Mysore Nagaraj and Manjunath

[hnbhagavan]

Sri RSM at Fort H S featured Mysore brothers with Yella Vankateshwara rao,Giridhar Udupa.

After an initial delay of mike settings which took around 25 - 30 minutes,concert started with BROVABARAMa in Bahudari.The mike settings were on high side.
Rama neesamana mevaru and Mohana Rama were taken up. The thani was in Mohana rama.
It was surprising that the brothers settled for high volume with no melody content even in Mohana Rama.
I am a great admirer and attended each of their concerts,but of late the melody content is sidelined.

Pl excuse me for this sketchy write up,Sri KV chellappa or any other rasika can give his views.

[matterwaves]

I tend to agree with what Sri Bhagavan writes. Last year i happened to listen to a jugalbandi of manjunath and Vishwamohan bhatt. The amplifier was so loud, I had headache just 2 mins into the concert- and they didn't relent even on complaining. Infact Srimushnam, who was on the mridangam was livid as his instrument was getting drowned by the 'sound' from ramkumar mishra's tabla- and the mridangam volume was increased even more. The whole thing was a fiasco;

On the melody part, sadly Nagaraj seems to have lost interest or whatever! he is only a shadow of what we could expect of him a decade ago. Manju now dominates their jugalbandi- and he plays more plain notes (probably a side effect of his experiments) and fast cascading passages -some kind of acrobatics- even during the raga. I find no carnatic essence in them.Less said about the swaras, the better- the phrases seem more like those western violin(Manju's style). Who knows, probably that is the way the instrument is supposed to be played an utilized the fullest- after all its a western instrument! Or he might be attempting few things beyond my grasp of raga and laya. I don't have too many expectations from their concerts- the kind we had a few years ago.
We have to fall back on Rudrapatnam & Malladi Brothers, TMK,Ramakrishna Murthy and a few others for good(my definition) music.

[crntctt]

I have the exact personal opinion as above. Yesteryears recordings of Nagaraj accompanying the greats tell a different story of his playing. I feel the melody content is something that occasionally flashes in their concerts now. High volume makes it a bit uncomfortable to listen to. The big talent does not justify ignoring sowkhyam. I am hoping the young and versatile Nagaraj returns.

[hnbhagavan]

In contrast,the mike settings by Lalgudi siblings are on the lower side and the glorious tradition of Lalgudi bani continues.They do not attract much crowd in Bangalore.This is very sad and they have always given excellent duet concert.There are set standards which are followed.
I found that the crowd went on applauding the Mysore brothers in the concert and may be they got carried away and played even more loudly .Yella Venkateshwara Rao was also thumping the Mridangam and contributed to the noisy concert in no small measure.I tried to give feedback thru organisers,but of no avail.

[prahalad_rag]

Thank God, I am not alone. I left when they started Rama Nee Samanamevaru, unable to take all that was going on. I have the exact same feeling about their music these days. Too loud, boisterous, very repetitive. 3 Thyagaraja songs, all in Deshadi taLa, really?? Even the swaraprasthara was nothing new. I have heard the same korvai umpteen number of times from them before. There is one Sindhu Bhairavi piece that they play often (Pahi Pahi gajanana). Their swaraprasthara for that kriti is the same everytime they play, not just the korvai.

Sadly, they seem to have lost their touch. Their bowing was so jarring, none of the silken glides that we used to hear from them before. I sincerely hope that someone gives them feedback and they redeem themselves.

[anandganapathy26]

I had similar feelings when I attended a Jugalbandi by Manjunth and violin Vidushi Dr. Smt . N .Rajam couple of months back at Gayana Samaja. Despite Rajam maami (being the humble lady that she is ) announcing at the start of the concert that her definition of a JugalBandi was artistes placing multiple beautiful flowers and coming up with a nice bouquet at the end, Manjunath played spoit sport. His violin sounded more like an electric saw used for chopping wood. Rajam maami 's violin playing was so soothing in contrast. He tried to play Malkauns / hindolam in Hindustani style and Maami in-between interrupted him saying , if you play like this I need to play in Carnatic style and she demonstrated the same with all beautiful gamakas. At times , he didn't give Rajam maami a chance to play butting in when she was playing which was in bad taste. I have attended the famous Jugalbandis of Prof TN Krishnan and N. Rajam in the past . This was so jarring in contrast entirely due to Manjunath. Hope the brothers get back to playing the soothing music they were good at few years back.

