Trichur Brothers SIFA - SF Bay Area April 13, 2014

[mahavishnu]

Trichur Brothers
Srikrishna Mohan - vocal
Ramkumar Mohan - vocal
BK Raghu - violin
Trichur Mohan - mridangam

1. OmkAra praNava - shanmukapriyA - varNam - Adi -BMK
2. namAmi vigna vinAyaka - hamsadwani - Adi (tisra) CS Krishnaswamy Ayya (S)
3. tyAgarAja yOga vaibhavam - ananda bhairavi - rUpakam - MD
4. siva siva ena rAdA - pantuvarALi - T (S)
5. dAcukOvalEnA - tODi - misra jhampa - T (A,N,S)
6. nAn oru viLayATTu - navarasa kannaDA - Adi - P.Sivan
7. vandanamu raghunandanA - sahAnA - Adi - T
8. RTP - brindAvana sArangA - khanda triputa - 2 kalai
Pallavi line: brindAvana sArangA bhoolOka vaikunTA sri rangA
Ragamalika swarams: mohana kalyani, hindolam, suddha dhanyasi, bagEsri, behAg, sindhu bhairavi
9. chinnanchiru kiLiyE - ragamAlikA - bhArathi
10. tunbam nErgayil - dEsh - bhArathidAsan
11. chembaikku nAdham nilachappOl thantE - rAgEsri - ?
12. short shlOkam: sri rAghavam dasharatAtmajam (yamuna kalyANi - madhyama sruti)
rama neelamegha shyAmA - Gabbita Venkata Rao/KV Mahadevan (perhaps a telugu movie song?)
13. eppO varuvArO - jOnpuri - GKB
14. nI nAma rUpamulaku - mangaLam - sowrAshtram.
+ shlokam madhyamAvati (sriyah kAntaya kalyAna nidhayE nidhayE, sri vEnkata nivAsAya srinivAsAya mangaLam)

This is the second time I am listening to the Trichur brothers live, having been suitably impressed on the earlier occasion. I did not get to listen to them during the last Dec season, although I was hoping to. So, I was looking forward to this event with much enthusiasm.

The brothers have a lot of positive energy, charm, vocal range and what appears to be a salubrious repertoire. They handle complex ragams and compositions very well. Their kutcheri planning is excellent, their pAtantharam is superb, replete with weighty sangatis and solid control of layam to boot.

Their greatest strength is in their kalpanaswara singing; both brothers have excellent syntax generators and their flow of manOdharmam is really quite exquisite: something to watch out for in the years to come. And to add to all this, they have a great sense of bhAvam and a true devotion to the art and a sense of diligence when it comes to approaching their craft.

As I mentioned before, the song selection was excellent. Just singing a magnum opus like tyAgarAja yOga vaibhavam is, in and of itself, a great thing for setting up a concert. I thought the first few pieces were done very well, despite the occasional lapse. I haven't heard namAmi vigna vinAyakam since MLV and I was delighted to see the piece brought to life in this very spirited rendition.

However, something fell short of my expectations today. I hope this review will be read in the constructive spirit that it was intended.

The tOdi alapana was a bit of a let down for me. The brothers tried too many flourishes. For e.g one would hold on to a sustained note while the other would take off, which is standard practice in duo singing; but today they lacked the desired consonance. The harmonies that they tried with this method did not have the intended effect. One time, when holding a note for long, I thought they were headed for a graha bedam, but that did not seem to materialize.

The older sibling, who very much seems like the captain of the outfit, was having an off day. The motor system and the vocal apparatus somehow did not want to cooperate with what the brain had planned. So, it felt like there were too many meandering ideas which resulted in the alapana lacking the crispness that it usually would have. And their sense of shruti (not just swarasthana suddham) felt a little bit compromised as a consequence. This was seen in a few other places in the concert as well. I also sensed hesitation in holding the right notes and this might have been the source of the problem.

However, they bounced right back and sang an excellent dacukOvalEnA. I wish they had spent more time on the neraval, given that it was the only one in the entire concert.

