Trichur Brothers@NGS(Mini) on May 09th,2011

[rajeshnat]

Trichur Brothers@NGS(Mini) on May 09th,2011
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Vocal : Trichur brothers - Srikrishna Mohan & Ramkumar Mohan
Violin : MA Sundaresan
Mrudangam : Trichur Mohan
ghatam : Venkatasubramaniam(?n)

Concert duration/Day : 2 hours and 20 mins/ Monday
Theme : sadguru thyagaraja compositions
Sabha : saraswati vagayakkara trust

Brothers and Sisters in CM is always a compromise to every rasikas aesthetic sense . I have atleast noted few compromises that I have to make:

# At times one of the duo will sing a submain which will be just ok , to eventually wait for the main when the more dominant sibliing takes over and bowls you with the music

# At times I have also felt especially in swara kalpana the more dominant musician who builds the sangathis especially in alapana/swaram builds it beautifully and just when I get a feel that the same sibling can build it better , he/she hands it over to the other sibling who just chugs along to complete

# At times I have wondered with a set of siblings with very minimal overlap of voice blend , they take up the stage and found myself more patiently waiting for the pavamAna , just for the love that I have with CM and also with the hope I would get atleast one good number before pavamana.

# At times I have wondered if atleast one of the musicians should sing individually and leave it to God the next sibling.

# At times I have wondered if each of the musicians should sing individually and they can callibarate their aesthetics much better.

As I write each of the observations above, my mind is centered on the siblings in todays concert(dont ask me who they are ).But trichur brothers are definitely brilliant and very impressive to me .There is a touch of "authenticity" in their approach , authenticity where it may not please the ariyakudi paddhati lovers but their authenticity is more centered possibly more on today's vagaries that are omnipresent with the sabha dominant market, where musicians have to dance to the tune of sabhas start and stop dictum :devil: .

The brothers authenticity that was striking to me is to sing with passion and with a continued exuberance belting sangathi after sangathi sticking with such precision for almost every note and keeping all rasikas like me engrossed with their music , list was very unconventional but yet very absorbing. Out of the two , the left srikrishna mohan maneuvers and charters the course and the right who has more solid masculine voice brings azhuttam to his voice. Their style has a lot of overlap too , when one completes a sangathi and stums like a tampura and then the other continues with the next sangathi bringing more carnatic aesthetic touch.

1. Shree gaNapatini - sowrAshtram
2. eNdukku Nirdaya (S) - hari kambOdhi
swaras for 15 mins
3. eNtamuddO eNta sOgusO - bindumAlini

4. teliyalEdu rAmA(S) - dhenukA
swaras for 6 mins
5. koluvaiuNNAdE kodandapAni - devagAndhAri

The brothers had a game plan to delay the first alapana and that came at the end of 50 mins. The start was in sowrAshtram and it came out very well . The brothers guru is a sishya of SSI (forgot his name) and when hari KAmbOdhi came up as hurry StormBOdhi it was really superb , particularly very very enticing swaras , though for few kuraippu swaras they did not get that well but overall it was a very satisfying one , not chained by the clock striking every 15th minute.

A usually sedate with a massaging aura came up with eNta muddO, the brothers really sang well , they could have created a bit of extended massage but kind of bit rushed nevertheless that is their style almost every krithi there is a definite sense of urgency , I guess that is their strength that one has to get bit accostomed with.

THe semmangudi mama within them came back as dhenukA with a round of electric sangathis in teliyalEdu rAmA . Atleast till this point it was aggression at its best . DevagAndhari a raga that brings a sense of slowness , but this particular krithi of T is kind of very different from other devagandAris like karuNA sAmudhra , the koluvaiuNNAde was sung in a bit faster devagandhAri pace , nevertheless well done and possibly landed in ArAbi land.

