Malladi Brothers, Live at Rasikalaya, London, Oct 1st, 2011

[Ajit Ramachandran]

http://www.rasikalaya.org.uk

Vocal: Malladi Sri Sreeramprasad & Malladi Sri Ravikumar
Violin: Sri AGA Gnanasundaram
Mridangam: Sri Somasundara Desigar
Kanjira: Sri Senthooran Premakumar
Tanpura: Smt Anuradha Subramanyam

Venue: Church of the Ascension, Beaufort Road, London W5 3EB
Time: Concert started at 5.45pm and lasted 4hrs!

01. JalajAksha (Varnam) - Asaveri - Adi - Lalgudi G. Jayaraman (Brief raga sketch)
02. Viruttam (Brahmeendram brahmasutam cha tumburum jagat prANa… (A slokam on the sangeeta gurus who have shown the rAja mArgam). This was followed by: GanapatiyE karuNAnidhiyE - Kharaharapriya - Adi - Papanasam Sivan (short raga sketch + Extended S @ Ganapatiye)
03. rAma ninnu nammina - Mohanam - Adi - Tyagaraja (Short raga sketch)
04. mAtangi SrI rAjarAjESwari - Ramamanohari - Rupakam - Muthuswami Dikshitar (R, N, S @ ramA manOhari rakEnda shekhari)
05. ninnuvinA marigalada - Ritigowla - Rupakam - Shyama Sastri
06. Sri kamalAmbikayAm bhaktIm karOmi (SaptamAvaranam) - SahAna - MisrachApu - Muthuswami Dikshitar (short raga sketch)
07. teliyalEru rAma bhakti mArgamunu - Dhenuka - Adi – Tyagaraja
08. Sri raghuvara apramEya - Kambhoji - Adi - Tyagaraja (R, N, S @ sItA nAtha tyAgarAja nuta)
- Tani avartana
09. SivAya nAmavEndru - Kuntalavarali - Adi - Papanasam Sivan
10. rAgam tAnam Pallavi - Kalyanavasantam - Khanda Jathi Triputa
Pallavi: "sAma gAna mAlinchi brOvavE kanchi kAmAkshi madhura meenAkshi"
Ragamalika swarams in Pallavi: Sama, Amrutavarshini, Vasanti, Hamirkalyani
11. rAmachandraditadu - Dvijavanti - Adi – Annamacharya
12. krishNam kalaya sakhI sundaram - Mukhari - Adi - Narayana Teerthar
13. Emitiki dayarAdu SrI rAmulu - Anandabhairavi - Adi - Bhadrachala Ramdas
14. rAma rAma rAma SItA - Tilang - Rupakam – Purandaradasar
15. bhajan binA (Bhajan) - Desh - Adi – Kabir
16. antAla chirunammu (Sai Bhajan) – Nilambari – khanda chApu
17. mangaLam mangaLam rAma nAma mangaLam - Surutti – Adi

Considering the effort that goes into months of planning and arranging a Carnatic music concert at a fledgling sabha such as ours, one hopes that the efforts will show in the results. We are ecstatic that the Malladi Brothers concert for Rasikalaya marked a new milestone in terms of concert quality, duration (just a smidgen over 4 hours!) and a new record number of concert attendees. In the weeks preceding the concert, we had been somewhat concerned about attendance as it was Navaratri weekend and several of our regular attendees told us they were occupied with hosting or visiting friends. We also became aware of another event at the Bhavan Centre - a major violin arangetram for a student of an immensely popular local artiste. That we were fortunate to achieve record attendance in spite of these considerations marked two things – the immense popularity of the Malladi Brothers, as well as the respect Rasikalaya has garnered for bringing quality sampradaya concerts to the London community.

Performing in their inaugural UK concert, Malladi Brothers enthralled the audience with a marathon recital filled with sowkhya sangeetham and a pantheon of vaggeyakaras! The artistes, along with their accompanists (who also are brothers), did ample justice to their bani and parampara. Malladi Brothers have the immense burden of carrying the torch of Sri Voleti Venkateswarulu, from whom their guru and father Malladi Suri Babu learned directly, as well as the doyen Sri Nedunuri Krishnamurthy. It was abundantly clear how well they are carrying the bani forward and have made their own mark in Carnatic music.

Many of the audience members had travelled long distances just to attend this concert in London, and in their post-concert feedback communicated to us that they felt amply rewarded. We also learned later that in spite of the reasonably large mailing list of Carnatic music rasikas that we have built up over the past 2 years, many rasikas had found out about the concert through word of mouth!

