Hyderabad Brothers-Seshachary@SKGS on Mar13th,2016

[rajeshnat]

Hyderabad Brothers-Seshachary@SKGS on Mar13th,2016
--------------------------------------------
Vocal : Seshachary
Violin : Nagai Sriram
Mrudangam : Trivandrum balaji
Kanjira : BS Purushottaman

Concert Type/Ticketed : Nirvana - No concert to follow ?Free
Day/Duration : Sunday/ 1 hour and 40 minutes concert
Hall : SKGS - kamakoti hall

Occassion : Surajananda day conducted by Guru Karaikudi Mani

01. erA nApai -varnam - Todi - Patnam
02. aya jUcuTa kidi - ganavaridhi - T
03. kanta joodumi (R,N,S) - vAchaspathi - T
6 mins alapana and 3 mins violin return
neraval in alanADu saumitri pAda sEva for 4 mins
3 mins swaras
04. kanugonu sowkhyamu - nAyaki - T

05. kaligi yuntE (R N S T)-keeravani - T
8 mins keeravani alapana and 5 mins violin return
3 mins neraval in bAgags sri raghu
5 mins swaras

06. pEsum deivam murugan - nagavalli - swami surajananda
07. Ela rADAyanE kAmini starting with anupallavi pADi muddADi - bhairavi - chinniah
08. cheliyanE??? - neelambari - ????
09. pavamAna

[rajeshnat]

Hyderabad brothers despite me hearing only three times in live concert but with available recordings - I can assert with confidence that they have intense classical musical stuff. My last engagement with them in live was at kalakruthi near hotel dasaprakash with patron arusuvai natarajan . It was atleast 10 years back where both the brothers sang , all that i recollect now was seshachari showing his index finger to raghavachari at regular intervals to indicate start and stop to raghavachari and he was controlling the concert .For some reason , despite the andhra lobby being very high in chennai -the opportunities for hyderabad brothers is very very less and I am assuming the lobby went to the other brothers . Just like how many extraordinary and capable singers from chennai are never given a chance in bangalore, hearing great singers of merit from other states is becoming tough in chennai- I am glad karaikudi mani gives a chance -atleast a trickle happens .Last season Hyderabad brothers had three or four concerts .

Since last time that I heard and with all the minimal recordings , I have extraordinary abhimanam for seshachary. In my humble opinion if you treat all the sisters and brothers as standalone artist, I would humbly put Seshachary , Gayatri of RG siblings and srikrishna mohan of Trichur brothers as musically extraordinary. Also during the last time when I heard the brothers ,I did not know much about Ramnad krishnan. Hearing seshachary now after bit of education of Ramnad krishnan, There is a lot of musical overlap of Ramnad krishnan and Seshachary is what i can say with fair degree of conviction.

There was a speech with PSN chairing and an award given to flutist Sikkil mala chandrasekar. I did not attend the speech and as the concert was advertised to start at 06:30 pm , it got delayed by 20 minutes(no complaints on start ). Seshachary started with todi varnam - felt a dose of little extra play by BSP bit robbing the overall aural intent of era napai and few other early numbers. The next rare gAnavaridhi just passed quickly no raga alpana,no nerval and no swaras and possibly if the krithi is of the grandeur of Swarajathi- SS or evarani - devamruthavarshini -T , it makes sense to drop as #2. Otherwise blame it on musicians blindly following the ariyakudi typecast of these kind of censored #2.

I have heard in general that seshachary sings suddha madhyama ragas leaving prati ragas to raghavachari. The truth is prati is a usual submain given to generally less dominant sibling . My assumption is seshachari also sings prati well . IN this concert the vachaspathi alapana and krithi rendition was very good- he did not give a good follow up on neraval and swaras - he just went thru the motion in neraval and swaras were good.

Nayaki was quite elegant and he gave a shade of little less gambheeram unlike darbar and I got a glimpse for the first time the higher musical merit of seshachary. THe keervani alapana was just 8 mins, donot get fooled with the minutes - it was distilled and wonderful keeravani alapana .keeravani essence with a clear coverage of all three octaves was indeed there. Seshachary caressing with few mandara stayi touches in keervani alapana and they were really strong (strength in mandara sthayi was as much as maharajapuram ramachandran)- seshachary sAreeram did the talk . THe masterpiece kaligiyuntE krithi was sung very well and i enjoyed but again neraval was not upto the mark .Swaras were well done but this being main krithi ,lack of elaboration was a let down .

