Malladi Brothers, Balaji Temple, Aurora IL, 28th March 2015

[vasanthakokilam]

Malladi Brothers - Vocal
Embar Kannan - Violin
Neyveli Narayanan - Mridangam


1) Gajananayutham Ganeshwaram - Chakravakam - Ad i- Muthuswamy Dikshithar

2) Viruththam/Slokam in Huseni -
Vaamaanka sthitha Jaanaki, Parilasa Kodanda dandam kare, Chakram shorba karena baahuyulu gale, Shankam Saram Dakshine,
Vibraajam jala jaatha pathra nayanam, Badraadri Murthistitham, Keyuradhi Vidurtitham Ragupathim, Soumitri Yuktham Bajeh

3) rAmA ninnE namminAnu nijamuga sItA rama - Huseni - Ad i- Thyagaraja (Swaras)

4) sakala Santi karamu sarvESa neepai bhakti sarvESa-Bahudari -Adi- Annamacharya ( alapana)

Sreeramprasad spoke for a few minutes at this point about Annamacharya in Telugu.. Also about Badrachalam Ramadasu - I could not quite follow it. If I find out what they spoke I will post in this thread

5 )mundu vEnuka iru prakkala tODai murakhara-hara rArA-Darbar-Adi-Thyagaraja (swaras)

6) ennagAnu rAma bhajana kannamikkilunnadA-pantuvarali-rupakam- Badraacala Raamadaas (alapana, niraval, swaras)

7) Sree rAmam ravi kulAbdhi sOmam-Narayana Gowla-Adi-Muthuswamy Dikshithar

8) Lalithe Maam Pahi Dayaa Kalithe Srutha Kalpalathe-Yadhukula Kambhoji-Rupakam-Cheyyuru Chengalvaraaya Shastri

9) Sara Sara samarai-ka SUra Saradhi mada vidAra-Kuntala Varaali-Adi-Thyagaraja ( swaras )

10) Emi jEsitE(n)Emi SrI rAma svAmi karuNa lEni var(i)lalO,Thodi-Misra Chapu-Thyagaraja (alapana, niraval, swaras )

11) Thani

12) rAmabhadra raghuveera ravi vamSa tilaka nee nAmame kAmadhEnuvu, anandabhairavi,adi-Annamacharya

13) Emayya rAma brahmEndrAdulaku naina nImAya teliya vashamA shrI rAma, Kambhoji - Khanda Chapu-Badraacala Raamadaas
(started with the anupallavi line 'kAmAri vinuta guNadhama kuvalayadaLa shyAmA nanuganna taNDri shri rAm'. They sang the 1st and 3rd charanams )

14) Sai Namasmaranam Sai Rupa Dhyanam - Dwijavanthi - Adi

15) hari smaraNe mADO nirantara paragatige idu nirdAra-Yamuna Kalyani-Chatusra Ekam-Purandara dasa

16)Adum Chidambaramo-Behag- Adi-Gopalakrishna Bharati

17) Ramudu - short viruththam-kamas

18) Avadaru Ragupati - kamas-adi-Annamacharya

19) mAnasa sancararE-shyaamaa-adi-Sadaashiva BrumhEndrar

20) Ramachandraya Janaka Rajaja manoharaya, Maamaka abheeshta dhaya mahitha Mangalam,Kurinji, Adi, Badrachala Ramadasar

===

I suggest you first read mahavishnu's review of the San Jose concert if you have not done so already. Mahavishnu provides an excellent write up of the background and context behind this Sri. Nedunuri Garu memorial concert series. ( http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=25210 )

Malladi Brothers sang 3 hours of excellent carnatic music and it was quite an enjoyable fare. It was in a very classical mould with a variety of ragas and composers alright and that Classical fare comprised of ragas like Darbar and Thodi and classically folkish tunes in Huseni, Yadukula Kambhoji and Ananda Bhairavi as well. All those are my favorite ragas and I enjoy such a mixture and juxtaposition of ragas and so I was right at home and in step with them throughout the concert.

