Malladi Bros @ Toronto - September 26, 2010

[Abhishek]

Vocal: Malladi Brothers - Sri Malladi Sreeramprasad and Sri Malladi Ravikumar
Violin: Sri B.U. Ganeshprasad
Mridangam: Sri Patri Satishkumar

Song List:
1) varnam - nEranammiti (kAnaDa - aTa tALam - poochi srinivAsa iyengar)
2) Sri papriya (athAna - Adi - tyAgarAjar) *Preceded by a short viruttam in the same rAgam. [O,S]
3) kalAvati (yAgapriya/kalAvati - Adi - muthuswAmy dikshitar) [O]
4) Sri kAmAkshi (dEvagAndhAri - miSra chApu - spencer vEnugopAl)
5) vEnkatashaila (hAmIr kalyANI - adi - subbarAya sAstrI) [R,S]
6) kOTinaduLu (tODi - adi - tyAgarAjar)
7) navasiddhi petrAlum (kharaharapriyA - miSra chApu - neelakanta Sivan) [O]
8 ) rAgam tAnam pallavi (sAvEri - chatuSra triputa, khanda nadai) eduppu: 1 aksharam before samam [RNST]
pallavi line: kAmAkshi brOvavE kalyANI purANi, parama pAvanI manOmaNi
rAgamAlika swarams: mOhanam, kannaDa, hamsanAdam, bhImplAs, khamAs, vAsanti
9) kamala nayana (vAgadeeSwari - adi - swAti tiruNAL)
10) nandakara (rAkeSri - adi - annamAchArya - tuned by their father)
11) Emitiki dayarAdu (Anandabhairavi - adi - Sriramadasa)
12) parama purusha (behAg - adi - Kanchi Paramacharya)
13) nAmavadAmi (sAlagAbhairavi - adi - ??) *Preceded by a short viruttam
14) rAma rAma (tillang - rUpakam - purandaradAsa) *Preceded by a short viruttam
15) chandraSekhara (sindhubhairavi - adi - pApanAsam sivan / Anai Vaidyanatha Iyer)
16) maraLi maraLi jaya mangaLam (madhyamAvati - adi - annamAchArya)

Another fantastic concert by the brothers. I heard them live for the first time last December at Brahma Gana Sabha, where they sang a pallavi in nAsikAbhooshani, one of my favourites. Listening to them has always been a pleasure, be it a live concert or a mere concert recording. Out of this concert, I particularly loved the pallavi line.
I was initially a bit disappointed that there wasn't a typical "main" song, but the pallavi definitely made up for it. All the tukkada pieces were quite enjoyable, especially the song in vAgadeeshwari rAgam.

-Abhishek Iyer.

[Lakshman]

I think they announced that item # 12 is by Kanchi Paramacharya.
# 15 is by Anai Vaidyanatha Iyer, although there is a story where Papanasham Shivan attended a concert by Alattur Brothers, when they sang this song and at the end of the concert Shivan went to the stage and praised their rendition and asked who the composer was. They replied,"Why it is one of yours!" Apparently Shivan had forgotten about his own composition it seems.
I don't know if this is true or just a story.

[mahavishnu]

Nice story, Lji.
Thanks for posting the songlist, Abhishek. Sorry I had to miss this concert due to overseas travel commitments. The combination with Patri must have been outstanding.

[rajeshnat]

1) varnam - nEranammiti (kAnaDa - aTa tALam - poochi srinivAsa iyengar)
...
10) nandakara (rAkeSri - adi - annamAchArya - tuned by their father)

Hi Abhishek,

Good to see your review.Did you notice again the first varnam is again in kAnaDA , as the concert is held in canadA I am not sure if you can really spell rAghEShri as rAkeSri , (not notpicking here , the google may index it wrongly. perhaps before the pallavi there were just too many numbers , that may not be to your liking. keep the reviews coming.

Lji
I didnot know this story, Tx for that.

