Malladi Brothers at IFA San Diego, March 21st

[Sindhuja]

Violin: R.K. Shriramkumar
Mridangam: Tumkur Ravishankar

This concert was a tribute to their Guru/ "Great-Guru" Shri Pinakapani who passed away recently.

List:

1a. Shlokam in Anandabhairavi which I think was on many composers including Thyagaraja, Mysore Sadashiva and Pinakapani.
1b. Varnam: Cheluvuda - Anandabhairavi, Adi - Ammachatram Kannusami Pillai
2. Lambodaram avalanbe - Kambodhi, Rupakam - Mysore Vasudevachar (Neraval, Swaram)
3. Ramabhi rama - Dhanyasi, Adi - Thyagaraja
4. Ramamindi vara - Purvikalyani, Adi - Annamacharya composition tuned by Pinakapani (Ragam, Swaram)
5. Kshitijaramanam - Devagandhari, Adi (2) - Dikshitar
6. Muripemu kalige - Mukhari, Adi - Thyagaraja (Ragam, Neraval, Swaram)
7. Ekkadi Nestamu - Saranga, Mishra chapu - Kshetraiyya
8. Varuvaro varam - Sama, Adi - Gopalakrishna Bharati
9. Akati velala - Revathi, Adi - Annamacharya
10. Paramapurusha - Behag, Adi - Narayana Teertha
11. Ivela nanubrova - Khamas, Adi - Bhadrachala Ramadasa
12. Veganeevu - Surutti, Rupakam - Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar
13. Mangalam

The concert had a bright start with the shlokam and varnam in Anandabhairavi. The shlokam was rendered very nicely with a lot of bhavam and one could feel their reverence for their Guru. The varnam had just the right kalapramanam and was very enjoyable. I hadn't heard this before and it had some interesting patterns in the chittaswaras. Kambodhi followed. They had sung the same piece last year more elaborately. I remember that they had some slightly non-standard usages of Kambodhi then with some extra emphasis on the Ni2. This time I somehow didn't feel any of that. It sounded like a pretty regular Kambodhi. The neraval and swara at surabhusura were very catchy - the "uruttal" or "rolls" on the pa added some punch and made it interesting. The swaram ended with a kuraippu at dha. Dhanyasi was appealing as well - I really like the raga and so was happy to hear this (although I was expecting paradevatha). The Purvi Kalyani alap was lovely. The sustenance at the tara ri by Shri Ravikumar was particularly nice - I thought that wasn't very common in PK. Swaras were well rendered although I don't remember much. Devagandhari came as a nice filler before the main piece and sounded serene. What a majestic kriti, majestically rendered. Mukhari is not a favorite so I stopped paying too much attention. I really need to work on strong raga biases but it's almost involuntary. But it was indeed a very involved ragam, neraval and swaram.
Of the tukkadas, Behag and Khamas were my favorites. Ravikumar's flashy Hindustani-like gamakams and even couple of rounds of swaras in the Behag made it absolutely delightful and made my day.
R.K Shriramkumar was sparkling as always and his Purvi Kalyani was beautiful. The mridangam thani was very enjoyable too.

With Malladi Brothers, you go in knowing exactly what to expect and you get just that. At least that's been my experience. I think tradition and consistency are their forte. They can almost never disappoint with their deep, resonant, and briga-laden voices. This one was no exception. My only gripe was that there were a number of ragas that were similar in terms of "genre" for lack of a better word: Anandabhairavi, Dhanyasi, Mukhari. I'd have preferred more variety in that department. And well, it would have been great to hear an RTP instead of the long string of tukkadas (their Kalyanavasantham from last year is still ringing in my ears) - but the Behag was so scintillating that I shouldn't complain.

[mahavishnu]

Very nice, Sindhuja. I like how you summed it up about their music.
I love their school's handling of Mukhari, especially Muripemu...

Are you back in San Diego for good now? For some reason I thought you had moved to Northern California.

