No blasphemy, but a perfect10 in sruti@MA,By Hyd Brothers

[Neeraja veni]

No blasphemy but a perfect 10 in the Sruti department @ Music academy by the Hyderabad Brothers

I came to know that the Hyderabad brothers won the music academy’s senior- outstanding vocalist’s award this year. Since I went for that concert , I thought I will write about it, belated though. Please bear with me.

Hyderabad Brothers Sri. D.Sesha Chary & Sri D. Raghava Chary – Vocal
Sri. H.K. Venkatram- Violin
Sri.Bangalore V.Praveen- Mridangam
Sri.Ernakulam S. Ramakrishnan- Ghatam
27.12.2012

1.Valachi vachi- Navaragamalika Varnam- Adi-

2. Sathguru swamiki – Reethi gowlai- Adi- Ramnad srinivasa Iyengar-(R,K,). This kriti which I have heard a few times by now is slowly edging out Janani ninnuvina and paripalaya from the top slots of my fav. Ritigowlai kriti list!! It’s so lovely.

3.Hariyuvathim Hymavathim- Hemavathy (Desi Simharavam as in the program list) alaapana by Sri. D.Raghava Chary. Kalpana swarams at Narahari hridayanivaasini (R,K,S). no neraval.

4. Dayajuchutakidhivelara daasarade –Gaanavaridhi-Adi-Tyagaraja (K)

5. O Ranga sayee- Kambhoji-Adi –Tyagaraja

Khambhoji is one ragam with such grandeur and depth, intimidating even at times, rock solid, that when the alaapana starts , I get all ready to push my seat back, slump my head on the headrest , close my eyes and get ready for the take off and the trip. What a trip it was! Sri Sesha Chary shone his torch beam on all the nuances of the ragam in his alaapana while he took us on a guided tour and the ragam glowed like a gem. The alapana was not even a very lenghthy one, but then I have not known him repeat phrases or prolong the alapana or add many frills but only a few beauty spots here and there ! but what classical beauty was there, was presented for all to hear and appreciate. There were many nice kaarvais.there was perfect sruti shudhdham. a full 10. Blessed with a voice which instantly obeys him and traverses all octaves is an additional delight. Niraval was at Bhuloka vaikundam. A solemn emotion laden neraval this time. Unfortunately the violin sounded very tepid and had a few sruti slips. The tani was lacklustre. Did not impart much energy to the concert.

6.Nee bhakthi bhagyasuda –Jayamanohari-Rupakam-Tyagaraja

7.Ranjani – RTP- Tisra triputa talam. The alapana was shared by the brothers. Sri Raghavachary’s alapana had an elegant quality while sri Sesha Chary’s was haunting.. Having heard Ranjani in the virutham, ragamalika sections often, I began to develop a fear when they started Ranjani- that it might turn sweet and syrupy or cinematic, Fortunately my fears were crushed and the alapana proceeded in a dignified manner. Sri Raghavachary built it layer by layer. Sri Sesha Chary sang swarams briefly during the conclusion of the alapana singing as a part of it. ! ( Purists, please note). The spontaneity of it was very likable I thought. 2 rounds of thanam. The pallavi lines were `Peethambharadhari, Yadukula thilaka’’. There was a brief ragamalika following this- about a minute each- Sri Sesha chary sang an excellent varali and saveri, and it felt like a distilled essence. Sri Raghavachary sang mukhari and chakravagam both of which were sheer class. Esply the chakravagam where he lingered on every note and the swarams flowed like pearls. The violin picked up somewhat in Ranjini.
8.Mayamma- Ahiri- Syama sastri
9. Marulu konnane, sakhi – Chenchurutti padam - M.Balamurali Krishna
10. Thungatharange Gange- ???
Mangalam

The advantage of writing after a good 2 weeks is , I realize that the superficial foam goes off from memory but the rich fertile sediment seeps through the temporal memory cortex and gets embedded there!

My congrats to the Hyderabad Brothers for having won this best outstanding vocalist’s award @ MA.

[srikant1987]

Thank you for the detailed review, Neeraja veni.

Looks like HKV had a bad day. I have seen him beautifully accompany Hyderabad Brothers and Vidwan RK Srikantan. It will be a good idea to refer to all artistes by their names. It adds a certain warmth to the review.

[annamalai]

I attended this concert. Hyderabad Seshachary has probably the best voice in the Carnatic music scene now.
OST in his prime would have been similar to Ramnad Krishnan's voice.

While I really like Seshachary's voice, the frequent references to the lyrics is quite distracting in the musical output also and sounds tentative - sort of like Gautam Gambheer tentative poke outside the off-stump. Dayachuta - Ganavaridhi was not rendered in the full flow ( Brilliant rendition by many. T. Brinda stands out). Even for the charanam of a popular krithi O Rangasayee, they had to refer to the book. They are a vocal duet, even if one forgets some of the lyrics (which is fine, can happen to all, ...) the other person in the duet can fill those ... Same with Mayamma and I left the hall . I love some of the prerecorded tapes of Hyderabad Brothers - Ramachandra Needaya (Surati) is one.

Finally I decided it would be a lot more enjoyable for me to listen to recordings DKJ version or Ramnad Krishnan ...

[rajeshnat]

The Hindu Review in the second half of the write up.
http://www.thehindu.com/arts/music/article2777411.ece

[chetana]

tunga tarangE gange is by Sadasiva Bramhendra saraswati I believe

[fduddy]

The Hindu Review in the second half of the write up.
http://www.thehindu.com/arts/music/article2777411.ece

Absolute crap written by the reviewer in The Hindu
"It needs a lot of courage and gumption to sing to a near empty hall without a sense of remorse; Hyderabad Brothers had it in plenty. It is a fact that the siblings do not carry the glamour of the present day musicians. They seem to revel in their own way of renditions lacking subtlety making forceful stances."