[rajeshnat]

6. nAdalOludai(R) - kalyAnavasantham
16 mins alapana and 5 mins violin return
7A. cakkani rAja(R N T) - kharaharapriya
15 mins alapana 7 mins violin
neraval in the usual kantiki sundara taramagu rupave for 11 mins
7B. tani for 12 mins

8A. neekE daya rAdhu - neelAmbari
8B. small slokham on satya sai babA

The first alApana came up as kalyAnavasantham a definitely unconventional first alapana of the concert that too after 50 mins. I generally love this raga as it has a myriad of hues more centered with my taste,but I did notice MAS was slightly over intruding with his violin during alapana. There was quite a few repetitions that gets perhaps bit more easily camouflaged as two of them sing , but nevertheless I did spot them. After the alapanA the expected nAdalOludai came out and they sang more with their individuality in a slightly more faster pace than most vidwans sing.15 mins of alapana alone ended with a fairly quick krithi.

The time was close to 8pm. They started with a very detailed kharaharapriya alapana for another 15 mins , and when they started with chakkani raja and with a tani to go , I felt they are going to have time constraints and at the end of neraval which was really wonderful they gave the tani. This is the first time I am hearing RNT of a chakkani rAjA , an unconventional one , perhaps they could have cut the kalyana vasantham alapana a bit and then taken few extra scoops with kharaharapriyA swaras.

After tani they sang a very emotive neelAmbari and I have personally not heard this krithi neeKE daya rAdhu at all , it was a superb rendition.

MAS played beautifully , he has a razor sharp response to every sangathis and with the brothers style MAS was really a wonderful combo. At times MAS was bit intrusive especially in kalyAnavasantham alapana. Trichur Mohan's mrudangam play just reminded more like vellore ramabadran , full cooperation with sarvalaghu and created a platform for the brothers to go on a generallly high speed ride. venkatasubramaniam's ghatam was good and I liked the best when he played tani.

One Shortcoming that was major:
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THe brothers style is always racy and nevertheless it suits me especially they sing a lot of patterns in swarakalpana .I have noticed in the last few concerts , they should bring a little more silence and spacing to their renditions especially enta muddo and nadalOludai , theirs is a bit of rush but just fatigued me a bit .When they sing such a lovely neelAmbari in a very engaging slow paced mannner , if they consciously watch out for speed and sing a very very slow number that would be wonderful to sustain rasika's concentration.

Lord guruvayoorappan has blessed these brothers with extraordinary voice and shruthi suddham , all perhaps trichur is bit closer I guess .Trichur brothers will interest rasikas like me who relish more packed sangathis, longer swarakalpana vs those rasikas who like vidwans who squat on the sowkhyam and digging inside meditative cave. Overall a very good to excellent concert for 2 hours and 20 mins.

[mahavishnu]

Rajesh, thanks for your review. I really like their music also. I am wondering (like you) if they ever have an accompanying mridangist that is not their father. And if Trichur Mohan accompanies anyone else...

[rajeshnat]

mahavishnu
I see a lot of TRS concerts where Trichur Mohan has accompanied in my recordings. From that point I have only seen him accompanying his 2 sons. Nothing in between . Possibly it is a real blessing too , he has learnt his best from TRS and saved his energy and is accompanying only his sons. I am curious if Trichur Mohan has accompanied any one other than the giant trs and his two sons and is there any recordings .

Incidentally I find mohan and two sons are very well set too, his father keeps a pattern for a pretty long duration which suits this two medlay exchange of sangathis by their sons .

On a side note , when I walked after the concert , prof TRS and I talked briefly, I just said to TRS "Sir unga kAthu pasanga pakkam naraya veesarthu "(TRS influence is very much there atleast in the racy style)

[mahavishnu]

Sri Mohan's family in Trichur was very prominently involved in organizing CM. In fact, every major visiting musician would stay with them. I am therefore surprised that he has not accompanied any others. But accompanying TRS for his complex pallavis alone would be the equivalent of playing for 100 kutcheris.

And you are right, he has a very VR style of playing extended sarvalaghu patterns, even when the main artiste is involved in some serious vyavaharams.

[Mahathma]

The brothers initially learned under Madurai Shrimathi Balamani Eswar, advanced training under Late Shri Prof Neyyattinkara Mohanachandran and currently under PS mama. (From their website)

[ganeshkant]

In Dec'10,Mohan accompanined NSG in a concert think may be for NAdha sudhA,Velachery.