mallAdi brothers@SKGS on Dec 27th,2010

[rajeshnat]

mallAdi brothers@SKGS on Dec 27th,2010
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Vocal : MallAdi brothers - SreerAmprasad and Ravikumar
Violin : Mysore NAgaraj
Mrudangam : shri U K SivarAman
ghatam : S karthik

Concert duration/Day : 2 hours and 30 Minutes/Monday
Sabha : Sri Krishna gAna sabhA

1. gajAnanayutham (RS S) - chakravAkham - MD
3 mins swaras
2. aNupama guNambudhi (RS S) - atAnA - T
4 mins swaras
3. shree shankha chakra gadA - poornachandrikA - MD

4. thyagarAja gururAjam bhajE (R S)- ranjani - sadguru ranganAtha??
8 mins alapanai and 5 mins violin return
9 mins swaras
5. nagumOmu (Raga sketch) - AbhEri - T

6A. sarOjadalanEtri (R N S T) - shankarAbharanam - SS
14 mins alapanai and 4 mins violin return
neraval in "shyama gAna viNodhini guNadAma shyamakrishnanUtE" for 8 mins
10 mins swaras
6B. tani for 14 mins

7A. slOkham "gAngeyam vaNNIgarbham" - shanmughapriyA - ??
7B. saravana bhava - shanmughapriyA - psivan
8. hari hari rAma naramaruthu jutaku?? - kAnadA - BhadrAchalam RAmadAs

9. mAnasa saNchararE - shyamA - sadashiva brahmendra
10. Nivu devudavu (R) - Sindubhairavi - Annamacharya
brief 2 mins alApana
11. bhaja gOvindam (RS) - mAnd?? - AdishankarA

As concerts roll out in every nook and corner in chennai, atleast over the years I have drawn a mental map where I expect a lot in Tier 1 sabhas like Academy,NGS and SKGS . Added to that , if the accompanist is kind of a dream team the expectation is bit more high too.

mallAdis were scheduled to start at 16:30 and there was about 12 extra minutes lost in possibly arrangements and mike we could not see lot behind curtains, but as curtain unfolded it was mallAdis with UKS in left flank with his trademark smile and an optimism over his mrudhu angam was evident as with his body language.

The taller SreerAm a more closer clone to nedanuri started with an alApana sketch and popped up the famous chakravAkham krithi of MD, the diction was always sound , the krithi rendition was bit different not that quick turns like how most of the musicians sing.The atAnA was just ok and as I sat more at the last 10 rows of 100 RS ticket , I could see and hear there was very high resentment in the audience in the front .A rare krithi in poornachandrikA came out well with more emphasis on diction, I personally found the vocal voice was very high and I hardly heard the ghatam, the doyen UKS had his trademark nAdham

Just when Ravi started a few alApana phrases of ranjani,the crowd in the front got up and told there is so much echo and till now the sound is not adjusted at all. It was for the next 2 minutes a "ration shop kerosene melee" , with so many complaining there was a long break. UKS took the mike and pacified "nAnga eLLam ungalukkaga thAn pADrom .., and jokingly quipped "yEthO ketkarthu la" for a rasikas "echo kEtkarthu", there was roaring laughter there.

The concert mikes were adjusted Ok and I heard the ghatam too when the alApana of ranjani was continued by RavikumAr it gained a lot of aesthetics that was definitely misssing till poorachandrikA.A rare ranjani krithi was sung quite well and the swaras were done well , I liked nAgaraj's azhuttam in reply a bit more than brothers

AbhEri with a sketch and rolled with naguMomu. To an extent there is an inherent problem with double singers . The mike adjustment when done for a single musician when he sings alApana is itself adequate and when two take up it becomes a border line case of pounding aggression in your ears. Certainly Abheri was sung well like ranjani but the sound of vocalist was definitely high

The pick of the day was indeed the main and pristine shankarAbharanam , the alApana was started by sreerAm and elegantly continued by ravi and both of them sang beautifully. THe krithi was from the third trinity and they sang well , the neraval was in a different line , the neraval was not really upto mark , they could have gone more and considering they did not sing any more neravals or pallavi it was a neraval deficient concert .Swaras were well done with a nice rotation and really brilliant support from both percussionists(a showcase of two brilliant percussionists), nagaraj gave very good support and was very concise too.

They just allocated 30 more minutes post tani as the wrap up was 07:15 pm , i guess if they had better planned they could have comfortably sung a pallavi .A tier #1 sabha with a pallavi dream of UKS-karthik and lovely azhuttam of nAgaraj say in tAnam was all gone, mallAdis wasted a lovely oppurtunity to present a pallavi.

They sang a brief slokham in shanmughapriya and continued with a thamizh krithi saravana bhava. shyama ,sindhubhairavi and mAnd followed , to an extent they gave a devotional concert finish, showcasing their learning from nedanuri(AnnamAcharya krithi in sindhubhairavi) and possibly voleti in bhaja govindam (in mAnd). I loved the kAnadA tukkada a lot with a lovely emote. Overall I felt they could have taken fewer tukkadas and cut fewer numbers and managed to sing a pallavi .

[rajeshnat]

About Accompanists:
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Mysore Nagaraj played very well and he really did not spend too much time on return , there was contrast to what the brother sang in ranjani , but in sbharanam it was a clean shadow, his azhuttam was always there, his play was very apt to the concert.

The percussion duo of the doyen UKS and S karthik was excellent throughout , particularly it is obvious that UKS has a huge fan base following him when he handed over to ghatam after a first round of tani , the applause was thunderous. What a brand is UKS and he truly deserves it . His nAdham is always so perfect and this concert was not any exception.

Overall a very good concert.

[rshankar]

Rajesh - I had to laugh at your take on the nereval line for sarOjadaLanEtri - If she were indeed 'shyAma (blue) gAna vinodini', I am sure, SyAmA SAstri's lotus-petal eyed mInAkshammA would be the patron God of the blues singers, right? It should be 'sAma gAna vinOdini....'.