Lalgudi Jayaraman’s Asaveri varnam marked the start of the evening’s concert. I am a huge fan of Asaveri, and I also favour unconventional recital beginnings as they pique audience interest. This piece scored on both counts. I could see the visible relish with which Sri AGA Gnanasundaram accompanied them on the Asaveri piece in particular - perhaps this is one of his favourites as well, given that it is a composition of his guru.

The mark of the unconventional extended to the next piece as well. The brothers chose to depict a brief sketch of the majestic Kharaharapriya, with the baton being handed over from Ravikumar to Sreeramprasad for a very appropriate viruttam - a slokam in praise of all vaggeyakaras. If there was a theme to the evening it was vaggeyakara-guru-bhakti. The viruttam was rendered beautifully by Sreeramprasad, citing the trimurtis of Carnatic music, and also Sri Venkatamakhin. They then launched into Papanasam Sivan’s classic kriti GanapatiyE. I was struck by how clear and perfectly rendered the enunciation of this Tamil kriti was by the main artistes. I had conversed with Ravikumar in person and over the phone (mostly in Tamil) earlier, so I suppose it should not have come as a big surprise. Nevertheless, for presumably non-native Tamil speakers, this was just a perfectly rendered piece! The brothers finished this rendition with a crescendo of swaras and korvai at the pallavi, handing off from one to the other and to AGA Gnanasundaram most appropriately. The finish garnered a thunderous applause from the audience.

Next came the evergreen Mohanam in the form of Saint Tyagaraja’s rAma ninnu namminA. What a gem! This song is getting more attention in recent years. A pleasant surprise, apart from the first charanam in madhyama kAlam, was the mudra-charanam which is almost never heard.

By this time, after the first 3 pieces, it was already obvious that all artistes had found their sure footing with the concert. The brothers’ comfort on stage (constant smiles and exchanges of encouragement to the accompanists) and brief, informal comments to the audience gave the feel of a house concert in spite of the large number of audience present. The sound system too was in perfect balance, adding to the overall enjoyment of the Rasikalaya concert experience. All this in spite of the totally unseasonal 30+ degrees celsius outside! The artistes may have regretted not opting for plain cotton kurtas once on stage! Fortunately, the auditorium cooled down with a steady drop in temperature as the evening progressed.

After Mohanam came the first magnum opus of the evening – ramA manOhari (or rAmapriyA) by Ravikumar. This rAgam is rarely given such elaborate treatment. Ravikumar launched into this rAgam hinting at its identity before settling briefly on the antara gAndharam, which this rAgam shares with purvi kalyANi, leading fellow committee member Latha and me to mis-label it, before she correctly identified it as rAmapriyA. We were again intrigued when during tAra sthyAyi phrases Ravikumar eschewed treading on the prati-madhyamam altogether, rising up from the panchamam to stop before tAra sthAyi gAndharam, giving us naïve listeners glimpses of malayamArutham type phrases. I realized how beautifully he had traced the contours of this rAgam which admittedly shares several ‘pidis’ more often heard in sister vAchaspati, cousin purvi kalyANi (because of the strong G3 emphasis in the purvi kalyANi) and even malayamarutham (a major janyam of rAmapriyA’s shudhdha madhyamam mirror that is chakravAham). I am of the ‘Neyveli’ school where our parama guru speaks about allowing rAgas to mingle – pidis that are common should be shared. It seemed Malladi brothers share this view as well. The ensuing “mAtangi rAja rAjeshwari” brought a smile to our very own guruguhadasa Rishi Sharma, who is a major devotee of Dikshitar. In his vote of thanks, he later remarked how hugely appropriate this piece was for Navaratri. The brisk (but never speedy) rendition included an elaborate neraval and a round of kalpanA swaras at ramA manOhari. Sri Somu’s anticipation during the neraval and kalpana swaras was again exemplary in this piece. Every beat on the mridangam provided a supportive cushion for the swara crescendo to land on, particularly during the koraippu and korvai exercise at the end.

The brothers followed up rAmapriyA with Shyama Sastri’s gem ninnu vinA marigalada in Ritigowla – a piece I had never heard before. It made for an excellent transition from the upper Ma to the lower Ma, with the nectarine notes of this popular raga. I also appreciated how the artistes chose to announce the raga details after each item.