I went in late as they were wrapping up the Ganesha song in Chakravakam

The concert hit a peak (one of many) early on, a minute or so after I settled down, with a sensational and emotion filled viruththam/Slokam in Huseni. I love this raga very much and they hit all the great melodic contours of Huseni in every vowel and 'm'kara extension that is typical of Virththam/Slokam singing, and then smoothly flowed into the great song 'rAmA ninnE'

The Bahudari piece was interesting. From the alapana I could tell it is Bahudari right away but the longer and deeper it went, I was not sure since I have never really heard an alapana of any substance in that raga. The song was also new to me and it was quite good with a great gait. My only acquaintance of Bahudari was the famous one by Thyagarja and another one by GNB in pretty much the same template but this one was a bit different. Different to the extent I was doubting myself if it was indeed Bahudari during the song as well. The brothers confirmed it is Bahudari, after the song.

'ennaganu ramabhajana' was quite deep and meditative( the alapana was also quite deep and heavy. I usually can not maintain focus on heavy and long alpanas in pratimadhyama ragas except probably Shubapantuvarali but here they had some unique explorations that kept me quite intrigued)

After that heaviness, the Narayanagowla and Kuntala varali brought us back into a more cheerful mood. Sara sara samarai was sung with the required gusto. When they hit that 'ma' with absolute pitch perfection even in fast phrases in a fleeting manner, it is quite exhilarating. If at all we can characterize something in CM as 'rocking', this is it.

There were quite a few new songs for me in this concert including the Darbar and the yadukula kambhoji ones. Even the Thodi main piece felt new to me. I probably have heard that one a few times sparsely over the years but I was not intimately familiar with it. Thodi alpana was quite different from the usual template (the alapana was by Sri.Ravikumar ). The beginning itself was different from the usual. I guess I am used to more the Ariyakudi opening for Thodi. The prayogas with the prominent oscillation on Ga which typifies Thodi for most people was mainly used in the beginning and not after that. It went through various phases each of which brought out different facets of Thodi ( like the aspects that overlap a bit with Hindolam etc. ). It is possible that the alapana was structured to suit the song that was going to follow. When Embar shadowed Ravikumar during the alapana, in a few places where the wide ga oscillation was used, his oscillation was noticeably different from the vocalist. And the start of the alapana during his turn was also quite unusual. This is a type of thodi alapana I need to get used to. It was quite enjoyable and captivating no doubt. The song was sung well and the nirval and swaram were done excellently.

The thani by Neyveli Narayanan for Misra chapu was quite brilliant. All three kept tala to his playing and it was quite enjoyable correlating his foray into all sorts of combinations against this background of tala keeping. Quite a dynamic thani and it was well received by the audience.

The post main thukkada songs were all quite entertaining. Imagine, Emayya Rama was in that section. After mostly telugu songs, they started Adum chidambaramo and the tamil audience could not contain their enthusiasm and happiness and welcomed it with some cheer which amused the brothers. In a good way of course and it encouraged them to go along merrily( they need to tighten up the tamil pronunciation a bit in a couple of places but they sang that song with the right bhAvam and dynamism ). If I venture a guess, the vast majority of the audience were Telugu which rarely happens. I guess the last two times it happened was for a Sri. BMK concert (well, that is hardly surprising) and Priya Sisters. The temple trustee who is a telugu native gentleman spoke very well and was genuinely quite appreciative of the Tamil and Kannada speaking rasikas in the audience who enjoyed all the Telugu songs and had a great time. That was quite endearing indeed, may be he thought the audience would have expected a lot more tamil songs. But we all know this is par for the course for a CM concert and hence not unusual for the CM audiences.

Embar Kannan is a great accompanist and plays the role very well and replying excellently and elaborately where appropriate and especially when given a nod by one of the brothers. While Sreeramprasad spoke in Telugu during the concert, he spoke in English very well at the end. He mentioned that Embar is the best accompaniment they have ever had. He also had a lot of nice things to say about Neyveli Narayanan as well. He also pleaded/requested that temples and music associations should celebrate Bhadrachalam Ramadas jayanthi and they will provide all the help needed including teaching the songs and providing notations for them etc. It was a project/initiative started by their guru Sri. Nedunuri. Everyone approved of that with great applause. We will see if that happens.

