Malladi Brothers at Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha on 28/12/07

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 28 Dec 2007, 23:02

Vocal: Malladi Brothers
Violin: Mysore Manjunath
Mrudangam: Neyveli Narayanan
Kanjira: Sundar Kumar B.

Approximate Songlist:

01. Evvari Bodhana - Aboghi
02. Sri Naradha Nadha - Kanada (S)
03. Oka Pari Choodaga - Kalavathi (R,S)
04. Amba Paradevathe - Rudrapriya
05. Pamarajana Palini - Simmhendramadhyamam (R,N,S)
Neraval line (roughly): "kAmitArthaphaladAyinI kAruNyAmrutavAhinI ."
06. Ninnuvina Marigalara - Reethigowla
07. Dorakuna Idhuvanthi - Bilahari (R, brief N, S, T)
Neraval line: "RAma Bramhathanayudau ThyAgarAjanutha."
08. Bhajare Gopalam - Hindolam
09. Viruttam: "Vaidehi Sahitham" - Hameerkalyani (Wild guess), and Desh.
09b.Ramanamame Thuthi - Desh
(I left at this juncture).

Malladi Brothers presented a nice concert with a good mix of ragas. Swaras in Kanada did not really pluck at the essence of the raga, I felt. Kalavathi ragam was delineated nicely by one of the brothers (the shorter one; I'm afraid I don't know the names). The krithi was rendered fine, and the swaras that followed were quite nice. Amba Paradevathe was rendered very well in madhyama kala. Simmhendramadhyamam raga was short but sweet, and the krithi rendition was good. Neraval only lasted about five minutes and never gathered steam. Swaras were OK to good. I heard my fourth Reethigowla of the week, and the krithi was rendered well. I like this composition. Bilahari raga was sung elaborately (vocal about 13 min, violin 7 min) by the shorter brother, and he did it in true, classical fashion. In the midst of the alapanai, he brushed the madhyamam on the ascent I think (or did something different, that's for sure), and it sounded very sweet and lullaby-ish. The three minute Bilahari neraval was a waste of three minutes and should have been avoided wholly (Neravals are the one component of manodharmam that should not be done half-heartedly, IMHO. If done, they should be comprehensive. If not, they shouldn't be done at all.) The swaras centering on the madhyamam at the end were nice. The Desh at the end was emotively rendered.

Overall, the Malladi Brothers shone for their good voice control and reasonably good range (they had little trouble touching the mandra panchamam and the tara gandharam). They also presented solid raga alapanais, bringing out the beauty of each raga quite successfully. Their krithi renditions were very good (except the Tamil composition at the end, where they couldn't quite roll their tongues for the "Na" and "La"). Their concert planning was also commendable. Their weaknesses today were (1) haphazard neravals, and (2) competent but hardly praiseworthy kalpanaswaras.

Neyveli Narayanan provided able support on the mrudangam, as did Sundar Kumar (kanjira). They neither overwhelmed nor underwhelmed, providing accompaniment that was "just right." Their thani wasn't explosive, but was quite good and kept the audience interested.

Mysore Manjunath, overall, provided lacklustre accompaniment. His Kalavathi alapanai was dissonant and disjointed, but the main artistes were very appreciative, so take what I say with loads of salt. In both the Kalavathi and Simmhendramadhyamam alapanais, he started off well, showing the melodic beauty of each raga, but quickly started running up and down the octaves. Raga bhava just hemorrhaged from his violin on both occasions. His gamakas also sometimes sounded muffled and ambiguous, and didn't have the clarity of MSG (but certainly the aggression). He finally got it right in Bilahari, providing a very nice, tranquil sketch, using precise slides to good effect. I have heard several nice duets of the Mysore Brothers, but neither has particularly impressed me as an accompanist. Their aggression comes at the severe cost of sowkhyam (and sometimes shruti as well).

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 29 Dec 2007, 08:11

Bilahari,
9b should be TSI's rAma nAmamE tudi manamE - dES

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 29 Dec 2007, 08:24

rshankar, thanks for the correction.

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 29 Dec 2007, 13:25

small corrections... the simhEndramadhyamam(sImantinI) kriti is pAmarajanapAlinI. The neraval line is kAmitArthaphaladAyinI kAruNyAmrutavAhinI acc. to the above rendition... Slight variations exist...

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 29 Dec 2007, 15:39

Jigyaasa, thanks for the corrections.

sankirnam · Post by **sankirnam** » 30 Dec 2007, 19:01

I missed this kutcheri.. that night I went to sastri hall to hear Delhi Sunder Rajan play violin again after a very long hiatus!

Bilahari, thanks for the review, I heard that Narayanan sir played sankirnam in the thani!

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 30 Dec 2007, 22:27

Sankirnam, there were all sorts of mathematics going on in the thani. But I don't have sufficient understanding of layam to appreciate it as much as I'd like!

harysport · Post by **harysport** » 02 Jan 2008, 21:02

i was surprised to read the "report "of the concert of malladi brothers at vani mahal ! I was also present in the concert. The neraval done for bilahari was very brisk and elegant. I dont know why it was not understood properly. As far as Manjunath is concerned, he is one of the best in the field and undoubtedly one of the most versatile violinists in carnatic music. Me and my wife thoroughly enjoyed his raga alapanams that day. He was really superb in Simhendra madhyamam. we were of the openion that that was the highlight of that concert.
Hary