A short sketch of Sahana then followed. The ever reliable Sahana served to enhance the sense of bliss that Ritigowla had introduced earlier. I wondered if they would render one of the well known Tyagaraja pieces. Here too we were in for a surprise with the Navaratri-appropriate navAvaraNa kriti ‘SrI kamalAmbikAya bhaktim karOmi’. This composition is in praise of the goddess at Tiruvarur. I had never heard this kriti and was truly enthralled. Misra chApu with the two pieces in Rupakam preceding it provided a good change of tempo to the concert.

Dhenuka came next in the form of the ever popular Teliyaleru rAma. The rendition was sincere and unhurried which brought bhavam to the fore.

Then king Kambhoji rose large. Oh, what a piece! Unhurried and masterfully constructed, the alapana and accompanying kriti presentation were a true revelation. People were glued to their seats. There was clearly no guesswork for this ‘ghana’ rAgam. Tracing his way gracefully from mandra sthAyi, Sreeramprasad ascended to dwell on the dhaivatam before landing on the upper shadjam. Ravikumar took over the baton at the upper gAndharam. Both brothers executed some lightning fast phrases after the graceful, exploratory ascent. This entire piece alone lasted over a full hour, the vocal Alapana itself lasting around 20 minutes! Kambhoji also highlighted the relative strengths of their voices – Ravikumar in tara sthAyi, and Sreeramprasad in mandra sthAyi. If Ramapriya had been the highlight until then, Kambhoji easily stole the show at that point. The perfect understanding and synchronization the duo are known for was emphasized in this item. AGA Gnanasundaram provided impressive support at every turn of Kambhoji, staying with the vocal music all the way through the alapana rendition. His 8 minute violin alapana so characteristic of the Lalgudi bani was neatly executed to complement what the brothers had rendered. In the face of the continuing heat wave, Sreeramprasad introduced some light humour, remarking they may prefer to come in the middle of winter for their next concert!

I must say I was hoping for O Rangasayee but we got the other immortal Tyagaraja swami kriti Sree Raghuvara apramEya mAmava. In retrospect I can see the wisdom in this choice as we may not have had time for the RTP they presented later in the concert if O RangasAyee had been chosen. With ample justice to their bani, the brothers presented the kriti with neat, clear sangatis, performing neraval and soulful, unhurried kalpana swaras at seetA nAtha tyAgarAja nutA. AGA Gnanasundaram’s responses on the violin during neraval were impressive, as were the caressing strokes heard on the mridangam and kanjira throughout the kalpana swara and kuraippu segment.

The subsequent tani avarthanam highlighted the Karaikudi nAdam of both guru (Somu) and sishya (Senthooran). Senthooran proceeded past the first portion of the tani to the active encouragement from his guru and the senior artistes on stage. Both Sri Somu and Senthooran progressed to deliver a solid 12 minute tani avarthanam to resounding applause from the audience. It is worth noting that as with other Rasikalaya events, no single audience member stirred while the main piece and tani avarthanam were in progress. That is exactly what we promise artistes - an eager, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable audience. To our immense gratification at this event, we had earlier welcomed vidushi Lakshmi Jeyan (a student of Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman) and a couple of other budding local artistes who were in the audience. In fact, Smt Lakshmi called Rishi the next day to thank us for arranging such a wonderful concert, and expressed disappointment for not being aware of our previous events.

Up next, Malladi brothers sang a KuntalavarALi piece to precede the RTP they pre-announced as being in Kalyanavasantam (much to my disappointment at having it announced ahead of the piece - I always relish the surprise factor). Ragams like kathanakuthoohalam, kuntalavarALi, kamalAmanohari, even bahudAri are all perfect as interleaving fillers between main pieces, and the brisk piece Sivaya namavendru was a welcome one after the weighty kambhoji. Like the other numerous rare gems of Papanasam Sivan, this was another one I had never heard previously. Again, they sang this Tamil kriti with perfect diction and a lot of bhavam.

Then came the RTP in Kalyanavasantam. The clock was already ticking past the 3 hour mark by this point, so I expected the brothers wouldn’t be able to devote a full hour to it if they had to deliver a few other crowd pleasing tukkadas at the end – something their rasika base is particularly fond of. This was the appropriate trade-off given the distance some people had travelled to attend the concert. The lower sanchAras in Kalyanavasantam in particular were innovative and nice to listen to – this ragam is perennially associated with pathos and hearing these phrases offered up a different, rather pleasing effect. Here too, Sri AGA’s reliable violin kept Sreeramprasad and Ravikumar company every step of the way, as they alternated rendering the alapana. The 2-way alapana was effective, keeping time management constraints under consideration. After this punchy alapana (we still got 10 minutes) and AGA’s quick follow-up, we received a brisk but effective 5 minute tAnam, which is probably the segment I relish most in any concert and would have loved to have heard more of. The starting ‘Anandam anantam’ vocalization by Sreeramprasad in particular was splendidly reverberant like a mridangam. The longer tanam phrases from Ravikumar produced a slightly different feel and made for an interesting contrast. Sri AGA too was superb in keeping pace with the brothers.

