Malladi Bros - Gundecha Bros Jugalbandhi, Sruti, Pa - Sep. 4

[musicapriya]

Malladi Brothers & Gundecha Brothers
H.N. Bhaskar (Violin), Neyveli Narayanan (Mrudangam) & Akhilesh Gundecha (Pakhwaj)
presented by Sruti, the India Music and Dance Society
Independence Seaport Museum, Philadelphia, PA, Sept 4, 2011.

1. Shlokam – Brahmi Brahmasuthamcha – Mohanam – Srinivasa Sarma
2. (MB) Ninnu Kori - Mohanam - Adi - Ramnad Srinivasa Iyengar
3. (GB) Shankara Sut Ganesh - Bhupali
4. (MB) Nagumomu - Abheri - Adi - Thyagaraja
5. (GB) Kunjanme Racho Ras - Bhimpalas
6. (MB) Amma Ravamma - Kalyani - Khanda Ekam - Thyagaraja
7. (GB) Morat Man Bhaye - Yaman
Intermission
8. (MB) vararAgalaya - Chenchu KambOji - Adi - Thyagaraja
9. (GB) Sandhya Sanjeevani - Sivaranjani
10. Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi - Mayamalavagowla / Bhairav - Adi - Malladi Brothers
11. (GB) Shankara Girijapati - Malkauns - Sool - Gundecha Brothers
12. Mangalam sloka - Shriya Kanthaya

Sruti presented a jugalbandhi between Carnatic exponents Malladi brothers (Sreeramprasad and Ravikumar) and renowned Dhrupad exponents Gundecha brothers (Umakanth and Ramakanth) at the Independence Seaport Museum, Philadelphia, Pa on September 4, 2011.

The audience was offered a scintillating jugalbandhi that was highlighted by the synergy that emanated from the artists. What took the concert to a different level was the consistent way in which they provided the seamless transitions (hand-offs) either during the alapanas or the kalpanaswarams.

When you thought that the Aberi piece and the Kalyani piece were true showcases of the jugalbandhi, the RTP turned out to be the piece-de-resistance of the evening and really took everyone to an exalted state. The pallavi was composed by the Malladi brothers and went thus - Vande Sad Gurum Manasa Vachasa Sirasa Sada.

The artists were also mutually encouraging and camaraderie was so evident on stage and off stage. In fact, Ramakanthji was egging Shri Bhaskar to participate in all the creative portions of the evening. Shri Bhaskar showed his mettle by crisp bowing, telling swara sancharas for all the Carnatic pieces and even joined the Gundecha brothers during their alapanas. The sawal-jawab between Akhilesh G. and Neyveli Narayanan as part of the tani after the RTP was highly entertaining, melded extremely well and culminated in a brilliant finish. The sound of the pakhwaj was so soothing and the perfect audio setup on stage really added to the enjoyment.

The concert truly represented the ‘confluence of the two styles’ advertised and Sruti should be congratulated for presenting this superb item as part of their 25th year celebrations. The curator of this troupe of artists needs all the credit for bringing this unique combination to the US. This group of artists is performing 7 times in this US tour and the Philadelphia concert was the first in this series.
DS

[rshankar]

DS - thanks for the review. Appears to have been a great concert. Do you know if the concert was recorded?

[appu]

The brothers duo are performing in LA this Saturday on Sept. 17th. The same day The Music Circle is offering an exceptional concert by Tarun Battacharya and Pravin Godhkinde. This looks like a Jugalbandi too as their is Mridangam and Tabla accompaniment. I am torn between the two events as they are overlapping. Organizers at the least should try to avoid such scheduling conflicts within a 30 mile radius. On Sunday Sikkil Gurucharan is performing which for me is a must see. Three concerts in two days.

Here is the link for the Music Circle concert. www.musiccircle.org
The MB/GB concert is hosted by www.ektaacenter.org

Any help in deciding which concert to attend will be helpful.

[mahavishnu]

Appu, this is just my opinion. I would go to the dhrupad/carnatic jugalbandhi of Gundecha/malladi brothers. The two forms of music are very similar (unlike Khyal/carnatic combinations where the carnatic musicians usually perform second fiddle to the HM counterparts who understand very little about gamakam.

Yet, dhrupad and carnatic music systems are different enough to make it very interesting. This is a very unique "never-seen-before" combination, that is not worthwhile missing for Tarun Bhattacharya (who comes around really often).

I guess too many choices is better than none at all Hope you enjoy the concerts you choose to go to and write about them here.