Malladi Brothers @ Sankritilaya, San Jose, March 15

[mahavishnu]

Malladi Brothers - Vocal
Embar Kannan - Violin
Neyveli Narayanan - Mridangam

Nedunuri Krishnamurthy memorial concert. 3:45 mins (approx: including delays due to mic issues).

1. ErA nApai - tOdi varnam - patnam
2. gajAnanayutam - vegavAhini - MD
3. bhavanuta nA hrdayamuna ramimpumu - mOhanam - T (S)
4. neevErA kula dhanamu - bEgaDa -mishra chApu - T (A)
5. nAgagAndhari rAganutE - nAgagAndhAri - MD
6. paluvichAramu -shanmukhapriyA - khanda chApu - annamAchArya (A,N,S) Neraval@mEratO Sri vEnkaTESa
7. bhAvamulOna - suddhadhanyAsi - annamAchAryA
8. varuvArO varam taruvArO - sAma - GKB
9. mari mari vaccuna - kambhOji - Adi - vAsudEvachAr (ANST) Neraval@rAmuni mahima nEnEmani pogaDudu
10. rAvayya bhadrAchala rAma -anandabhairavi - Bhadrachalam Ramadas
11. pAhi pAhi jaganmOhana krishnA - kEdaram - Narayana tIrtha
12. jAnaki ramaNA - kApi - vAnamAmalai jeer
13. AdidEva paramAtma - sindhubhairavi - annamachAryA
14. mangalam (slOkam: tyAgarAja gurum vandE)

Being a memorial event, the concert featured several items popularized by Sri Nedunuri. This included pieces that he excelled at as a performer and also pieces that he tuned, notated or otherwise popularized. The Malladi brothers succeeded in bringing out the memory of their illustrious guru and for that I cannot thank them enough.

My memories of Sri NedunurigAru go back to the late 70s and early 80s in several concerts in Chennai, about the same time I was introduced to the music of Voleti-garu as well, mostly at the Krishna Gana Sabha. Nedunuri was accompanied by legends like Lalgudi and UKS/PR/VR on the mridangam to a devoted following of listeners in Tamil Nadu; a group of rasikas to whom Nedunuri has expressed much gratitude, for helping shape his aesthetic sensibilities and presentation style (See for e.g his interview with Pappu Venugopala Rao here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzJ89MvEE1w starting at 46:00 into the video, where he talks about the TN audience and also Lalgudi's influence on his music).

The scholarship, erudition and unique stagecraft that Nedunuri brought forth were refreshingly different from the other male vocalists at the time. It was only much later that I realized that several songs that were classics in most tam-brahm homes in that period (due to MSS's TTD release of the balaji pancharatnamala) were indeed his tunes. This included classics like okapari, bhavamulona, nanati baduku etc. All of them have the unmistakeable signature of Nedunuri.

In today's concert, the Malladi Brothers tried to channel this spirit of Nedunuri in over 3 1/2 hours of deeply classical fare, with an excellent variation of ragas, composers and manodharma sangeetham. Every piece was a celebration of the Nedunuri heritage. While the music they created was more than copacetic, it did not have the thrills, risks, dares or roller coaster rides. Even the kaNAkku and vyavahArams were kept to a bare minimum. Thus the mood that was created was rather solemn, and it was very appropriate given the context.

Their renditions of Shanmukhapriya and Kambhoji had a lot of the classic Nedunuri pidis. Their development of sangatis was disciplined and the characteristic progression in the development of their manodharmam showed measured restraint. This was most evident in their presentation of the vAsudevachAr composition in kambhoji. Apparently, when they sang this song to SSI in the late 90s, the first question he asked them was if this had been notated by Nedunuri!

One of my favorite memories of Nedunuri's concerts from the early 80s was his rendition of jAnaki ramaNA with Lalgudi at KGS. This concert is a collector's item and I would recommend this to any student/rasika who is trying to learn the nuances of kApi. In the lines "mahita mahEshvara cApa dalLanakara", Nedunuri-garu has created these absolutely breathtaking sangatis where he plays on temporal variations of pnSRSRGMGR (maheshvara); that he displayed for the first time that day. In one of those brilliant spontaneous Lalgudi moments, he squeezed in a variation of a different sangati (GRSndNGR @ maheshvara) during one of the vocalist's pauses. Nedunuri repeated that sangati back at Lalgudi, resulting in the audience going absolutely berserk and erupting into an awe-inspired applause!

Fast forward to 2015. What is amazing is that both these sets of sangatis are now codified in the version that has since been notated by Nedunuri garu and the Malladis render those "spontaneous" expressions with the method and discipline of good kalpita sangitam.