[rshankar]

Sindhuja - very nice! Thank you. In addition to what you've mentioned, I love their singing for it's clarity of sAhitya - their tamizh is pretty good too!
Was #7 ekkaDi nesTamu? In that case it is a composition of Sri muvvagOpAlA.
I feel their repertoire is a very 'complete' one - replete with padams, and javaLis. Although I have to say that I personally have not heard tillAnAs from them (rather like R&G)...

[mahavishnu]

Ravi, They do sing a few LGJ tillanas from time to time. Both Voleti and Nedunuri were amongst the early adopters of these. The brothers sing both the khamas and rageshri tillana quite often.

And, isn't the composer of Ekkadi Nestamu, Kshetragna (whose signature is muvva gopala)?

[Sindhuja]

Thanks mahavishnu and rshankar.
I'm shuttling between the bay area and San Diego.

I didn't think Malladi bros' thamizh was very good - varuvaro sounded a bit funny - esp when they sang "manadhu sanchalikuuudaiye" Other than that, agree that their sahithya shuddham is indeed a delight to hear. I haven't heard thillanas from them either. Will try and dig up up the ones mahavishnu mentions. I have heard LGJ's Rageshri one by R&G though.

[rshankar]

And, isn't the composer of Ekkadi Nestamu, Kshetragna (whose signature is muvva gopala)?

Yes, thank you for setting that right - I was trying to multitask past my bedtime, and the words in my thoughts did not make it to the screen!!!

[rshankar]

I didn't think Malladi bros' thamizh was very good - varuvaro sounded a bit funny - esp when they sang "manadhu sanchalikuuudaiye"

That may be, but after many thousands of baNDu rIdis, niravathi sukadAs and such-like, on a relative scale, they are miles ahead......

[mahavishnu]

While their pronunciation is not the greatest, it is probably better than many tamizh artistes who do not distinguish between varieties of the bilabial plosive sounds /b/,/p/and bha etc.

That said, when singing sEvikka vENDum ayyA, I once heard the brothers sing munbAga in "sivakAmi sannidhi munbAgavE" as though it rhymed with pun (manbAgavE). They were reading off an english transliterated version of the text where both pronunciations would be admissible. They still have a way to go in terms of tamizh diction.

I did chat with Ravikumar, the younger one, in tamizh once and his conversational tamizh is excellent.

[Sindhuja]

While their pronunciation is not the greatest, it is probably better than many tamizh artistes who do not distinguish between varieties of the bilabial plosive sounds /b/,/p/and bha etc.

Amen to that.
Thanks for the pointer on ekkadi nesthamu. Fixed that above.

[Lakshman]

The Anandabhairavi varNa is by Ammachatram Kannusami Pillai.

[hameerk]

Is there any (commercial ) recording available for this concert. I checked the IFAA website but didn't get any links for CDs..etc
Thanks

[Sindhuja]

hammerk: I think IFA will release an audio recording of all concerts in a few months. I am not sure if it can be bought online though.
Lakshman: Thanks, added it to the list.

[rshankar]

Is there any (commercial ) recording available for this concert. I checked the IFAA website but didn't get any links for CDs..etc
Thanks

IFA is one of the easiest organizations to work with. Please contact them through the website, and they will answer all your questions in an extremely timely manner.

[hameerk]

Thank you rshankar & Sindhuja

[MV]

Nice review Sindhuja. Thanks. And about your lack of RTP! Well... There seems to be clear groups everywhere. One group wants RTP and the other more thukkadas. Ultimately, you can never keep everyone happy.
Oh and, I have a recording of Nedanuri singing Ragesri Thillana. Nice one.

[mahavishnu]

MV, I believe LGJ composed the rageshri tillana upon Nedunuri's request.
More here: http://www.hindu.com/fr/2005/09/16/stor ... 280300.htm

[MV]

Nice article Mahavishnu. Thanks

[vasanthakokilam]

( Discussions about lapses in diction etc. moved to http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic. ... 99#p239299 )

[mahavishnu]

thanks, VK.