Seshachary sang very well the next krithi pesum deivam murugan .He said he learnt from Karaikudi mani. Mani sir added that it was tuned By TM Thyagarajan. I would have mistaken for my life that nagavalli ragam was shree ranjani , if seshachary did not announce the raga. ANyway this krithi of surajananda was awesome and TMT is a brilliant tunesmith.

THe tail enders especially the javali of bhairavi was excellent . I am not sure if Ramnad krishnan has sung this but certainly brinda muktha has taken this to himalayan heights. THe last neelambari was just ok. But overall the impact in post main was absent - i wish musicians always sing a viruththam or slokham.

Nagai Sriram was brilliant and his grasp in returns was superb. Both the percussionist played well the roll and intelligence of balaji did pep the concert .BSP can show a bit of restraint in the first few numbers - i find a shade of extra play of BSP is aurally leaning to my discomfort.

Few annoyances
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1. At regular intervals Seshachari was holding the mike with his left hand which is fine (who cares), but with his right hand he was constantly making a sound . This kind of annoyance if it happens with fellow rasika i have lot of seats empty i can go there , but if the main artist does it , where can I go???

2. At the beginning of tani after 2 or 3 minutes when balaji played , seshachary was telling balaji "sruthi was not right i can wait". The sportive balaji took his gadgets and gently tapped and played again . I did not aurally spot any difference before and after, perhaps balaji did that just for satisfying Seshachary . They played for near 20 minutes and I assume they wanted to showcase to Karaikudi mani , Mani sir may have got his long share but for rest of the rasikas playing near 20 minutes tani in a 1 hour and 40 minutes was not ok. There was a lot of gesticulation and less expansiveness in swaras for every song by seshachary , may be balaji can tell in the next kutchery post seshachary singing a few round of swaras - "I will wait you can sing with no gesticulation and with more expansiveness in neraval and swaras".

3. The start was around 06:50 , i wish they went upto 8:50 .2 minutes before 08:30- seshachary took his watch and ended. Every musician say that concerts are reduced in time and complain for ever. When the evening is open why are they not grabbing the time . IN this concert ,i would have assumed that seshachary could have gone atleast till 9pm

4. Every song after eranapi he was referring the tablet till main and for one song of surajananda he was referring paper . I am ok with paper or tablet for a very rare song - but when musician even refers for submain , there is not enough confidence to sing an extra sangathi is my humble call.

All said vidwan seshachary has exceptional musical ideas and he is backed up by a very pliant voice -the brigas are very sharp (i can aurally compare with ramnad krishnan here) and there is no cheap sangathi . His way of building up alapana and rendering krithi was superb especially keeravani- one can compare to all the himalayan greats of yesteryears . I hope in my next live concert Seshachary or hyderabad brothers sing a RTP and I also wish he brings more expansiveness in neraval(especially) and swaras.

Overall a very good to excellent concert for 1 hour and 40 minutes

[thanjavooran]

Shri Rajeshnat,
A very good review. Again and again I admire the format. Vachaspathi kriti nowadays is very rare in the menu. IMO there is ample clarity in rendering and one can note down lyrics of the kriti without ambiguity. I notice this aspect in Malladi bros concert too. Thanx for the writeup.
Thanjavooran
15 03 2016

[hnbhagavan]

Excellent review by Rajeshnat.Looks as though Ragavachary is absent as per your write up.

[CRama]

Rajesh- This kind of annoyance if it happens with fellow rasika i have lot of seats empty i can go there , but if the main artist does it , where can I go???

I liked this quote immensely. Did you hear Sodanai mel sodanai recently? Thanks for your succinct review. I also wanted to attend this concert. But Akhandam took precedence. Even ten years back, I have seen the Bros referring tablet for very common songs and songs which they would have sung 1000 times. I was highly irritated. That is why in the review of Thrissur Bros concert, I did not make any comment on referring of books.

[ram1999]

For some reason , despite the andhra lobby being very high in chennai -the opportunities for hyderabad brothers is very very less and I am assuming the lobby went to the other brothers . ....

Overall a very good to excellent concert for 1 hour and 40 minutes

What do you mean Andhra Lobby ? a loose statement. Unfortunately only a few artists could establish themselves in showcasing their talent in TN. and that too after abundant struggle as I know of a few personally and the time that they have taken to establish themselves ....... There is no lobbly whatsoever and it is unfortunate that we in TN have not developed good ears to hear good music from AP/Karnataka or Kerala.

It was just a few artsits who regularly performed during the Music Seasons and major festivals in chennai up until early 90s. The few were Voleti, Nedunuri, Srirangam Gopalaratnam, Emani Sankara Sastry. Dr. Pani and Nookala used to perform not very regularly. Hyderabad Brothers started performing regularly since the late 80s. Even now it is a handful ... Malladi Brothers, Pantula Rama, Manda Sudharani and may be a few others. But all these artists are really TOP CLASS ARTISTS very great talen, devotion and commitment.

