Hyderabad brothers @Nungambakkam cultural academy

[Neeraja veni]

HYDERABAD BROTHERS- Nungambakkam cultural academy- December 23rd, 2010

Sri.D.Sesha Chary &Sri.D.Raghava Chary-vocal

Sri.Nagai sriram-Violin

Sri.Harikumar- Mridangam

Valachi vachi- Navaraga malika varnam- Adi-Patnam subramanya iyer
Palukavademira- Devamanohari-Adi-Vasudevachar
Manasa etulorthune na- Malayamarutham-Rupakam-Tyagaraja-swarams
Sarasa samadana-Kapinarayani-Adi-Tyagaraja
Sri Sathyanarayanam-Shubapanthuvarali- Rupakam-MD no niraval
Ika nannu brova- Bhairavi-Adi- Pallavi Sesha iyer niraval at bhava sagara mandu muniki vela
le maro- Saveri-Misra chapu-Kshetragna
Nanoru vilayattu bommaiya- Navarasa kannada- P.Sivan

I think i have never heard a good concert at Nungambakkam cultural academy so far. My misfortune , I am sure. its dark and gloomy decor, insipid crowd, etc, etc, I often forget which half of Habibulla road it is in, but then the fault is all mine I guess. I have heard many concerts of the brothers in this place and honestly dont remember a single outstanding one. This was a week day concert at 4. 30 pm and my motivation and mood dipped lower as i went with a lot of trepidation.The hall was half filled.gloomy.

Lo and behold! The brothers were in a wonderful mood , called for their respective students from the audience to sit on stage behind them and the concert began with quite a crowd on stage. Valachi vachi came bringing with it pure traditional gamakas and prayogas.Each swaram was meticulously polished and sung unhurriedly.
Punchy palukavademira followed. Sri Sesha Chary did a detailed, malaya marutham alapana which was worth its weight in gold. The more I hear malayamarutham the more charmed by its beauty. Sri Sesha chary dwelled on the beautiful RSndn-srGr- gpdNd,etc. No niraval here. only Kalpana swarams.Nagai was especially good in this and in shubapanthuvarali, perfectly matching the mood. The nadam from his violin was really good..gloominess lifted and I felt as if i was in the middle of a spring field!

Sarasa samadana escaped the usual jetspeed singing. we all know its potential for speed!. But they sung it in a leisurely manner . Especially the charanam.

Ah, Then came the shubapanthuvarali. All along,I have had 2 notions about shubhapanthuvarali. First, I have ranked the maestro sri madurai TNS as the best among contemporary musicians who can handle shubhapanthuvarali so well.. second, it sounds best when heard during dusk hours. I first heard the brothers sing this ragam during their concert a few months ago in the grounds of a school in open air on a sun bleached morning. I thought what a ragam they chose on a blinding sunlight day!(10 AM at chennai). but it was wonderful to hear Sri Sesha chary's absolutely pliant, clear voice which instantly obeys his thoughts, explore it in- toto. Most of this was sung in mandara sthayi and the tree top crows and even the shy, distant koels fell silent. Ennalu oorage was an unforgettable experience. i thought, Sri TNS now has a serious , helathy contendor as far as shubhapanthuvarali is concerned.Sorry for meandering away from this concert.
Now at Nungambakkam, Sri.Sesha chary did not disappoint me. The alapana would linger in my memory for long. the phrases, gamakas, anuswaras were woven with gentleness.He exposed the bewitching beauty of the ragam with ease and skill. The very occasional usthadi touches of mian ki thodi gave it the right mix of colour and mood.. Sri Sathya narayanam was a good choice with its majestic pace. Kalpana swarams followed.

After this, the otherwise moving and emotion- laden Bhairavi acquired a happy mood may be also because both brothers took turns in the alapana. They seemed to absolutely enjoy singing this. The elder Sri Raghavachari did most of the alapana singing. Ika nannu brova of pallavi Sesha iyer was the kriti.. Niraval was at Bhava saagaramandu which was good was a bit too brief I thought..kalpana swarams followed. I thought there was a lot of banging of the mridangam which did not match the rest of the concert mood.

Kshetragna's queen of padams Le maro ma muvva gopala came and what a pace!. What gamakams! Does anyone sing slow padams as slow as this anymore after Brindamma and mukthamma?. looks as though these padams are an endangered species among snake dance `numbers'!. In the clear diction and bhavam of the brothers the padams sparkle.

