Thrichur Brothers - 11-Aug-2013 - SGBS Unnati, Bangalore

[ranjanimalavi]

Srikrishna Mohan & Ramkumar Mohan - Vocal
S Varadarajan - Violin
Trichur R Mohan - Mridangam
H Sivaramakrishnan - Ghatam

1. Amba Paradevathe - Rudrapriya - KYI
2. Padmavathi Ramanam - Poorvikalyani - OVK (RN)
3. Nannu Vidachi - ReethiGowla - T
4. Manavyala kincha - Nalinakanthi - T (S)
5. RTP - Brindavana Saranga
Pallavi: Brindavana Saranga Bhooloka Vaikuntha Sriranga
Tanam: with Mridangam
Ragamalika: Ananda Bhairavi, Saranga, Kaapi, Revathi
6. Thani
7. mamava Madhava - Neelambari - NT
8. Priye Charusheele - Mukhari - J
9. Appan Avadarita - Kharaharapriya - P
10. Lakshmikantha Baro - Mohanam - PD
11. Thillana - Poorvi (?) - ST
12. Mangalam

I must have missed the first song.
Good concert by the brothers. Very good Brindavana Saranga.
For me the highlight was top class returns by Varadarajan.
Percussion support was good.

Raman

[rajeshnat]

Srikrishna Mohan & Ramkumar Mohan - Vocal
S Varadarajan - Violin
Trichur R Mohan - Mridangam
H Sivaramakrishnan - Ghatam

7. Priya Chale (?) - Mukhari - ?
...

Raman
Nice to see a review , i am not sure if the brothers have performed with varadu. I am assuming since you have put mukhari , may be this number is
priyE charusheelE - mukhari - jayadeva (ashtapadi)

[arasi]

Rajesh,
You were quick on that one and Raman has corrected it now.

Yes, Varadu playing for them is new, I think. Just to hear him, I would have attended, had I been in Bengaluru.
Do the brothers ever have anyone else but their father play the mrudangam for them?

[mahavishnu]

Do the brothers ever have anyone else but their father play the mrudangam for them?

Good question. I think it would benefit them greatly to rotate accompanists, at least on occasion. Their father certainly plays for the majority of their concerts.

They were certainly fortunate to have Varadu at this concert!

[rajeshnat]

The greatest gift any vocalist can have is to have a relative mridangist who plays so well where in they can practise so much at home , work out combinations and finally deliver in concert hall. Anantha and Abhishek , Trichur brothers and Trichur Mohan to me are great combos of today. As such I personally think they should stick with this well set combo-for the style of rapid pace singing of trichur brothers where unobtrusive sarvalaghu of trichur mohan is the key to their success .

As a matter of fact , all those who have gained critical rasikas count stick with 1 to 3 combinations , infact I can even postulate a theory that with only a set of faithful repeated accompanists you can get critical mass acceptance.

Mahavishnu
I miss Trichur MOhan not lending his lovely sarvalaghu hand by not playing for other vocalists other than his son much much more than trichur brothers having another mrudangist. I have heard one recorded concert of KVPrasad playing for trichur brothers (i think i heard it from sangeethapriya), other than that it is trichur shri mohan showing the way to their sons.

[arasi]

Rajesh,
I don't know. Rotating the accompanists can make the performer see his own strengths and weaknesses better. A different accompanist may enhance his
performance too. Dear Ramabhadran could do that (srvalaghu king), for instance. Yet, our forumite MAE can add more enjoyment to a particular concert in his own fashion.
Surya, MAS, Thiruvarur are a good combo. Agreed. But Dr. Narmada playing for him gives a different tone to the concert (sorry, same school, but different artistes!).
Over time, 'So and so' with the same accompanist becomes a bit of a predictable thing. Different ones can surprisingly add something to the performance which can be refreshing to both the artistes and their listeners. And yes, it's also good to have a 'and party' kind of accompanists with whom they can perform often.

I don't know if the father and the sons feel if they are ready for this. It's up to them to make up their minds.

Personally, I would say that music is not strictly about performance, but also about exploring new vistas...

[rajeshnat]

Rajesh,
I don't know. Rotating the accompanists can make the performer see his own strengths and weaknesses better. A different accompanist may enhance his
performance too.
....
....
Over time, 'So and so' with the same accompanist becomes a bit of a predictable thing.
....

Personally, I would say that music is not strictly about performance, but also about exploring new vistas...

Arasi
It is all about compataibility and the individual personality of that accompanist drawing crowd. At times if they go outside their limited set of stock accompanists it will show ones weakness too which gets masked with the limited set of quality accompanist .

Abhishek rotates 3 mridangists(mainly keeps anantha) and 2 to 3 violinist thats it. Sanjay keeps only two violinist - 80% of the time it is varadu and the rest 20% it is nagai muralidharan. His set of accompanists is just three . TMK rotated fairly regularly few years back and now he is kind of sticking to few of his compatible accompanists. Suryaprakash rotates a lot ,quite few times it clicks and at times I have come out with a feeling of hey this concert could have had a better compatible accompanist.
Coming to Trichur Brothers case which is this thread ,they have pivoted very well with a sarvalaghu fast finger of their appA which works very well , for their racy style many mridangists will not suit, if they rotate it will surely bomb, as their sangathis come in such quick succession.
With well set accompanist, there is more chance of exploring new vistas as they can also come to well tested sangathis which they have done well before , kind of jump from the airplane with a parachute.

[arasi]

Rajesh,
In the past few years, I've heard Sanjay (in concerts and on youtube) accompanied by the following (after your hundred percent of Varadu and Nagai!):

Nagai Sriram, Avaneeswaram Vinu, H.K.Venkatram, Sanjeev, Gopinath and others.

Besides Venkatesh, MAE, Patri, Srimushnam, Ramdas, Chenganancheri, a Karnataka mrudangist whose name evades me now, and more.
The same with upa pakka vAdyams.

Varadu and Nagai M are certainly favored ones, but it doesn't stop there. Even being poor in the laya department, I've come to appreciate the different tones the percussionists add to a concert.

[rajeshnat]

Arasi
You are right perhaps I have put all of these artists that you have mentioned as less than 5% . There is a blip in my earlier post that too when i put as 100% . Infact in NZ for the first time HN Bhaskar played for Sanjay too which was mentioned in our forum. My point is about 90 to 95 % of their time they stick to three to four accompanist , i am sure you agree that 5% remaining occassion has got to do with logistics of travel for eg I cannot see avaneeshwaram vinu playing for sanjay in chennai.

Bottom line my point is stick to compatible and proficient artists nearly all the time.That is definitely better.

[arasi]

Rajesh,
They play mostly, is right.
I've heard Avaneeswaram Vinu play at Indian Fine Arts and Kala Rasana in the past two years