Malladi Brothers Bellevue WA Sept 12 2010

[Suji Ram]

Vocal-Malladi Brothers
Violin- Ganesh Prasad
Mridangam- Patri Satish

bEgaDa- intacalamu Adi-VK [R]
vasantA- vADE venkatAdri-Adi- AC [R S]
mOhanam- Bhanvanuta- Adi- T [S]
nArAyanagauLa-SrirAmam ravikulAptisOmam- Adi- MD
latAngi-vEnkaTarAma- rUpaka-PS [RNS]
dEvagAndhAram-pancaShatpitarUpini- MD [R]
kuntalavarALi-bhOgIndraShAyinam- ST
sAvEri- durusuga-Adi- SS [RNST]
Anandabhairavi-padyam- followed by palukE bangAra mAyEna- BR
bhujangani-eduTa nunnAdu-AC
bilahari-puraya mama kAmam-Adi-NT
sindhubhairavi-venkatAcalanilayam-Adi -PD
Krishnam ViSnum Sridharam-?
surati- patiki hAratirE- T

It was a good concert by this duo. They rendered a few kritis and ragas which were new to me and gave a good exercise for my brain. Their rAgAlapana, and especially the swarakalpana were superb.
The highlight for me was the vasantA. Having recently learnt a vasantA kriti by P.Sivan, I could dwell in its beauty as the whole piece was being rendered. After presenting this piece Sriramprasad announced that in his composition Annamacharya says “without me You (Lord Venkateshwara) are not popular” .

MD’s SrirAmam sounded yadukula kAmbhOjish to me. I at least mapped it to the correct mEla and was happy enough.

Next was an alapana whose territory I was not familiar. Yet I was completely correct in mapping the raga with the right swaras-a kalyAnish pUrvAnga and kAmavardhini –like uttarAnga. I went home and looked up and exclaimed “Wow! Is this what everyone calls latAngi” I wonder what the catch phrase of this raga is. The brothers were bold enough to take a tamizh kriti for presenting the first main including a neraval. (Can anyone post the lyrics-I binged and couldn’t find it)

The second MD piece in dEvagAndharam was also a kriti I was not familiar.

Then it was the other brother’s turn to elaborate a sAvEri. It had all the usual phrases. The tara stAyi and mandra stAyi parts were well done.

Ganesh Prasad’s solos and returns were very good. However his accompaniment was often masked by the duo’s loud voice plus Patri Satish. Tani was the usual fireworks.

I liked the post tani pieces esp. the bilahari and bhujangani.

This was a temple fund-raising concert so no room for RTP.

I thought the brothers were singing at a faster pace throughout- like driving on the highway. Or maybe it’s just me who learns everything at pace like driving in the neighborhood.

[mahakavi]

latAngi-vEnkaTarAma- rUpaka-PS [RNS]
vEnkaTarAma ---> vEnkaTaramaNA

[venkatpv]

Can anyone post the lyrics-I binged and couldn’t find it

http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/homepages/shivkuma/music/#v

but then, i did use the better search engine...

aah... Bellevue, WA. That explains it!

[Suji Ram]

http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/homepages/shivkuma/music/#v

but then, i did use the better search engine...

aah... Bellevue, WA. That explains it!

Oh thanks !
rama and ramaNa made a big difference in my search.

[mahakavi]

>>Annamacharya says “without me You (Lord Venkateshwara) are not popular"<<

I have always maintained this. It is only man who makes God popular. God shuns publicity. He wants to be unobtrusive.

[mahakavi]

This is what is given at the ecse.rpi.edu site. Several corrections are needed which are given below in color. I haven't meddled with "l" versus "L" , "n" versus "N" , "r" versus "R" and such given in the text.
Pallavi:
Venkataramana Un Thiruvilayaadalai Yaar Arivar

Anupallavi:
Shanka Chakra DhaarI unai
Sharanadaindhen Pizhai Porutharul

Charanam:
Alarmel MangaimaNaaLA Ambujanabha Dayaalaa
Malarthaal MaranthirumaanthEn
mannittenai ANDaruL Tirupathi

[bilahari]

Thanks for the review, Suji. The brothers' singing pace seems to be increasing constantly (similar to the Mysore Brothers' playing). I have been listening to them since the mid 2000s... But the manOdharma, coordination, shruti shuddam, are all excellent. As for srI rAmam, the krithi does have a lot of y. kAmbOji to my ears too... also, it often sounds similar to the cEta SrI brand of dwijAvanti. Have you heard SSI's Kalki Gardens concert rendition of this piece with swaras (LGJ on violin)? It gives good insight into the ragam.