[arasi]

So talented, both of them, but I cannot but agree with the consensus of opinion here.

prahlad_nag,
Nagaraj's 'silken glides', as you so aptly put it, and Manju's imaginative sweet bursts of sound seem to have taken a back seat to the explosive sounds (noise) of fusion (not the kind N.Rajam has in mind at all). Twenty odd years ago when I heard Nagaraj for the first time in an east coast concert, I was so taken by his playing, and since then, made it a point to listen to him whenever I could. Manjunath too, and their duets! As years went by, I only listened to them as accompanists (that was fine), but they hardly accompany others now. They are two people who are dear to me, but my listening to them in a performance is rare now.

On the other hand, from their point of view, perhaps they have played enough of the classical, staid stuff (especially Nagaraj) and they now like the change in their way of playing (experimenting or just having to ply to the galleries, needing to expend no effort at all). Also, in recent years, it's not a sparsely peopled hall they play in, but a crowded auditorium of loud music-loving, loudly cheering audience.

They are free to do what they want to with their art. Unless we can people the sparse halls in hundreds for a 'how they played' kind of a concert, we don't have any say in it

[hnbhagavan]

Here is a link played by Mysore Bros in chennai.So melodious.
Perhaps Chennai brings out the best class ism.But I wonder why Rasikas in Bangalore Fort HS Rama seva mandali had a different experience.
Listen here ,it is melodious!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRx_Yy7-1Qc

[pperumal]

Such tremendous talent - but to me, their solo performances are a let down.
Too much noise - and too repetitive.

[nadalahari]

With Great amusement, i am reading all the opinions here. I was just thinking why Mysore brothers are considered one of the Top Violinists by all section of music lovers and especially by musicians all over. We have always seen them enjoying the massive popularity representing carnatic music in some of the top level music festivals in europe and else where. Along with my friend,I was present yesterday at the Rudrapatna Music festival a couple of hours drive away from Bangalore.
It was a great musical treat as Mysore brothers concert was the highlight of the entire festival. Thodi and Mohana Ragamaligai Pallavi was just out of the world and every one was totally mesmerised by the top quality artistry by the Brothers who enthralled audience for over 3 hours and at the end a standing ovation greeted them too. On request, they played this Pallvi and also Varamu ragam.
and also I was present in the both the concerts mentioned earlier in this forum here. In the jugalbandhi of Dr.Rajam and Dr.Manjunath, we all witnessed how the enthusiastic Rajam appreciated every single thing Manjunath Played ! In fact Rajam was very surprised to see manjunath beginning his rendition in Hindusthani style ! it was her reaction with compliment, and not some thing else as stated by the writer here !! The entire crowd enjoyed the concert and we still cherish it !
I was present in the fort high school concert too. and again it was high energy concert with a standing ovation at the end. i am really surprised that even the basic thing such as the sound in the auditorium is not properly understood by the writers here ! The sound in the auditorium is totally different from the feed back that musicians have on the stage . Musicians,sitting and performing on the stage are not responsible for the sound heard in the auditorium as there is no way they can figure out the volume level that audience hear!
Nagaraj and Dr.Manjunath are the pioneers of violin playing in the modern arena. They enjoy the great popularity and respect among all musicians. It is no secrete that even the veterans like Umayalapuram Shivaraman, Karaikudi Mani ,T.K.Murthy .etc love and prefer to accompany them. For a huge section of music lovers, they are the Contemporary Violin greats ---)

[musicmantra]

Yes.. Totally agree with nadalahari. my cousin sowjayna attended the fort concert . she was describing how much every one enjoyed the concert and Nagaraj Manjunath mesmerised audience. No doubt they are the maestros. I also noticed their mood of the concert to some extent depends up on who is accompanying them on mridangam and all. I heard their concerts with vellor ramabhadran, t.k.murthy and in recent times with umayalapuram sivaraman. and also different schools like Karaidudi mani, trichy sankaran mama,bhaktavatsalam, rajarao and yella venkateshwara rao. it seems they adopt different approach with each one of these mridangam maestros.
regarding the mike at fort, there seems to be some problem with micro phones. we witnessed loud sound at abhishek ,srinivas and ls concerts too. the organisors should take a suitable action regarding this.

