Vocal: Vid. MalladiBrothers
Violin: Vid. MysoreNagaraj
Mridanga: Vid. ArjunKumar
Ghata: Vid. GiridharUdupa
Ocassion: @ Odukattur / Kalotsav
01 sAmi daya jUDa varNa kEdAragauLa tiruvetriyUr tyAgaraja (O, S)
Swara @ nI sATi dOra
02 praNamAmyaham shri gaurisutam gauLa Adi mysore vAsudEvacarya (S)
Swara @ praNamAyaham
03 shri bAlasubramhaNyam bilahari mishra chApu M.dIkshithar (O)
04 chintaya mAam kandamUla Kandam Bhairavi rUpaka m.dIkshitar (A, N, S)
Nereval @ mangaLakara mandahAsa vadanam
05 Adena ma harudu drugu tataiyani Paraju Adi puLiyUr dhoreswAmy iyer
06 Isha pAhimam jagadIsha pAhimAm kalyANi rUpaka tyAgarAja (O)
07 koniyADina nApai kAmbOdhi Adi vINA kuppaiyer (A, N, S, T)
Nereval @ nIlakaNTha srI kALahastIsha
08 pArvati ninnu nera nammiti sukhapANi brOvu kalgaDa tishraEka syAma sAstri
09 sadA enna hridayadalli bEhAg Adi vijaya dAsa
10 nitya pUje dwijAvanti Adi aNNammAchArya
11 shiva shiva bhava sharaNam saurAshtra Adi nArAyaNa tIratha
12 vAgarthAviva sampruktou mangaLa shlOka
Being a working day, did not expect Monday blues to impact me, but my BIKE did not want to co-operate as I had planned to drive to concert directly from office. Even though yesterday night from Saketaraman concert, I drove mostly on newly surfaced roads, it had picked 4 punctures. Reluctantly I travelled ot office by car (confession: I personally don't like draining my energy by driving car on Bangalore roads). Hoped that the day would end with a better note.
As I could wind up the work on time, started off to drive 20 km through winding routes and chaotic traffic on a Monday evening. dejavu.. the traffic was exactly as expected.. draining the energy to be rejuvenated by the brothers and their team.
The first act of rejuvenation came in form of AshIrvAda from Guru Malladi Suri Babu who accompanied the sons to the concert. I met them to place a khwAish for a song. More about this later.
The evening started with micAsura being warded off through the holy spirits of noble souls around. Malladi Brothers presented an exhilarating concert of serene, poise and chaste classical fare. Sensitive and sowkhya in tone and equally soft bow playing by Mysore Nagaraj focussed this evening with vidwath laden concert. Each one of them demonstrated strong sruti sudham, good imagination, padantharam and stage presence.
With a brief rAga outline, the concert started with kEdAragauLa varna (a very rarely sung Varna these days I must say) and was presented in a gripping kAlapramANa and additional kalpanA swaras were very nicely crafted.
The next song praNamAmyaham provided the required liveliness and blessings from lord Ganapathi to the concert. Just a month back I had presented the song in our office concert, and my whole body and mind was resonating to each sangati performed by the brothers. In fact I could learn a few more sangathis from their presentation. A very refreshing performance.
Expected bilahari alApane to be a long one (aligning to the customary format), but it turned out to be an outline. Without much elaboration, srI bAlasubrahmanaNyam was presented in a leisurely pace.
Was wondering whether my khwAish would be fulfilled as a filler / with due deligence. (This reminds me of one such request made in nAdasurabhi for a mukhAri piece and they converted it to the main piece of the concert with tani!!). One should love these artist for this reason, at least. The requests are judiciously honoured.
The Bhairavi AlApane in dIkshitar school style had all its nuances. The AlApane had many interesting and surprising moments which are not usually heard in the AlApane of bhairavi of tyAgarAja school which once again vouched for his abundant manodharmam and vidwath.
The kriti (chintaya mAam kandamUla Kandam) is a perfect bill to be sung as the main song, but sadly very few pick up this. There was detailed neraval with elaborate swara prastaras at the pallavi. The long Avarartane of first kalam swaras was brimming with raga bhAva which had many aha moments in that. Mysore Nagaraj was at his melodic pinnacle. I wish he does similar justice while playing with his brother.
Adena ma harudu drugu tataiyani in parAju pepped up between 2 slow pieces of the concert. A longer outline than normal for a filler and that too in parAju was a welcome change.
Kalyani outline was with telling details and the kriti Isha pAhimAm (kshEtra krithi of tapas tIrthapuram / lAlguDi by tyAgarAja) was a good choice for a filler. While the big 5 are selected for main, it did bring out equal soothing impact while presented in short bits. We have heard this as main song in many concerts. It was sung in a tad slow pace than many others and it was good.
The alapane of kAMbOdhi which was taken up as the main ragam was highly imaginative. I did not expect this right after kAMbOdhi, but its the artist's choice as they wanted to present one of their favourites this evening. The detailed AlApane , krithi, nereval and tani occupied 67 minutes of the evening !! Energitic youngsters on percussion toned down the
This ensured that there was no further time for RTP (as the curtailed the concert to 2.30 hrs as against the schedule of 3.00 hrs)
Fillers included compositions in kalgaDa, bEhAg, dwijAvanti which were presented with full justice and no rushing.
The accompaniments played their role admirably. Mysore Nagaraj’s violin was sweet and his replies and solos were most appropriate. He also excelled in his solo for bhairavi and kAmbOdhi. Arjun Kumar has been on the steady scale of progress since he began his tutelage under Dr. UKS and showed that he is a chip of the old block. His thoppi patterns were very enjoyable and his tani received repeated applause.
Giridhar Udupa played an apt role throughout the concert. And one could see what an outstanding artist Giridhar is. Such gifted fingers on the ghata, the years of tutelage under vid. Sukanya and his exposure to other forms of classical music was evident in each and every stroke he played.
Percussionist had a field day during tani as they enjoyed camaraderie.
A lively and highly satisfying concert for more than two and a half hours. My picks in this concert were the Bhairavi AlApane, KambOdhi AlApane and kalpana swaras.