Where is the lobby ???

[rajeshnat]

What do you mean Andhra Lobby ? a loose statement. Unfortunately only a few artists could establish themselves in showcasing their talent in TN. and that too after abundant struggle as I know of a few personally and the time that they have taken to establish themselves ....... There is no lobbly whatsoever and it is unfortunate that we in TN have not developed good ears to hear good music from AP/Karnataka or Kerala.

It was just a few artsits who regularly performed during the Music Seasons and major festivals in chennai up until early 90s. The few were Voleti, Nedunuri, Srirangam Gopalaratnam, Emani Sankara Sastry. Dr. Pani and Nookala used to perform not very regularly. Hyderabad Brothers started performing regularly since the late 80s. Even now it is a handful ... Malladi Brothers, Pantula Rama, Manda Sudharani and may be a few others. But all these artists are really TOP CLASS ARTISTS very great talen, devotion and commitment.

Where is the lobby ???

Ram1999
For the last 14 years every day i read the paper, talk many many times with sabha seceratary(Ranging from NGS sabha Late R krishnaswamy , Late Nadopasana sreenivasan and few more which I will keep it discreet) .I Keep in my head all slots and all connections with sabhas to the best of my ability.

Nalli chettiar and the Late Obul Reddy ( now his son and his daughter in law Preetha Reddy (Apollo hospitals)) are two of the biggest patrons of chennai sabhas. The way I have understood is Nalli chettiar throws money but does not decide that much the slot . But the other Obul-Preetha family generally have a say too . I am not implying that these patrons are partial etc(there can be a slight chance too ). But looking objectively at the slots , these hyderabad brothers are not having the andhra lobby (big sabha patron/ support)Like others (whose names you have mentioned) who usually enjoy. Prior to three years there was no opportunity for them for 3 or 4 years , but in the last few years some trickle is happening - I see hyderabad brothers perform regularly at skgs in the last few years at kutcheri season.

By the way extraordinary musician like Trichy Pradeep kumar from TN have no lobby at all. Many years before musicians like voleti/nedanuri were pushed by LGJ/Late yaganraman etc in SKGS , it looks as of today KM is pushing Hyderabad brothers and it is a great thing for hyderabad brothers and in general the wicket is strong for these brothers in skgs.

Rasikas of chennai have ears in general irrespective of domicile/area of artists- dont take a slam dunk at rasikas. From the time that coolkarni posted hyderabad brothers recording of dhenuka ,i have extraordinary respect for their music.

I donot make any loose statements at all. If you feel the word lobby can be replaced as "Strong support from sabha patrons/commercial agencies" then I am ok.

[ram1999]

Rajeshnat

You are bang on !! Yes there are far superior and deserving artists outside of the Chennai circle (well within TN). They find it difficult to perform.

AP artists were regulalry called by Indian Fine Arts Society for many years and of course KGS as Shri Yagnaraman had a very fine taste for music and Sri Maharajapuram Santhanam used to take active steps in calling AP artists for the major festivals.

Hyderabad Brothers were very prominent in the late 80s until mid 90s. Hope they sing more. Absolute classism !!

[varsha]

From the time ..... posted hyderabad brothers recording of dhenuka

Their Kalyanis have always been very very very special !!!
Try getting a recording , for me , of a concert at kk nagar padma sesadri in mid 80s . Magical.Wish I knew what inspired them for such special renderings!!!
Your next milestone
https://archive.org/details/RTPKalyANi

[ram1999]

From the time ..... posted hyderabad brothers recording of dhenuka

Their Kalyanis have always been very very very special !!!
Try getting a recording , for me , of a concert at kk nagar padma sesadri in mid 80s . Magical.Wish I knew what inspired them for such special renderings!!!
Your next milestone
https://archive.org/details/RTPKalyANi

Another Great Concert that comes to my mind is the one that they sang in Narada Gana Sabha 1991/92 ?? with Palakad Raghu. A spellbinding nattai, poorvikayani and a sadasiva Bhramendra'a bhajan in Deepali preceded by a wonderful slokam.

Another one is a 4.5 hours concert at Music Academy Mini Hall with Coimbatore Dakshinamurthy and Palakad Raghu where they sang an RTP in Ranjini. The alapana and swaras following the pallavi by Raghavachari still rings in my mind. Seshachari and Coimbatore Dakshinamurthy were and the absolutely thrilled and raghavachari was asked to do it solo after a point without any interruptions by his brother. What a concert that was

[sureshvv]

What do you mean Andhra Lobby ? a loose statement.