Subtlety lacking - They are perhaps the best today who render chaste music and pronounciations spot on. They renditions of any kriti is spectacular and they have followed the patantaram of some of the greats (highly influenced by Ramnad krishnan, Voleti, Nedunuri ....)

[HeyNarayana]

Agree with fduddy. A crap showing prejudice and calling it review, sad to see from a major newspaper like Hindu. Editors along with Mr. G Swaminathan must be sleeping in one of the those empty chairs!!

[sais72]

Good to see Hyderabad brothers in the top league again. I like their singing quite a lot and we need them (and several others) to perform well at a high level for sustaining carnatic music in Andhra and chaste rendering of telugu compositions.

They seemed to have slipped a notch or two in the last three to four years and seemed to be going through a rough patch. I remember a long, listless ~1.30 hr elaboration of a todi kriti at Odakathur mutt, bangalore and everybody was wondering what was happening. Then at a short concert at Chowdiah memorial hall where only Vid. D. Seshachary sang (Vid. D. Raghavachary was apparently unwell), he was very temperamental and at several times during the concert visibly asked the mridangam (Vid. Bangalore Praveen) and ghatam (vid M. A. Krishnamurthy) vidwans to stop playing or play differently and left a bad taste. He was later warned at the backstage to not repeat this and there were some angry exchange of words between the organisers and Vid. D. Seshachary. Vid. D. Seshachary also started looking at his laptop for all the kriti lyrics during this period. Wonder what they were going through during this period.

Good to see that Vid. Bangalore Praveen was accompanying him at Music academy and that they delivered a great performance. I wish the very best for them, hope they do well and remain in the top league.

[critiquing-the-media]

The Hyderabad Brothers have been top league in Carnatic Music for a long time now and will be for a long time to come. fduddu, totally agree with your comments. The Hindu's reviewer has no clue what he is talking about. I started a separate thread here on the general coverage in that newspaper here.

http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=18400

[kssr]

I remember a long, listless ~1.30 hr elaboration of a todi kriti at Odakathur mutt, bangalore and everybody was wondering what was happening. Then at a short concert at Chowdiah memorial hall where only Vid. D. Seshachary sang (Vid. D. Raghavachary was apparently unwell), he was very temperamental and at several times during the concert visibly asked the mridangam (Vid. Bangalore Praveen) and ghatam (vid M. A. Krishnamurthy) vidwans to stop playing or play differently and left a bad taste. He was later warned at the backstage to not repeat this and there were some angry exchange of words between the organisers and Vid. D. Seshachary. Vid. D. Seshachary also started looking at his laptop for all the kriti lyrics during this period.

May be it is a Bangalore thing. I too got the same feeling whenever I heard them. Also it is always the younger (taller) man who sings. The other has some (throat?) problem. (Sorry- I do not know who is who). I am sure that they are great vidwans. Otherwise they could not have risen so much in such a highly competetive field. Wish them the very best of luck.

[sais72]

I am sure that they are great vidwans. Otherwise they could not have risen so much in such a highly competetive field. Wish them the very best of luck.

Just to clarify, Hyderabad brothers have been in the top league, performed very well to large audiences in prime slots for a long time. I was talking about the unexplainable drop in performance in the last 2-3 years. Good to see them back at the level they have been for the last 15 years or so.

The other has some (throat?) problem. (Sorry- I do not know who is who)

Vid. Raghavachary seemed to have had a paralytic attack some 10 years ago but did recover fast.

[Neeraja veni]

Thanks Rajeshnat, for providing the Hindu review link which I missed reading earlier. This review could be used in journalism teaching courses as a sample for ` how NOT to write reviews’. For several reasons:

The Hindu critic writes `It is a fact that the siblings do not carry the glamour of the present day musicians.’ And that they had no remorse about singing to a near empty hall. And that they ` lacked subtlety making forceful stances’. Does this reviewer imply that a musician must develop remorse on seeing a thin audience, pack his bags and leave? Now who is talking about subtlety? He is downright obnoxious.

And since when did audience number and `glamour’ develop a direct proportional relationship with the quality of music? Next he will be measuring the quality of music by the number of plastic chairs added for a concert !

`Seshachari should also control his open mouthed articulation’. We should look forward to close mouthed humming hereafter, I presume. (All quoted verbatim. Italics are mine).

There were 2 ``gems’’ in this review which were very amusing, because they were ridiculous.
First was `` However, it was Seshachari who dominated the‘’ Proceedings!! As if he is talking about the parliament house ! It was a music concert, for heaven’s sake.

The second one touches the rock bottom in professionalism-`` The niraval at ‘Narahari Hrudya' was dynamic’’. And they DID NOT even sing a niraval for that Hemavathy krithi!. That he saw and heard the dynamism behind an unsung niraval impresses me!! May be a dynamite explosion would have woken him up from his sleep.

May be I should copy –paste this under the thread on Hindu’s coverage of the chennai season.

[sureshvv]

The Hindu critic writes `It is a fact that the siblings do not carry the glamour of the present day musicians.’ And that they had no remorse about singing to a near empty hall. And that they ` lacked subtlety making forceful stances’.

On the critic's defense, it may be argued that he was not making any value judgments but purely making some observations based on fact.