Embar Kannan played extremely well. He followed the vocalists along every line and corner. I often notice that students of the Kanyakumari school hold the bow much further away from the frog (which gives them less torque) but perhaps more control over the angle of incidence above the finger board(?). That said, Kannan has a very sweet tone to his instrument, his bow is long and sweet.

Neyveli Narayanan was brilliant; I really like his playing. He has internalized much of the UKS style and his nadai amaippu today as he accompanied for the compositions was really excellent. The tani was on the shorter side, but perhaps it was planned that way. NN grabbed all the opportunities during the neravals to introduce interesting symmetric tirmanams and short korvais where appropriate.

The tail-end pieces were also Nedunuri specialities; the ananda bhairavi uruppdi had a wonderful folksy touch. The concert felt sumptuous enough that I did not miss having a pallavi. There were microphone problems for the first half of the concert much to the irritation of the performers and the audience. Somehow a good balanced sound was not to be found till well into the middle of the concert.

Overall, a wonderful concert marking the beginning of the 2015 music season in the SF bay area.

Is it Monday already?

[rajeshnat]

Mahavishnu
Good review from you and thank you. i think malladis have started well and I wish them good luck in their vusa tour where they hop west to east twice.

[rshankar]

Ramesh...seems to have been a wonderful concert. Was it recorded?

[munirao2001]

Mahavishnu Sir,

Your pleasure and experience of listening to Malladi Bros concert was expressed and communicated very well, with values of recall experiences.

munirao2001

[mahavishnu]

Thank you all. Ravi, I believe Sankritilaya records most concerts; perhaps Manisubramaniyan can clarify if this is still the case.

[Lakshman]

Another super review Ramesh.

[manisubramaniyan]

Thanks Mahavishnu for an excellent review.
We do record for archival purposes, and release some if the artists approve. So far we have been making mp3 CDs manually, costing a bit, but are looking at other options.
We will keep rasikas.org posted in our website.
Regards

[mahavishnu]

Thanks Lji and ManiS.

[nadhasudha]

Very nice review mahavishnu.

Looks like it was a very good concert. Not to be picky, but having chosen Kambhoji as the main, I wish they would have rendered Emayya Rama. Nedunuri Garu's rendition of this krithi is a real gem and one of my favorites.

[mahavishnu]

Nadhasudha: Yes, I was hoping for Emayya rAmA too
Perhaps they are saving it for another concert on this tour.

[CRama]

But Nedunuri has never sung Emayya Rama as a main song. This Kambodi song of MV is a very rare song. I have not heard this song from Nedunuri either.

[rshankar]

We do record for archival purposes, and release some if the artists approve. So far we have been making mp3 CDs manually, costing a bit, but are looking at other options.
We will keep rasikas.org posted in our website.

Thank you...will look out for this information.

[grsastrigal]

Nice review, by mahAvishnu, as usual.

Chennai rasikas, like me, recall that Shanmugapriya kriti and kambodhi kriti with rAga (submain Shanmugapriya and main Kamboji) were rendered in their last December Music Academy. They even informed during the concert that Shanmugapriya kriti of annamacharya was tuned by gurugAru.

Emayya rAma was also rendered by Malladi duo in Music Academy-mini hall concert. This was for sarvAni sangeetha sabhA with Mannargudi Eswaran sir in mridhangam 3-4 years back. Since this kriti, for me, was first time, it was a wonderful experience for me. I also remember veteran singer S.Janaki was present.

[vasanthakokilam]

Thanks Mahavishnu for a great review and providing the background and contextual material. It makes it that much more wholesome to relate to the concert. You have now motivated me to attend their concert next week. It is the same evening as the world cup finals and if India figures in the finals it is going to be an interesting juxtaposition of two of my major interests. The organizer of the concert is a big cricket fan himself and I see the concert starts late afternoon rather than early evening, so there should be enough time to hop over. Go India!!

[mahavishnu]

VK: I believe the Malladi Brothers are cricket fans themselves. So, I'm sure they would be as curious about the score as the rest of us are

[thanjavooran]

Mahavishnu,
Many thanx for the excellent review! Really I appreciate their clarity [spushtam] in rendering kritis
with wishes,
Thanjavooran
2203 10`5

[kssr]

Thanks for the lovely review. Malladis indeed represent today the chaste and traditional music. They are perfectly synchronised which is not very easy, given the natural manodharma based Sangeetha like ours. They are probably also the only performers who are in the top popularity list, in spite of not trying any fireworks. It reassures that there is good audience for heavy no-frills music. Also, like their illustrious guru, the clarity and perfect pronunciation gives added charm to their music.