Yes. Very loosu!

I Keep in my head all slots and all connections with sabhas to the best of my ability.

Definitely part of the problem.

But the other Obul-Preetha family generally have a say too . I am not implying that these patrons are partial etc(there can be a slight chance too ).

Not sure if you are implying any Andhra bias (it does look like there is slight hint), but I think that is hugely unfair to them. Virtually every festival and concert in Chennai is being supported by this foundation. There is no evidence of any regional bias in their sponsorship.

It seems we are always looking for angles and conspiracy theories to justify the success (or absence thereof) of performing artistes ignoring the basic reason when it is staring us at our face. For the Hyderabad Brothers, the most significant factor is that there is only 1 of them singing now.

[rajeshnat]

Definitely part of the problem.
....
It seems we are always looking for angles and conspiracy theories to justify the success (or absence thereof) of performing artistes ignoring the basic reason when it is staring us at our face. For the Hyderabad Brothers, the most significant factor is that there is only 1 of them singing now.

You posting at 02:16 night time -losing sleep is definitely a problem for your health take care . I am telling this as your long term friend

I personally feel merit has to come irrespective of domicile / state etc and I know you are very much part of the same thought process. I believe in the last 1 or 2 seasons both brothers have sung - lot of my non rasikas friends go gA gA with his kalyani of SKGS last year. I remember a lovely review of neeraja veni a year or two back.

All the years i have not heard raghavachari singing and was kind of controlled by seshachari. But going with the recording of varsha and also the post of ram 1999 , it looks raghavachari has indeed sung very well. Even assuming all that is past and not current as stated by you ,even if only of them is singing it does not mean seshachary should not have more opportunity- he is just way too brilliant . I compare him to the likes of ramnad krishnan and TRS(hear the dhenuka) and his brigas as of last week is sparkling - that is the subjectivity angle that I am coming from and making all this post. And when musicians reach a lakshman rekha of excellence comparable to all time greats - I go all out to stir . By the way I have clearly stated that I DONT KNOW yet on the angle status.

[sureshvv]

I was objecting to "Andhra Lobby", esp. dragging the Obul Reddy foundation into the mud. If you are recanting, it feels a bit couched.

[varsha]

https://archive.org/details/TeliyaLEruR ... ukaHydBros

[rajeshnat]

I was objecting to "Andhra Lobby", esp. dragging the Obul Reddy foundation into the mud. If you are recanting, it feels a bit couched.

I am not dragging any one to mud. Let us also learn to separate the Obul Reddy and the next gen please .I have tremendous respect for Late Shri Obul Reddy. Rest I DONT KNOW YET. When we meet in person - we can talk. Yesterday I saw you in ragasudha i turned my head in ragasudha during kalyani , you were gone

[sureshvv]

I recommend "Innocent until proven guilty" as a good mantra for these situations. Was a nice concert yesterday but had to leave for some pressing matters. Also I said "Obul Reddy foundation" - meaning the people running the foundation now - Not the late Sri Obul Reddy,

[ram1999]

....does not mean seshachary should not have more opportunity- he is just way too brilliant . I compare him to the likes of ramnad krishnan and TRS(hear the dhenuka) and his brigas as of last week is sparkling - .

Definitely chennai is not a place to listen to such brilliant music then.

Go to Kerala (smallest of villages, shimoga and other remote towns to listen to ABSOLUTELY GREAT non tamil nadu based musicians

[CRama]

Right now hearing the Denuka- Superb- Never heard this from them.

I have heard lot of very beautiful concerts from the Bros since 80s in many places- Bangalore, Calcutta, Bombay and Chennai and do have a huge collection of their concerts. It is fact that Seshachary do not give adequate space for Raghavachary. But I have heard some very good alapanas from Raghavachary as well. The gesticulations of Seschachary are many time irksome.Their concerts are mostly predictable. Such instances of Denuka are very rare. A similar instance I can quote. I do have a concert ( IIRC RamSeva Mandali concert) where there is a brilliant Amritavarshini. After the alapana by Seshachary, the kriti Anandamritavarshini comes, there is elaborate swaras by both the brothers While concluding that, before any korvai, Seshachary speaks about the greatness of the ragam and continues to sing again alapana followed by Sudhamayi. A unique instance and it is wonderful. The main song in this concert is Rakshabettare. There is another Ram Seva Mandali concert released commercially- but poorly marketed- accompanied by Palghat Raghu. It is an excellent concert in which they have rendered Bahudari, Ranjani and Thodi (neevanti deivamu) very elaborately.

