Malladi Brothers - Nadasurabhi, Bangalore - 25 Nov 2010

[KSJaishankar]

Malladi Brothers
Charulatha Ramanujam
Arjun Kumar
G Omkar

Nadasurabhi, Bangalore
25 November 2010

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01 Varnam (Vanajakshi - Ata) - Kalyani (R)

02 Gajananayanuchu Sada - Todi (S)

03 Neeke Teliyakapothe - AnandaBhairavi (S)

04 Ardhanariswaram - Kumudakriya (R, S)

05 Sri Balasubramanya - Bilahari

06 Sringara Lahari - Neelambari

07 Muripemu Galige - Mukhari (R, N @ Iduleni Malayamarutamu, S, T)

08 Sivaya Nama - Kuntalavarali (r)

09 RTP - NattaKurinji - Chatusra Jhampa, Khanda Gati
(Parameswara Jagadiswara Pahimam, Pranatharthihara Sri)

Sriranjani, Saveri, HamirKalyani, Vasanthi,

10 Dharmasravana - Durga

11 Nahire Nahi Shanka - JanaSammodini

12 Muddugare Yashoda - Kurinji

13 Sri Nilayam - Desh (r)

14 Antha Rama Mayam - Varali

15 Patiki Harathi Re - Surutti

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The brothers I guess are among the safest "bets" for a good concert. The quality only varies between "good" and "sublime". They are able to share the load of a concert almost equally, and are individually brilliant. This one was closer to sublime, I would say.

The three main alapanas - Kumudakriya, Mukhari and Nattakurinji - were all really top-notch. Kriti renditions, as usual, were good. The pallavi was set in a complex framework, rendered neatly. They started singing the RTP at 8:45, and the planned close of the concert was 9:00 PM. Sreeramprasad had to cajole (practically beg!) the audience to allow them to sing a pallavi. I was stunned by the audience response when he asked if they could sing a pallavi - pin drop silence from the audience, till a few of us enthusistically shouted out a Yes. I would have thought the usual audience complaint is that most artistes avoid RTPs. Well, we all live and learn.

Interesting exchange of non-verbal communication between Sreeramprasad and Charulatha during the pallavi. After the trikalam by the brothers, he looked enquiringly at her if she was confident of doing the trikalam (given the uncommon talam) and she nodded a tentative yes. He then smiled and asked her to carry on, and I must say she did a fantastic job of the trikalam neraval.

Overall, very good team effort, and excellent accompaniment by all the three accompanists. Enthusiastic, competetent, yet not overpowering.

Very satisfying for me, personally, too. I found Ravikumar sitting by himself before the concert and I approached him with a request to sing Muripemu. He looked up an asked "Muripemu galige?" When I said yes, he looked stunned for a second, and then said "Paadarome!" It was a very pleasant surprise when they not only sang the kriti, but took it up as the main piece of the concert. When I went to thank the brothers at the end of the concert for singing my request, Sreeramprasad said "Nangale inda patta padi romba naalu aachu. Inda maadiri paatu ellam ippo fashion la illai!" (Its been a while since we sang this song. Such songs are not in fashion these days!).

[rshankar]

KSJ - lovely review! Thank you.
Who is the composer for #2? I am very impressed that the artists speak tamizh so well.

[narayan]

KSJ - lovely review! Thank you.

Indeed!

Also impressed with your request for Muripemu. Am not that surprised (although pleased) that the brothers acceded to the request, because one such request usually makes the singer's day. A 'heavy' request like that indicates a rasika willing to listen for a length of time and soak it up, and give enough room to build up something, and so the singer is in business. They made full use of this. Good for them.

Curious about the Bilahari song without any embellishment. One of the last times I heard the brothers in Mumbai, this was the main song. Variety is the spice ...

[braindrain]

KSJ - lovely review! Thank you.
Who is the composer for #2? I am very impressed that the artists speak tamizh so well.

I heard it's a Chinni Krishna Dasa composition..

[rajeshnat]

. They started singing the RTP at 8:45, and the planned close of the concert was 9:00 PM. Sreeramprasad had to cajole (practically beg!) the audience to allow them to sing a pallavi. I was stunned by the audience response when he asked if they could sing a pallavi - pin drop silence from the audience, till a few of us enthusistically shouted out a Yes . I would have thought the usual audience complaint is that most artistes avoid RTPs. Well, we all live and learn.

KSJ,
Way to go , little "shout of yes for pallavi" will make a huge difference to the concert ^^^ . Very well written review as you rightly stated , the brothers not only share the load, they also share the excellence.

[squims]

Great review! Wasn't able to make it to this one. The trikaalam in the pallavi sounds particularly interesting. Charulatha Ramanujam really has a gift with accompanying for RTPs. She did an excellent job with the Ranjani Gayathri concert at Chowdiah last evening as well.

[Enna_Solven]

Very satisfying for me, personally, too. I found Ravikumar sitting by himself before the concert and I approached him with a request to sing Muripemu. He looked up an asked "Muripemu galige?" When I said yes, he looked stunned for a second, and then said "Paadarome!"

Whoever asks for mukhAri (& muripemu) is my friend!

[sais72]

Malladi brothers come across as being quite eager and sing for more than 3hrs whenever the audience and time permits. It was a wholesome concert.

Malladi brothers are known for their diction and the acoustics of the hall was so bad that i could barely make out what they were singing. To be fair, the organisers tried gamely to fix it but the issues seem to be a more basic nature. Hope the organisers look for a different venue for the next season or come up with a better sound arrangement.

[kssr]

See songlist/photo in their website

http://nadasurabhi.org/concert-schedule ... i-brothers

Another review

http://kpjayan.wordpress.com/2010/11/26 ... -nov-2010/