Going back to the point i started with, why cant we `chennai wasis', apply some esthetic sense in decorating the venue, dais, backdrop, etc. There is always a gaudy corporation- blue cloth banner with mustard and pink letters mentioning the sabha, dark blue stage dividers in already gloomy, musty smelling halls, wires hanging all over, circular black switches reminiscent of the 70's black and white cinema., unwashed green jamakkalam with fading yellow frayed borders on the dais. tube lights all over. I saw parthasarathy swami sabha boast of white and red cheap paper jasmine strings swaying in fan breeze.Is this all we Tamils who are proud of our 1000 yr old Rajarajan temple built to perfection with unsurpassable esthetics, capable of? A big sabha recently had huge motifs of Krishna's peacock feathers painted at the back drop. Huge ones. It appeared as though the artists had on a gigantic Krishna-like- hair-do above their head which looked bizarre to say the least. I hang my head in shame when I bring outsiders to watch this gaudy, tasteless display. Kalakshetra is one exception and at times the academy. Even academy somtimes goes overboard with futuristic extravaganza!
But i also am happy to note that our music has survived despite all these and more!

Sorry again for meandering away from the concert.

[srikant1987]

malaya marutham alapana which was worth its weight in gold.

But was it heavy? :tmi:

[bilahari]

An excellent and entertaining review, Neeraja! Thank you! Oh, sarasa sAmadAna sung slowly must've been lovely.

I love the "Krishna-like-hair-do above their head" bit. May I know which sabha this is so I can catch the artistes in all their (pseudo)godly glory?

[sureshvv]

I first heard the brothers sing this ragam during their concert a few months ago in the grounds of a school in open air on a sun bleached morning. I thought what a ragam they chose on a blinding sunlight day!(10 AM at chennai).

And where was this? Just curious. Thought I knew all the venues in Chennai.

Sorry again for meandering away from the concert.

Nice meandering... Look forward to more!

[srikant1987]

Your description of the shubha pantuvarALi almost made me experience it, Neeraja! The ambience too is very relevant to the concert experience.

If you like kShetrajn~a padams etc., you could try listening to Smt Rama Ravi some time. Her daughter Smt Nandita Ravi also would sing them, but I don't know if she gets long-enough slots for them (a pity).

[sureshvv]

why cant we `chennai wasis', apply some esthetic sense in decorating the venue, dais, backdrop, etc. There is always a gaudy corporation- blue cloth banner with mustard and pink letters mentioning the sabha, dark blue stage dividers in already gloomy, musty smelling halls, wires hanging all over, circular black switches reminiscent of the 70's black and white cinema., unwashed green jamakkalam with fading yellow frayed borders on the dais. tube lights all over. I saw parthasarathy swami sabha boast of white and red cheap paper jasmine strings swaying in fan breeze.

Hey.. Watch it! Whats wrong with the 70's or b&w cinema?

[rajeshnat]

The Hindu review of the same concert
http://www.hindu.com/ms/2010/12/29/stor ... 080400.htm

[vasanthakokilam]

This Hindu review is confusing. The summary statement says "The alapanas for Subhapantuvarali and Bhairavi were highlights." and in the body "...these two were sub-satisfactory" and then later on "..produced a charming Bhairavi..".... Hmm.. sub-satisfactory review!! Neeraja's review is an order of magnitude better.

[Neeraja veni]

Gotcha, sureshvv, you thought you knew all the venues! Well, this was not a traditional venue for music, so to speak. It was the grounds of Vidya Mandir school, Mylapore, part of the Svanubhava series.
And I actually like black and white photos and movies. My comment was just to denote the outdatedness of the wiring system.(If you do like B&W movies, I strongly recommend Ray's `Jalsa ghar' with its haunting opening score in gurjari thodi by usthad vilayath khan.)

Bilahari, I thought it was very simple to guess the `Krishna -feathers-in-the-backdrop-at-a-big-sabha'! Elementary, Dr.Watson.

And thanks, Srikant1987, I have ofcourse heard Smt.Rama Ravi's rendition of Kshetragna padams. I think the Hyderabad brothers follow Brindamma and Mukhthama's `padaantharam' and I find their rendition alluring.