FRom 90s till 2000s they used to be featured in all music festivals in Chennai at par with TVS, TNS etc. Even now they are capable of giving high quality music concerts. They should be featured more often.

[ram1999]

All the years i have not heard raghavachari singing and was kind of controlled by seshachari. .

Again a loose statement.. How do you know Seshachary was controlling... It the equation that the brothers share and use their strengths to get the best out of them...

[rajeshnat]

Definitely chennai is not a place to listen to such brilliant music then.

Go to Kerala (smallest of villages, shimoga and other remote towns to listen to ABSOLUTELY GREAT non tamil nadu based musicians

Ram1999,
When I am in chennai, I atleast had a chance to hear hyderabad brothers on Mar13th,2016 and i do know they had concerts (about 3 or 4 )inclusive of skgs in the last 2015 dec season.

Can you tell me in the last 36 months how many concerts/places in kerala apart from one in trichur ,these hyderabad brothers have performed ?
If you have data it would be great otherwise i fear you are also making loosO statements (loose in TN = loosu in AP/telengana = loosO in Kerala) .

Two reviews of hyderabad brothers one of dec 2015 chennai and the other in trichur apr 2015 are here
http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday ... 025728.ece
http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday ... 080686.ece

[ram1999]

Right now hearing the Denuka- Superb- Never heard this from them.

I have heard lot of very beautiful concerts from the Bros since 80s in many places- Bangalore, Calcutta, Bombay and Chennai and do have a huge collection of their concerts. It is fact that Seshachary do not give adequate space for Raghavachary. But I have heard some very good alapanas from Raghavachary as well. The gesticulations of Seschachary are many time irksome.Their concerts are mostly predictable. Such instances of Denuka are very rare. A similar instance I can quote. I do have a concert ( IIRC RamSeva Mandali concert) where there is a brilliant Amritavarshini. After the alapana by Seshachary, the kriti Anandamritavarshini comes, there is elaborate swaras by both the brothers While concluding that, before any korvai, Seshachary speaks about the greatness of the ragam and continues to sing again alapana followed by Sudhamayi. A unique instance and it is wonderful. The main song in this concert is Rakshabettare. There is another Ram Seva Mandali concert released commercially- but poorly marketed- accompanied by Palghat Raghu. It is an excellent concert in which they have rendered Bahudari, Ranjani and Thodi (neevanti deivamu) very elaborately.

FRom 90s till 2000s they used to be featured in all music festivals in Chennai at par with TVS, TNS etc. Even now they are capable of giving high quality music concerts. They should be featured more often.

ABSOLUTELY. I have heard innumerable concerts accompanied by Peri Sriramamurthy, TK Ramanujacharulu, Delhi Sunderarajan and Palghat Raghu / UKS, Mahadevu Lakshmi Narayana Raju (MLN Raju) on the mridangam. Fabulous Music. They were fascinated by Ramnad Krishnan's music and also have taken lessons from Voleti and Nedunuri. Sri T R Subramanian jokingly in one speech mentioned that their Guru was a Tape Recorder as they have collected the music of many musicians and learnt from the recordings. Highly talented and fabulous musicians..

[ram1999]

[quote="rajeshnat"][/quote]

It is not a Loose statement . I think you misunderstood. I did not say that Hyderabad Bros perform that often in Kerala / Karnataka. Prestine music is heard more in the remotest of villages in Kerala than in Chennai. It is something that needs to be seen to appreciate..

[rajeshnat]

Prestine music is heard more in the remotest of villages in Kerala than in Chennai. It is something that needs to be seen to appreciate..

That was a right statement say before 3 to 4 years ,for decades it was right that too with kerala giving more absolute time for the artists. Now kerala concerts have also come down drastically by a factor of 80%- lot of chennai musicians used to go to kerala now it is dry. This statement is no more valid just like if some one says now that chennai is mecca of cm , i politely tell that chennai is mecca in nov,dec and jan - rest of the 9 months bangalore is the mecca.

Thank you for pointers from ram1999, varsha and crama on the brilliance of the ragavachari and seshachari . If my memory is right they also once sang a RTP to differentiate kamAs and harikambOdhi (some one posted a post here , memory is bit foggy I may be bit loose here ).

[kartik]

Prestine music is heard more in the remotest of villages in Kerala than in Chennai. It is something that needs to be seen to appreciate..

Seen?

[rshankar]

Seen?

You should have asked Smt. Balasaraswathi that! She advocated 'seeing' music, and 'hearing' dance....