The RTP was a grand affair. The rAgam and tAnam were both extremely well handled. During the rAgamAlika swarams, the brothers tried a few transitions between three pentatonic arrangements and the end result appeared a bit forced and discordant. Both in rAgam and swaram singing, sometimes being succinct and short can be more beautiful. Ambling does not add necessarily add more beauty.

Another thing that the brothers should watch out for is their pronunciation of the tamizh "L". They just didn't get it consistently right today; often landing on the softer /l/. For e.g. "vilayATTu bommaiyA", "arulamudai" (in navarasa kannada) and to make things worse in bharatidAsan's verse brimming with tamizh pride, they sang "thiru kuralile oru sol,iyambi kAtta mATTayA?". Fortunately, I have no Dravidian sensibilities.

L-ji: any help placing 11 and 12 would be appreciated. I notice that 11 is a Yesudas specialty and 12 was featured in a telugu movie of sorts.

Violinist B.K.Raghu (disciple of Neela Ramgopal, among others) was good. I felt that sometimes the brothers would conclude the swarams between themselves and I did not get to hear this violinist enough; he did not seem to get enough turns with two vocalists. He had a fine tone; good vibrato use on the lower strings and excellent cross bow techniques during the tAnam. His return on the brindAvana sArangA was his high point in the concert.

Trichur Mohan played competently, supportively, yet in the unadventurous manner that is his wont. His tani in khanda triputa was short and crisp, some passages reminded me of Karaikudi Mani. His mridangam was robust and well tuned requiring few adjustments through the evening.

Despite these little nitpicks mentioned above, I thought the concert was quite enjoyable and the three + hours went by in a blink. I wish the brothers the very best and look forward to seeing them blossom in the coming years!

The acoustics were excellent. Location was awesome and the organization was most professional. Nice work, SIFA!

[rajeshnat]

3. tyAgarAja yOga vaibhavam - ananda bhairavi - rUpakam - MD
....
As I mentioned before, the song selection was excellent. Just singing a magnum opus like tyAgarAja yOga vaibhavam is, in and of itself, a great thing for setting up a concert.
.....
The older sibling, who very much seems like the captain of the outfit, was having an off day.

Mahvishnu,
There is no strict explanation to explain any composition as magnum opus . I was atleast thinking thyagarAja yOga vaibhavam with pallavi and samasticharanam cannot be called as magnum opus. But it is a lovely krithi to sing it in the early half.

Possibly may be the elder sibling -captain had an extra jet Lag. How long was this concert?

[mahavishnu]

Rajesh: All I meant by that was "great work". It is a magnificent composition, no doubt.
I also think jet lag might have been a key factor.

The concert was about 3 hours.

[vasanthakokilam]

Thanks Mahavishnu for the review. Quite enjoyable to read. SIFA bounced back just like the brothers from that thodi alapana.

Had a good laugh at your Bharatidasan remark Again, all in good fun. I recall Jesudas having that issue at one time. Is the 'L' 'l' a fairly common problem? It does not seem to be restricted to non-tamil speaking singers, I hear that inadvertent substitution even among Tamilian singers who are otherwise pretty good. My ears seem to be particularly sensitive to mangaLam vs mangalam. That has its major negatives. Recently I happen to notice it in one of the songs of NCV where she is just ever so slightly off the strong L. And that too, only one time among the various sangathis. Now my brain starts looking for it when I listen to that song and thus gets distracted.

I should check the brothers out if and when I get a chance. Thanks.

[arasi]

VK,
First things first. Your namesake wasn't off the mark. mangalam is very much a legitimate word in tamizh. Linguists, please chip in.
Did mangaLam come to stay due to frequent use? For instance, a woman from outside of TN is MangalA or manglA and in TN she is called MangaLam. In concerts too, the word is written down (and referred to as mangaLam). We are simply used to it,I think.

For instance, kOSalEndrAya mangalam is how we hear it (sanskrit) in a mangaLam don't we?

By the way, are both words interchangeable in tamizh?

[arasi]

Mahavishnu,
Now to the concert! A delectable and informative review as ever
Your impressions of the brothers very much reflect mine, though I lack your knowledge and analytical prowess. My layA capabilities are almost nil (and you are born with layA and are rightu tAlam Ramesh!).