The devi-themed pallavi "sAma gAna mAlinchi brOvavE kanchi kAmAkshi madhura meenAkshi" was an apt choice, and tuned to great effect to bring out the varied hues of kalyAna vasantham in their ensuing neraval. It is worth noting that in spite of the clock ticking past 3 hrs and 15 minutes, the brothers were still full of energy, and in great spirits. The record temperatures from earlier in the evening could not dampen their enthusiasm or that of the audience. The accompanists too were evidently enjoying the experience of what had already shaped up to be a phenomenal concert. After the tri-gati neraval, the brothers transitioned neatly into swara kalpana in kalyAnavasantham, following up with the same in sAma (landing at the raga mudra in the pallavi), then perhaps with a prayer for rains to cool down what was a scorching London day they shifted to Amrutavarshini, then moved on to the ever novel and soulful shuddha daivatam-enriched Vasanthi, before finally transitioning to HamirkalyAni. Each of the raga transitions drew applause from the audience. Sri AGA’s apt responses in the swaras as well as Sri Somu’s consistent vibrant support enhanced the effect of the entire RTP. There were very light shades of Hindustani in the Amrutavarshini and hamirkalyAni swara renditions perhaps as inspired by the Malladi brothers’ collaboration during a recent highly successful North American jugalbandhi tour with dhrupad maestros Gundecha brothers.

At the conclusion of the RTP, Sreeramprasad joked that other vaggeyakaras were still waiting to be heard so the concert was nowhere near finish, to an enthusiastic response from the audience! First in line in the ‘tukkadas’ segment was Ramachandra ithudu in Dvijavanti – a sweet and melodious bonus with a folksy tempo to it. One doesn’t often get to listen to both Sahana and Dvijavanti in the same concert and with ample justice done for both. The next transition was to Mukhari for Narayana Teerthar, Ananda bhairavi for Bhadrachala Ramadas. They made an express choice to present rarer pieces even among the tukkadas. The Tilang composition by Purandara Dasa got an especially enthusiastic response from a group of Kannada community members in the audience. The Kabir bhajan in Desh and Sai bhajan in Neelambari were particularly soulful as the concert drew to a satisfying conclusion. A Surutti mangalam in praise of Rama was another novel finish.

Rishi did the honours to thank the artistes – an honest, refreshingly natural and heartfelt thank you for a great concert that featured his favorite composer (Dikshithar) not just once but twice, with rAga elaboration for both pieces.

We would be remiss not to thank our core support group of attendees who have been present from the start to ensure the success of the event. Also our family and friends who helped to prepare nearly 200 dinner packets with ‘porattaasi sanikizhamai-suitable’ dinner. The Malladi brothers too thanked us for granting them a memorable first UK concert experience.

[kssr]

That was a detailed review. Congratulations on your efforts and results of organising the concert. Just a curiosity- how many attended the concert?

[ganeshkant]

That is really great ,the effort and the aftermath.I always cherish the way the duo sing rAmaninunamminA.That is something special.

Seems you guys in U.K had a great time.Let this continue.

[Sindhuja]

Sounds wonderful, thanks. They also sang the Kalyanavasantham RTP in San Diego last year. And I think it was the same pallavi. It was amazing, and I'm sure this one was, too.

[rajeshnat]

Ajit
Thank you for the detailed review , keep it coming -rasikalaya team . I hope along with Rishi , Jayaram was also there.4 hour concert makes me perennially jealous of you all.

[Ajit Ramachandran]

Rajesh:

Major thanks are also due to Rishi and Jayaram for quality control on this review (typos, transliteration inconsistencies). Thanks also to Indu, Latha and Subbu for their feedback before I published this.

Unfortunately, Jayaram had to be in the U.S. during this concert, but his enormous contribution to the success of this event prior to his trip was in locating an outstanding sound engineer, who we will hopefully be able to use for a while.

We are certainly hoping to organize more such concerts next year!

Regards,
Ajit