An excellent concert indeed. The brothers' voice were in great form. Sreeramprasad has a little bit of resemblance to Chitti Babu doesn't he? It may just be me. Also, his stage mannerisms and demeanor reminded me a bit of Sikkil Gurucharan. Please feel free to pick holes in both of those impressions

Though there were not 20 separate items as my numbering above shows, there were indeed quite a few pieces sung in the concert. But it did not feel like they were just belting out songs one after the other ( though the thukkada sections are like that by design ). it was quite an enjoyable classical concert.

[mahavishnu]

VK: Thanks for your detailed and wonderful review. I'm so jealous that you got to hear Emayya rAma and rAmA ninnE (husEni).
I guess at least one good thing came out of India not making it to the finals

[rshankar]

VK...thank you....beautiful indeed...
mAnasa sancararE....ungaL manadu anda concert-ayE sancarittu koNDirukku pOlum!

[arasi]

An 'inspired by mahavishnu and more' review from you, Kokilam

Thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and Mahavishnu's review too (Ramesh, yes I did, but was still in a hiatus mood until yesterday). Yes, VK. One has to read Mahavishnu's review to get the whole picture.

The two reviews brought back to memory a few such enjoyable concerts of the brothers I have heard in the past--the ones with a spark in them which set them apart from their otherwise good concerts. Chicago's wintry spring didn't put a damper at all on the liveliness of the concert after all, I realize.

It's also good to hear that they sang a tamizh song other than parAtparA or nAn oru viLayATTu bommaiyA, their guru's favored ones. As much as I like parAtparA, it contains many sanskrit words which really isn't like singing a tamizh song for the telugu speaking, pardon me And, when Andhra musicians do sing a tamizh song, their singing tamizh words sounds a bit like a child's 'mazalai' (little child's lispy way). Telugu's special musical way (sing song?) adding charm to it.We also know how happy we are to hear a tamizh song any day, anywhere.

Imagine Tyagaraja speaking in tamizh all the time, with a slight accent!

Yes, give me a husEni any day too...

[rajeshnat]

VK
Lovely review from you. The team of kannan and narayanan is a great combo for the brothers. At the balaji temple post the concert did you order pOli or ubbudu.

[arasi]

Rajesh,
obbaTTu and nippaTTu make a good combination for a treat! Having been there in that temple only once for a concert, though they had plenty of food as I entered, at the end of the concert, I didn't even see any traces of it! Not knowing their timings, it turned out to be a fasting day for me. Wish Kokilam had been there that day!

[vasanthakokilam]

Thank you all.

Arasi, yes, we experienced people with temple food dynamics should have been there to provide proper guidance Believe me, it has happened to me as well. Even if the kitchen is open, they run out of stuff. Ubbattu and laddu are typically available these days. Given that the concert ended around 8 P.M. due to the early start time, all items on the menu were available post concert (idli, dosa, pongal on down)

Rajesh, was I live broadcasting my food purchase over Periscope? That is quite uncanny.
Since you asked (and taking the risk of over-sharing), the post concert food purchase was: 2 Ubbattus + 2 ribbon (Ottu) pakoda s + 3 thayir sAdam + 3 puLi sAdam for $29.00. More than the $25.00 concert ticket !! All for Balaji of course! That was 'to go' (lest you think I consumed all that by myself!! Actually eating half of the second ubbattu as I type this. These are mega-size ubbuttu s.)

The organizer was grinning from ear to ear given the full attendance. These are the kinds of concerts that help them bring in other concerts which may not bring in as many people. And it is a big money spinner for the temple in terms of food purchase as well.

Here are a couple of pictures I took

Beginning of the concert, as they were wrapping up Chakravakam


post concert

[mahavishnu]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is an ubbutu? For a second, I thought it was some hacker version of Linux
Whatever it is, I'm sure it was delicious.

[vasanthakokilam]

LOL.. It is no Ubuntu! (even the all-knowing google asks 'Do you mean Ubuntu' when you search for Ubuttu)

It is (pUraNa) pOLi but the Balaji temple one is almost double the size of home pOLis

[arasi]

aDaDA, why not say it the right way? obbaTTu, and mind you, not uppiTTu, the humbler uppumA, guys...