( I thought Mike problems and artists dissatisfaction are the exclusive rights of Indian sabhas )

[vasanthakokilam]

( I thought Mic problems and artists dissatisfaction are the exclusive rights of Indian sabhas )

I think you meant 'Sabhas in India'

We have the organizer of this concert Manisubramaniyan participating in this thread so I hope we don't give the wrong impression that we are unfairly picking on this venue. Given that this unfortunately happens more frequently than desired, the only way to solve it is by sharing the root causes and preventive measures. I bet the same venue was ok at most other times.

[kssr]

I think you meant 'Sabhas in India'

Of course, sir. It did not even cross my mind that one could find fault with a foren venue. Hats off to the organisers abroad who are holding up our cultural heritage even in far off lands under far more difficult conditions.

[varsha]

Fine review indeed .

[varsha]

Nednuri and emayya

He has sung many times as ten minute efforts and a couple of times as twenty minute essays
crama pl make ur pick from following accompanists and i will upload
Akellaji,Lalgudi,Kandadevi,MSG,Tsv,Chalakudi

[CRama]

OGod. I have not heard that so far. PL upload twenty minutes essyas - with any accompanist. I leave that choice to you. Thanks in advance.

[rajeshnat]

Nednuri and emayya

He has sung many times as ten minute efforts and a couple of times as twenty minute essays
crama pl make ur pick from following accompanists and i will upload
Akellaji,Lalgudi,Kandadevi,MSG,Tsv,Chalakudi

Varsha -Please upload it in nedanuri thread
http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... 36#p275636

[mahavishnu]

Varsha: You are also one of the few people in the world that has a recording of his jAnaki ramaNA in kApi (with Lalgudi @ KGS). If you can post that also, I would be much obliged.

The version of Emayya Rama with Akella-ji on the violin has been released commercially by Charsur in the paddhati series.

[varsha]

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/so1ns55f25cqk/EMAYYA
ALSO POSTED in Nednuri thread.
MV
Thanks.I have skirted around it.I put in a few other renderings too since it is not often that CRama does not have something
Also NK is cooing like a nightingale in these tracks.This is his song indeed.
janakiramana... will do it.Do you remember mridangam artist or track duration?

[Sreeni Rajarao]

Ramesh,
What a thread you have initiated! Thank You!

I have a concert recording of Sri Nedunuri from early 1980s (Winnipeg, Canada) that I have enjoyed many times over. I first heard Sri Nedunuri's music only in 1996 (shame on me!). Janaki Ramana was part of that beautiful concert

Varsha avare,
Thank you for the gems! I had not heard this song before!

[mahavishnu]

Sreeni: Good to hear from you. I'm just glad that this concert thread has been able to rekindle some wonderful memories of Nedunuri-garu and has also managed to extract some gems from Varsha!

[CRama]

Varsha, One million thanks is such a small word for what you have given. I asked one Emayya Rama. You gave me six. Your generosity is boundless.

[varsha]

Nedunuri was accompanied by legends like Lalgudi and UKS/PR/VR on the mridangam to a devoted following of listeners in Tamil Nadu; a group of rasikas to whom Nedunuri has expressed much gratitude, for helping shape his aesthetic sensibilities and presentation style (See for

http://www.mediafire.com/listen/y6m3805 ... Slokam.mp3
See !!! See Here !!!!!
Who knows ? MV ,Crama and myself plus many others might have been sitting in the same row when this was sung at KGS
The stars must have conspired to get me to Chennai and have lodgings on KRKoil Street at 50 Rs/month rent on twin sharing basis in 1980.
Some Gold Dust, This.Enjoy.

[mahavishnu]

Gold dust indeed. There is such a method and beauty to how NK constructs his phrases whether it is a short slokam or a detailed long alapanai. And such perfect returns on the violin.

There is enough music for a lifetime here.

[manisubramaniyan]

Here is the mohanam (Bhavanutha) from the concert, posted in soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/sankriilaya-sank ... thyagaraja

[mahavishnu]

Thank you, ManiS!

[MV]

Mahavishnu, I haven't been to The Forum for nigh on 3 months now. I came yesterday for selfish reasons and now am hooked with all the wonderful reviews you have belted out. As Arasi says, it would be worth putting them together like Kalki's reviews

[mahavishnu]

MV: Good to hear from you after a long time
Trust all's well down down under in Kiwi land!

[MV]

Mahavishnu: Yes all good Down Under. Looks like your Music Season in US is in full swing