I have heard them a couple of times and do think that they will be the next star singing brothers (Malladi Bros are that now. Of course, among sisters, Ra-gA reign, Akkarai sisters blosoming).
As years go by, the brothers will get more azhutham.

As for family accompaniment, I don't know many such, except the Siva Bros (so good together), Panthula Rama and her husband on the violin (very good again). In DKP's family, father-daughter combo (so so so). Has JV played for her? He gels with all schools of singers of all ages!)
I find in the father of Trichur Bros a good guide but a bland accompanist.

[rshankar]

Not a linguist at all, but, as I understand it, the 'L' sound doesn't exist in all languages. So, in a sanskRt composition, it should be mangalam, kAlinga nartanam etc. (mangalam kOsalEndrAya is therefore perfectly correct). But in the bhAratidAsan example that Ramesh has quoted, his peeve is justifiable - 'L' certainly exists in tamizh and has to be pronounced appropriately, IMO.

[vasanthakokilam]

Interesing turn of events. In the vast majority of the times, it is Tamil that does not have the sounds of other languages.

My usual tool is tatsamam and tatbhavam to figure out if a particular 'change' is correct when a sanskrit word is borrowed into Tamil since Tamil does not necessarily preserve the same sounds. The inbound word has to fit into Tamil's phonetic structure ( tatbhavam ). But here I do not know how to apply this rule.

Arasi, I think you are right and I also figured out after your reading post why my brain stutters at mangalam. Somehow, and probably for reasons you and Ravi mention, amangalam sounds normal to me. So when someone says mangalam in the mangaLam sense, my brain relates it to the negative word. I need to go through some reprogramming!

Regarding NCV, she is fine even with this but now that she is proven correct, she is now perfectly fine

[arasi]

Ravi,
I totally agree with you! In whatever thiruk kural (beautiful voice) one may sing, kural instead of kuRaL is also a 'no no' for me. I raised the question with mangalam/mangaLam only.

[arasi]

kOkilam,
To get away from conditioning is not easy!
We don't say sumangaLi, when you think about it

[vasanthakokilam]

yup, you are absolutely right.

[mahavishnu]

Arasi, interesting that you compare the Trichurs to the Malladis. They too had a lot of tamizh pronunciation problems initially, but they have worked really hard on rectifying this over the years.

In DKP's family, father-daughter combo (so so so). Has JV played for her? He gels with all schools of singers of all ages!

How true. I rarely see JV playing for his cousin, although I have heard him accompany the great DKP (with Nityasree on vocal support) on a couple of occasions! In fact, Sri Sivakumar sounded much better accompanying his mother.

[Rsachi]

My own "opinion" is that Sanskrit is the mother lode. The versions we have derived across India into various languages are equally applicable as quaint variations. I feel no offence when a North Indian says Namashkar, Kushal Mangal. I am equally Ok with MangaLa and MangaLam in Kannada or Tamil or should I say Tamizh. I make this concession especially for L. I somehow think having words identified with l and others with L makes my language more flavoursome. Blame it on tamarind in our sambar!!

Here is a sample, thanks to Sri P P Narayanaswami:


Note the L's? Look for infinity with a feather on his head.

[rshankar]

RSachi - we need Keerthi and Rajani and other experts to comment - I thhink the 'L' sound in sanskRt was added later...if you look at the tarnsliteration conventions, sanskRt has no 'L' sound. I use the dEvanAngari script (which was not always the script that was used for sanskRt) for writing in several languages, especially when I am in a hurry, and use the 'L' character, but I am not sure it was part of the original script.
On a side note: I do not know if Ponbhairavi (Sri Rajagopala Iyer) remembers this, but once, early on in his french class, I tried to write french words phonetically in the dEvanAgari script and he was absolutely horrified!

[Rsachi]

You're right, Sanskrit has no L.
That's my point. Sanskrit to me is a nodal=mother language and each speaker actually speaks a 'daughter' language as his tongue. So local variations creep in. Especially for L in mangaLam, I said I am OK. Of course it is only an opinion and I defer to Keerthi (the young man speaks and versifies in Sanskrit on DD Blr!)

[arasi]

Didn't know of that avatAr of yours, Keerthi!