[vasanthakokilam]

OK, google does better with obbaTTu.

Once I asked a kannaDa friend of mine, to make a joke of the Pa -> Ha mapping,'hey, do you call it hoorana hoLi'. He said laughing 'Yes!', Hoorana Holige

[arasi]

hUraNa hOLige. obbaTTu is also called just hOLige. pUran pOli is well recognized in many languages. Wonder why you didn't show any interest in nippaTTu (your thaTTai, maTri, sort).

Your illustration is tempting. If the brothers and party look at this review, hope it doesn't make them think of home made feasts...

[mahavishnu]

I haven't heard the word nippATTu in a long time! I remember going on my first vacation in Bangalore as a child and I saw a street vendor selling these savory fried snacks. I was wondering why he was advertising his fare as "stop", since in tamil (at least Madras slang), nippATTu refers to the act of stopping a moving object.

VK: Thanks for the illustration. I am well aware of several variations of pUran pOLi, including the frozen ones that I bought mistakenly thinking they were parathas. My 8 year old just calls them sweet chapatis now and eats them with maple syrup.

I wonder what the Malladis would think if they were to chance upon this thread. I suppose sevikku uNavu trumps other forms of uNavu in general.

[vasanthakokilam]

Mahavishnu, I was thinking about that. You commented in your review that may be they are keeping Emayya rAmA for another concert. That was in the back of my mind. When they started from the anupallavi line ( I did not know that is how the anupallavi of that song went but..), given it was in Kambhoji, I was wondering if your thinking was going to be right, and got the confirmation in the next few seconds.

In case they chance upon here, hope they get a chuckle out of how far, wide and frivolous our conversations can get using their concert as the context

btw, I just noticed the poor quality of the photographs. I am sure photographers amongst us would wince at that. Even with supposedly the best camera for a smartphone, indoor photography under such bright lighting conditions causes a lot of difficulty for my iPhone. They try to help out with some exposure controls but even the Apple level ease of use does not make the grade. But then having such a camera in hand is better than not having a better quality regular camera when you need it. That is what the low end amateur and casual photography has come down to.

[rajeshnat]

VK
I did know the name of pOli as obbaTTu only in 90's when i went to aurora temple (made a mistake in my first post as ubbudu - i slipped then) . I donot know if you had seen this connection yet - the pOLi is a combination of two major colors yellow and brown - look at the 2 major colors of the four artists of your photograph- it is same yellow and brown . The artists have certainly come very prepared.

Lot of artists look at what is discussed here in rasikas.org and indeed have some numbers or write-ups in other media as a response to what is being discussed here. In 2014, i made a passing mention on one point and there was even a vernacular magazine rebuttal view on that point by that artist as an answer to an interview question , where the question was framed on the passing mention of my point.

You will be surprised if i point out few but that is for another time of the day- pOli taste generally stays for few more days after you eat.

[varsha]

hUraNa hOLige trivia

the pOLi is a combination of two major colors yellow and brown

The water in which these two "grams" are boiled is recycled to make the sArU of the day.A delight I look forward to.
There is a khArada version too,which is made on the same day.
The best way to eat the sweet version is with ghee and milk turning into a pulp like mass and popping it in.
Experts make it many-layered and as-light-as-cotton. I still carry loads back , every time I visit my hometown.
My hometown specialises in making these, for gourmets in Bangalore. Loads are ferried over the overnight buses.
Small scale non-advertised sector though.Sreeni , let me know next time you need them.
There is also a poor cousin-sakkarE hOLigE-which is an apology for the term

[Jigyaasa]

shorba

I was reminded of this and had a sudden craving for it especially after all this talk of food!

[Sreeni Rajarao]

Varsha avare,

Finally catching up to this thread and delighted to see "Sreeni , let me know next time you need them."

I don't usually use Smilies but today I was looking for one to show drooling. I Could not find it here, so I will settle for this

Thanks!

[arasi]

Srini,
The hOLige makes me come back to this thread too!

VK,
Just finished listening to the brothers at Cleveland through streaming. I do hope someone is going to write a detailed review about their concert. My only question is--why they didn't sing an RTP here or there?