[arasi]

Such an enjoyable read--this thread.
Thanks Neeraja. Write more reviews!
This season we miss reading the ones by kedharam (he didn't make it to this season, I guess) and Vijay who hasn't written a review in a long while.
Yes, it's a dingy hall (yes!) but at least it has history of the kannaDigAs of Chennai in old the photographs. What you say about the decor and the gaudy backdrops you speak about is true of many sabhAs. Even the Academy sported a blah stage this year and yet the scarlet front wrap of the dais with the sabha name was too much and it did not go with the rest of the stage. The simplest backdrop was the one with little hamsa motif at Kalakshetra--but what else do you expect to find at an art center like Kalakshetra? Th least appealing of all to me was the huge Kamaraj Arangam. The clash of designs--and that spread on the stage which went with nothing. Those who have seen ChennaiyilE TiruvaiyARu on youtube can also see what I mean. It was all quite a clash-o-rama! The margazhi maha utsavam, great series but this year's stage with those cut out foam flowers
was something else
Coming back to Rama Rao Hall, I was delighted to be there for TVG's program.. Call it fusion--and it was the best of that kind I've ever been to..

[sureshvv]

Don't know if any of you got to listen to a concert at the "Padma Pushkarani" but it was a fabulous location to take in some music under the setting sun... that is, if you discount the occasional mosquito bite...

[mahavishnu]

Yes, Neeraja. Please post more reviews. Your dry wit is just what the forum needs!

The Rama Rau kala mantap is quite a piece of work. I was there for a Sikkil Gurucharan concert in early December. It was the third of three consecutive days of torrential downpours. Habibullah road was flooded and so was the auditorium (literally). I was asked by the organizers to drive all the way up to the doors by the stage and there was shin deep water everywhere. Although there were just 10 people, they decided to go ahead with the event. The secretary (who is well known to my family) insisted that I sit right in the first row in direct view of the artistes.

About half way through the second song, I suddenly felt a wet sensation under my feet when I realized that the front of the auditorium was flooded. The worst part was that the water was seeping through from below the floor and not coming from the outside. I felt it would be impolite if I moved to another seat since I was hugely visible to the artistes, so I decided to imagine I was in a spa named "padma pushkarini", soaking my feet. That feeling disappeared soon. The airconditioner was on full blast now, the entire auditorium was freezing. I was convinced my feet were going to get frost bitten by then.

Gurucharan sang like it was a capacity crowd; with all the sincerity he could muster and did not spare a single sangati. Kiravani main, punniyam oru koti. Swarams and then the tani avartanam. Bhaktavatsalam on the mridangam played with all his usual facial expressions and copyright smile. He did not seem to tire or lose even a small amount of enthusiasm. When the tani started, a cat found its way to the stage to take shelter from the rain. Plus the stage was probably the warmest part of the auditorium by then, what with the A/c on full blast. The little white creature did about four pradakshanams of the stage. At this point, Bhaktavatsalam stopped playing and couldn't control his amusement. He pointed out to his shishya Delhi Sairam sitting behind him: "Dei paaru da, na vasikkarada kettu poonai vandurukku!" At which point, all performers, artistes, stage hands and the audience (N < 20) broke out into uncontrollable laughter. The music even stopped for about half a minute. Then Bhakta-sir played an amazing korvai and the concert went on to an exciting finish. Standing ovations all around, including me standing on the chair if only to escape the spate of water mushrooming under my feet.

IIRC, the whole show was broadcast on AIR. The laughter was probably edited before it aired. My most memorable concert from the last season and I have NCA, the Kannada sangha and Rama Rau kala mantap to thank for it.

[arasi]

Mahavishnu,
What an account! I am laughing to myself now.Though my experience is nothing compared to yours, I rate that auditorium as the winner in chill factor. Just as we crave and sometimes suffer the food of our land in the canteens (Harimau has a priceless one on that elsewhere), Chennai folks need relief from the heat and seek air conditioned halls but what they crave for is supplied in excess. This year, MA was not so cold. We appreciate that.
The cat and the colorful personality (Bhaktavatsalam) are an added bonus to your story of feared chill blains. I hear there is knee deep of snow at home. Rama Rao Mantap provided spring thaw for you. Warm wishes to you and other snow-bound ones spring thoughts and dry feet by the fire

[cienu]

Wonderful Neeraja Veni & Mahavishnu

[sureshvv]

Gotcha, sureshvv, you thought you knew all the venues!

Shouldn't you be "Neeradha veni"?

[kedharam]

"This season we miss reading the ones by kedharam (he didn't make it to this season, I guess) "

arasi, i was very much there. just got back. between concert and canteen hopping didn't find the time to go to rasikas. i have penned down my thoughts on a few concerts. if they are not reviewed, i will post them soon.

[arasi]

Serve them, hot hot for the pongal. We reviewphiles don't mind at all, even if they are served a little later.