Hyd- Kalasagaram Annual Festival of Music, Dance & Drama - Malladi Brothers
Malladi Bros. Sreeramprasad & Ravikumar
Embar S. Kannan –violin
Tumkur B. Ravishankar – mridangam
K. Syam Kumar – kanjira
Song list:
1. Nera nammithi – ata thalam - kAnadA varnam
2. thyAgarAja paramesa – chakravakam – OthukkAdu venkatakavi
3. ilalo praNatArthi - aTANA – T
4. shrIkAntha nIyeDa – bhAvapriya – T (R – 11 min; vio 7 min., S@ shrIkAnta)
5. dharma samvardhani – madhyamAvati – MD
6. vinatA suta vAhanA -jayantasEna – T
7. akshayalinga vibho – sankarAbharaNam – MD ( R-13 min, vio 8 min., S @ akshara svarUpa amita pratApa)
tani - 15 min.
8. RTP – rItigowla – (R – 10 min, vio – 6 min, T – 5 min;
pallavi: “sathguru swamikki sari evvare, rama bhakthudaina thyagaraja” ;
Swarams in rItigowla, sAvEri, maNirangu, ravichandrika & vasanthi!
9. nithya poojalivivo – dwijAvanthi - annamAcharyA
10. jaya jAnaki ramaNa – bAgesri – Bh. rAmadAsu
11. brindAvana madhunA – brindAvan sArang - nArAyaNa thIrthA
12. rama daivama – suratti – T
mangaLam
They began the concert with their traditional item, varnam rendered in two speeds. The next piece in chakravakham caught everyone by surprise, as it was somewhat a new kriti to many. We realized it was in maNipravALam towards the end of the song. Then I recalled the points that our forumite Crama had posted about their rendition of this kriti in RR sabha. He had also mentioned about the samashti charaNam. [As an aside: being a member of this forum for a lay-rasika like me, it is so helpful to get to know about the various techniques, terms and terminologies pertaining to CM. I try to read further about these new terms and understand to appreciate the music rendered in greater detail.]. Then after ‘ilalo’ in chaste telugu with brisk swarams, RK started with the alapanai, which initially some of us thought was like siva-pantuvarali. But listening to some more time, I realized it was different. The poignant detailed raga delineation left the audience in a trance, with lots of audible appreciation of ‘chu-chus & tsu-tsus etc,. Equally emotive was EK’s violin return. After this, SRP quickly announced it is ‘bhAvapriya’ ragam and they started singing this wonderful composition of saint thyagaraja; One can imagine how the MBros would have sang this song, full of bhavam, appropriately positioned gamakams etc., Especially, the short swaram phrases that they threw at each other and served back and forth was very enjoyable throughout the concert. The two fillers that came after the submain were well-rendered, and the excellent mood of the artistes on stage kept everyone waiting eagerly for the Dessert of the evening.
For the main. after a grand alapana initially by SRP for about 8 min, both alternating later and the beautiful follow up by EK, it was ‘akshayalinga vibho’, which looked like a kartika maasam special (last day of that month as per the lunar calendar). The neraval and kalpanaswara section was brilliant. Tani was excellent, but appeared slightly extended. Next, the RTP was another rasikas delight that evening, needless to mention about the bhakthi-laden presentation by the MBros. Tukkadas of their usual choice of composers, also reminded us about their gurujis Nedunuri garu and Voleti garu’s tuning the kritis and their melodious renditions. Embar Kanna’s sweet violin accompaniment and Tumkur Ravishankar’s mridangam were outstanding. So was Syamkumar’s kanjira, whose playing sometimes used to be somewhat subdued.
Overall it was a nice concert by this popular duo –‘sons of the telugu soil’ with lot of energy and enthusiasm.