[hnbhagavan]

Fort High School
It was not just the mike.Intentionally,it was loud to match may be the Mridangam.I already mentioned in my post about applause from the crowd.Applause and melody are different.Whenever instrumentalists produce high pitch sound generally there is applause.It looks as though people like such gimmicks.
But some of us felt lost without the melody content as the bowing sounded very harsh at times.
I have attended several concerts a few years back and i find a distinct difference.I am no body to question about the knowledge and the eminent status they enjoy.
I merely expressed my humble opinion as a rasika and when i cross checked with a few other rasikas,they agreed with me.
Contrast this with superb accompaniment by Mysore Manjunath to Neyveli Santangopalan.

[nadalahari]

May be true. The volume has to be matched with the mridangam and other two percussion instruments. Other wise how can you hear violin? and also the gimmick is highly controversial term being used now a days.and it is only used for instrumentalists, quite interestingly! what is gimmick? playing in high speed? or playing in 3-4 octaves covering tara and ati tara octaves? both are considered an extra ordinary skills and that is how the merit and versatality of a musician is gauged.and you can not call hundred and hundreds of listeners who paid the ticket and come to the classical music concert are fools if they applaud and give a standing ovation ! I dont know if the taste of modern day young listeners like me differs ! If the musician plays only in 3rd tempo all the time, then we can question his ability. Certainly not in this case. I am sure you will agree too.

[musicmantra]

@ nadalahari
hnbhagavan is not at all questioning the ability of the Maestros. he clearly said that the violin volume had to go up to match the mridangam ,ghatam and khanjira all put together. Every one agrees that Nagaraj -Manjunath are Top notch Violinists with an astounding merit. And standing ovation - applause is seen only when there is an out standing presentation.
It is the tricky situation where in most no of carnatic listeners shift to hindustani music as they find our music is not enjoyable ! to my surprise, many of my collegues argue that it is the sahityam part which makes them run away from our music ! and quite interestingly nine out of ten top hindustani musicians are Instrumentalists ! I am surprised but it is true ! High time we have more no of instrumentalists to make it more stronger. pity that veenai is almost vanishing and we have only a handful Top instrumentalists like Mysore Manjunath and Dr.Nagaraj,Mandolin srinivas,flute ramani,ganesh kumaresh who can contribute a lot to the popularity of our music.

[hnbhagavan]

Dear musicmantra,

Thank you for your correct interpretation.

[hnbhagavan]

The Lalgudi siblings adhere strictly to the Lalgudi tradition and they keep the volume extremely listener friendly.However the followers are few in number at least in Bangalore.There is a dedicated band of people attached to Lalgudi sir who attend the concerts.The concerts are melodious and one can even follow the lyrics.You may read the reviews given by various Rasikas during their recent US tour where they are appreciated better.
In fact in a jugalbandi concert with Pandit Vishwa mohana Bhat in Fort HS,GJR Krishnan's violin melody had to be filtered midst the noise.

I do not question the ability of Mysore Bros.In fact I have enjoyed Mysore Nagaraj's accompaniment in particular to Sri KVN.Accompanying Sri KVN is no mean task and getting appreciation from KVN is a achievement and I happened to be at Malleswaram Sangeetha sabha in 1986.

[Mist Melody]

The caliber of a musician is NOT at all based on the volume level of microphones ! sounds very funny !! If that is the criteria, all mikeless house concert musicians should be considered great !
Through generation we all enjoyed lalgudi bani and now too admire lalgudi siblings. No doubt about that. But Mysore nagaraj and Manjunath have emerged in the scenario and grown in leaps and bound and hugely respected all over. Their style is a fantastic combination of unbelievable mastery,technical virtuosity and great manodharmam. Still cherishing their concert last music season at krishna gana sabha with Umayalapuram sivaraman sir and ananthakrishanan. oh.. unbelieavable hight of melody it was !! of course with a standing ovation at the end..No doubt they are really great..

[musicmantra]

Of course, Manjunath-Nagaraj are pioneers of the modern Violin playing scenario. what hnbhagavan saying that the concert could have been enjoyed better with the proper arrangement of the mike at the auditorium.
Mist melody- we all agree with you that mysore brothers have an amazing track record as soloist and accompanists. we miss them a lot now a days as accompanists as they got extremely busy as soloists with great popularity. even as kids they started accompaniying kvn, santhanam, madhurai somu.dkj..likes.. in fact they contiunued the great violin accompanying parampara of lalgudi,msg and chandru mama. we all great admirers of them too.

[nadalahari]

Very true. wishing them further success ..