[arasi]

Suji,
Nice to get a concert review from you! I know, you would write more if there were more concerts in your area. Would you know? I felt I was sitting next to you, listening to the brothers. Your impressions about the brothers echo my response to their singing! I like to listen to them every now and then. Always nice to hear telugu songs sung by telugu speaking vidvAns. It has its own charm, including their SenkarA-s
I got to know Latangi by listening to Nedunuri sing aparAdhamulu once and loved that ragam instantly. In tamizh songs in that rAgam, of what I have heard, dariSittaLavil mukti peralAm by GKB is richer in lyrical content. So, the next rAgam for you to learn to play is latAngi perhaps!

[bilahari]

Oh, listen to MMI's pallavi in latAngi - it's an excellent and crisp elaboration of the ragam. Also, KVN's piravA varam is a personal favourite. Tell me if you want me to upload any of these pieces.

[arasi]

Bilahari,
Guess what! When I see good vidvAns increasing the speed in their perfomances, the Mysore brothers, whose playing I am partial to, invariably come to mind. I still very much like to listen to both Nagaraj and Manjunath as accompanists, but you will not find me in the audience in any of their duet concerts anymore. I think it all started about seven years ago and has gathered momentum as years went by. Grappelli's fast playing does not give up sowkyam but the bros have the persona of race car drivers once they exceed the speed limit.

Just saw your new post. Yes, piRavA varam tArum is excellent too. What I meant to say was that VEnkaTa ramanA isn't in the same class as many of Sivan's songs, at least for me.

[mahakavi]

>>dariSittaLavil mukti peralAm by GKB is richer in lyrical content<<

Rich lyrical content alright. But the composer is Muttut tANDavar

[arasi]

I am glad I know that now.

[rshankar]

Suji - nice review! Thanks! If presenile dementia hasn't set in, I think Smt. MSS has rendered the latAngi piece, and I do not recall who, but I have heard a lovely nereval at 'alarmEl mangai maNALA ambuja nAbha dayALA' that made it every bit as delectable as pirava varam or darisittaLavil.

The MD kRti is srIrAmam ravikulAbdhi sOman - one who is the moon (sOmam) for the ocean (abdhi)-like solar (ravi) dynasty (kula)

[Suji Ram]

Suji - nice review! Thanks! If presenile dementia hasn't set in, I think Smt. MSS has rendered the latAngi piece, and I do not recall who, but I have heard a lovely nereval at 'alarmEl mangai maNALA ambuja nAbha dayALA' that made it every bit as delectable as pirava varam or darisittaLavil.

The MD kRti is srIrAmam ravikulAbdhi sOman - one who is the moon (sOmam) for the ocean (abdhi)-like solar (ravi) dynasty (kula)

Thanks Shankar. Ah, cut and paste from wrong site.Should have corrected that.
And the brothers too sang neraval at alarmEl mangai..

Thanks bilahari and Arasi.
Do give the links for the MMI and KVN latAngi...

[rajeshnat]

Anandabhairavi-padyam- followed by palukE bangAra mAyEna- BR

I have once heard them singing "shree raghurAma chAru tulasi dhala rAmA" - Anandabhairavi followed by BR's palukE bhangAru . May be it was the same. padyam is telugu slokham right. Tx sujiram for your review.

[sureshvv]

It seems that the Malladi Bros. have started to squeeze in Tamil compositions more and more into their concert lineup owing to market pressures. But their pronunciation is still somewhat deficient leaving a net negative effect on the whole concert experience at least for this rasika

[rshankar]

Suresh - after listening to the veritable 'murder' of the telugu, kannaDa and sanskrit languages by most native tamizh-speaking musicians (excepting a noteworthy few), I for one have really no quarrels with the MBs of this world!!

[mahakavi]

The venturing of non-Thamizh speakers to take up a Thamizh kriti as the main piece is to be appreciated. That shows their real enthusiasm (not to please the Thamizh folks in the audience like others do with a Bharathi song as a tukkaDA). At the same time the singer should also make an honest attempt to get the words right and pronunciation right (from an authentic source) even if they have only a couple of songs in their repertoire. Anything that is done well is commendable.

[sureshvv]

Suresh - after listening to the veritable 'murder' of the telugu, kannaDa and sanskrit languages by most native tamizh-speaking musicians (excepting a noteworthy few), I for one have really no quarrels with the MBs of this world!!

Yep... The positive outcome of the experience is my increased empathy with the telugu/kannada/malayalam speaking folks who suffer thru' the concerts some of our vidwans I do bemoan the fact that artistes are compelled to include in their repertoire items that they have not fully internalized in order to please an important segment of the audience.

[arasi]

suresh,
On top of it, they may have problems mispronouncing words even in their own languages!
I can understand that words in old songs can be tough because they are not used anymore in today's context. Anyway, if they try hard, they can do much better in any language. As we keep repeating: if they would sing the rAgam right, keep the tAlam too, why won't they care a bit more about sAhityam?
I do appreciate the Bros and others singing songs in languages other than in their own--and get the words right too. What they sing on the stage has been practised for hours, over a period of time I'm sure, to get it right musically and rhythmically. How about the words too?