrics to the fore poignantly followed by kalpanaswarams never letting the rhythm overwhelm the lyrical beauty’s melodic line"¦
Mayamalava gowlai -
In the mayamalava gowlai essay, the older brother with his broad dynamic palette, projected a range of emotions from graceful introspection to unadulterated forcefulness to serenity- Sri. Varadarajan in his solo sort of conceptually took listeners to the transcendent with spritely and impassioned moments of spontaineity. dEvi srI thullasamA came with irresistible surges, allowing the wistful melodic line to shine balancing intensity and buoyancy performed with a fiery, glowing tone "¦ Sri varadarajan, Sri. K.V.Prasad, and Sri. Vaikkam gopalakrishnan played in tandem with their lovely agile twists and turns before ending with a galvanizing thani.

The program concluded with an engrossing rendition in kamas, desh, shivaranjani"¦

Side motes"¦Smt. Nithyashree mahadevan ate about 15 minutes of the next concert time which I can not pardon"¦same thing she did last year"¦especially during the season"¦
A huge exodus after her concert before malladi people were allowed in"¦witnessed the huge divide in Chennai rasikas to some astonishment"¦.similar thing happened last season"¦
Huge exodus during thani "¦the concert was supposed to start at 6.45, thanks to nithyashree, it started at 7.00 "¦thani was at 8.30"¦a dose of cultural shock for me"¦

[karthikbala]

I was among the "exodus", having attended Smt. Nithyashree mahadevan's concert. I'm not too sure about the "divide" though. I have attended concerts by Malladi bros. too. Two concerts in succession is overkill for me and I guess many rasikas had to make their choice as well.
Incidentally Ms. Mahadevan sang a robust Begada (tyagaraja yoga vaibhavam), a brisk Banturiti, with LavanyaRama filling in, and the main piece Kripayapalaya, preceded by a long Charukesi alapana.

[rajeshnat]

Incidentally Ms. Mahadevan sang a robust Begada (tyagaraja yoga vaibhavam)

I am assuming it is Tyagarajaya Namaste in bEgaDa , instead of tyagaraja yoga vaibhavam in Anandabhairavi.

[grsastrigal]

Recently, I heard a song of Nithyashree in a recently released Tamil film "Naan avan illai- Part 2". Astonished/shocked to hear Nithyashree singing "Manmatha leelayai venRar undo" in western type song, where the choreography was even worse.
Why Iam bringing up this point- why Nithyashree having good rasikas indulge in such third rated songs ?
Sorry to go off from Malladi Bros review ?
Malladi Bros, to me are the best due today. I attended Musiri and also Sarvani sangeetha sabha in MA Mini hall. Excellant.

1) They never repeat the ragas in at least 5-6 conerts in a row. Ex. if we see the reviews of MB, we will know.
2) They render new kritis. In Sarvani, they took Kambodhi- "Emayya Rama" of Badrachalam ramadoss as main and rendered with full of Bhavam. They also sang "Anyamu cheyakura" in Kapi which was unheard by me.

[pavithrac71]

Wonderful concert by Sreeramprasad and Ravikumar...special appreciations to the pakkavadyams....K.V.Prasad, Vaikom, and Varadarajan !!

They provided excellent support to the brothers !!

[musicfan_4201]

I was among the "exodus", having attended Smt. Nithyashree mahadevan's concert. I'm not too sure about the "divide" though. I have attended concerts by Malladi bros. too. Two concerts in succession is overkill for me and I guess many rasikas had to make their choice as well.
Incidentally Ms. Mahadevan sang a robust Begada (tyagaraja yoga vaibhavam), a brisk Banturiti, with LavanyaRama filling in, and the main piece Kripayapalaya, preceded by a long Charukesi alapana.

The divide point that you raised:
Chennai based musians - Barring a few, most pander to the crowd. It is commercialised music.
Musicians from AP/Kerala/ Karnataka - It is a music for intellectuals. Their quality of music is far too superior.

I do not wish to take names of musicans and stir a controversy!

[karthikbala]

Incidentally Ms. Mahadevan sang a robust Begada (tyagaraja yoga vaibhavam)

I am assuming it is Tyagarajaya Namaste in bEgaDa , instead of tyagaraja yoga vaibhavam in Anandabhairavi.

absolutely, tyagarajaya namaste it was... I was listening to Brinda-Muktha's rendition of the Anandabhairavi kriti this morning and hence the switch...

Recently, I heard a song of Nithyashree in a recently released Tamil film "Naan avan illai- Part 2". Astonished/shocked to hear Nithyashree singing "Manmatha leelayai venRar undo" in western type song, where the choreography was even worse.
Why Iam bringing up this point- why Nithyashree having good rasikas indulge in such third rated songs ?

Given that film singing is nowadays an entirely different genre, why compare at all? Do we really care (or know) about what some musicians do for their IT or finance sector employers, say, writing brain-deadening code, or flogging toxic derivative financial products etc... it's all in a day's work... Also, the playback singer's role is usually confined to delivering what the music director wants...how the song finally appears on film, choreography etc. is unknown at the time of recording, which usually is done first.
I'm not decrying your aesthetic sensibilities in any way, just trying to say that maybe we should cut professional musicians some slack...

[108talas]

When a concert starts with kedharam:) - that too when the concert is being reviewed by Kedharam himself.. the effect is gr8

[rajaglan]

The divide point that you raised:
Chennai based musians - Barring a few, most pander to the crowd. It is commercialised music.
Musicians from AP/Kerala/ Karnataka - It is a music for intellectuals. Their quality of music is far too superior.

I do not wish to take names of musicans and stir a controversy

I would say chennai musicians , apart from delivering music to intellectuals , they also deliver for crowd.

[arasi]

100talas,
I like a concert starting with KedAram, and as you say, the review of one started by Kedharam as well! May be we should all assume rAgam names when we write our views about a concert--look at Bilahari too! Super reviewers...

[bilahari]

We want reviews from you - the queen of us ragas - too!

Kedharam, looking forward to more reporting about Sanjay's concerts from you!

[arasi]

Bilahari,
Queen in name alone--Not qualified enough to be a reviewer, mind!

[rajaglan]

I like their raga selections. The review of this concert in kumudam talks about good telugu pronunciation and a sowkyam-ana sama raga krithi.
But says lathangi and MMG as a let down.