[Abhishek]

Lakshman sir, thanks for letting me know about the composers. Interesting story.
Mavavishnu sir, the combination truly was outstanding. The audience just loved the tani.

Rajesh sir, ahaha, I hope this doesn't become a trend with all future concerts in Canada, otherwise we wouldn't get to hear all the other lovely varnams out there.
You are right, it would make more sense to spell it rAghEShri.
Oh I loved all the songs before the pallavi, it's just that I wanted to hear a heavy "main" song, with an elaborate AlApanai, neraval, swarams and tani.
I was actually really really hoping they would sing kAmbOji. I just LOVE the way they sing the rAgam.

By the way, next saturday, my absolute favourite singers are gracing Toronto with a concert. Any guesses on who they are?

[bilahari]

I love their interpretation of kAmbOji, too! Especially in the tara stAyi.
Thanks for the review, Abishek. I would likely have felt the same way about the lack of a main song.

[rajeshnat]

By the way, next saturday, my absolute favourite singers are gracing Toronto with a concert. Any guesses on who they are?

You already have given the answer when you posted their schedules . I am sure there is an abhang at the end of their concert.After brothers it is sisters after all in toronto... Till then if you need few calmbhoji or a calm illAda kAmbOdhi, just mail me I can give you

[Rohin]

3) kalAvati (yAgapriya - Adi - muthuswAmy dikshitar)

Please note that although the brothers announced the raga of kalAvati kamalAsana yuvati as yAgapriyA, it is in fact in the rAga kalAvati, the asampUrna counterpart of yAgapriya.

-Rohin

[Abhishek]

Please note that although the brothers announced the raga of kalAvati kamalAsana yuvati as yAgapriyA, it is in fact in the rAga kalAvati, the asampUrna counterpart of yAgapriya.

-Rohin

You're right. I was wondering the same thing, but since the brothers specifically mentioned that it was yAgapriyA, I decided to go with them.

[Lakshman]

I am a trained in music. Maybe they did sing it in yAgapriyA as Yesudas has done with the varNa sarasAngi, originally set to mAyAmALavagauLa, in sarasAngi rAgA.

[ragam-talam]

Lakshman - yagapriya is referred to as kalavati under the asampoorna mela naming convention that Dikshitar used. They both refer to the same mela 31. Yagapriya is correct; it's just that when referring to the Dikshitar kriti it's more appropriate to call it kalavati.

Kind of like saying Siddhi vinayakam is in Chamaram, rather than in Shanmukhapriya.

[grsastrigal]

Parama purusham- I think it is Naryana Teertar's tarangam. It is in behag only. "Parama purusham aunyamaya vayam saki". If they announced it is of "Paramacharya", it is fine.

[Ashwin]

Lakshman - yagapriya is referred to as kalavati under the asampoorna mela naming convention that Dikshitar used. They both refer to the same mela 31. Yagapriya is correct; it's just that when referring to the Dikshitar kriti it's more appropriate to call it kalavati.

Kind of like saying Siddhi vinayakam is in Chamaram, rather than in Shanmukhapriya.

These statements would be true if yAgaprIya and kalAvati were identical. They are, in fact, quite distinct. From a technical standpoint, differentiating characteristics of MDs kalAvati (not to be confused with ST's kalAvati or the HM rAg kalAvati) include SMR, PDS, MRG, MRS. From an aesthetic standpoint, the differences are perhaps more than can be explained in writing.

From what SD writes in his SSP, it appears that MDs cAmaram and our modern understanding of ShaNmukhaprIyA are very close (although SD mentions a few interesting viSEsha prayOga-s). However, this equivalence cannot be generalized to all rAga-s between the sampUrna and asampUrna schemes. Consider MDs vEgavAhini as presented in vINApustakadhAriNIm - IMO, it would be a sin to call it cakravAkam.

Ashwin

[mankuthimma]

Nice to see SRJ's tradition being kept alive
Augurs well for the future.