Malladi Brothers @ Nadasurabhi Annual Festival , 20 Nov 2022

Vocal : Vid. Malladi Brothers

Violin : Vittalarangan

Mrudangam : H S Sudhindra

Ghatam : G Omkar Rao

List

01 E paNikO janmincitani – asAvEri – Adi – Thyagaraja ( O , S )

02 gattigANu nannu – bEgaDa – Adi – Thyagaraja ( O )

03 mrudubhASana naTa vibhISaNa – mAruvadhanyAsi – Adi – Thyagaraja

04 ranganAyakam – nAyaki – Adi – Dikshitar ( A, S )

05 kAyArOhaNEsham bhajarE – karNATaka dEvagAndhAri – rUpakam – Dikshitar ( N,S )

neraval @ nIlAyadAkSi manOllAsa kAraNam

06 mari mari vacunA – kAmbOji – Adi – Mysore Vasudevachar ( A,N,S,T )

neraval &swarams @ rAmunI mahima nEnEmani pogaduDu

07 RTP – bhairavi – khaNDa tripuTa , khaNDa naDai , samam eDuppu ?

pallavi line : nIlasharIra bAlagOpAla pAlayAshumAm ; gAnalOla karuNAlavAla

ragamalika swaras in bhairavi, pUrvi kalyANi? , mOhanam, kApi, nATakurinji

08 madhukara vrtti – chenchurutti – Adi – Purandara Dasa

09 thillAna – pahADi – Adi – Lalgudi Jayaraman

10 shLOkam ( manOjapam mArutatulyavEgam ) – kalyANi

andarilOna ekkudu hanumanthuDu ? – kalyANi – Annamacharya

11 shLOkam ( shrIyay kAntAya ) – suruTTi

Very interesting selection of kritis, not often heard these days. Asaveri is a favourite for mine and I do request artist to take it up to a better treatment, with no much luck. As you can see most of the initial pieces were of a different trip. Nayaki alapana by Ravikumar, first for the evening, was very very good, slow melodious phrases as the raga and the composition demanded. Leisurely elaborated, evoking those ‘aha’ moments as it progressed. Kriti started a bit ‘loud’, if I may say so, not entirely in line with the mood the alapana created. Swarams were also in the first speed. Kayarohanesham was also a pleasant surprise, with a short neraval at neelayadakshi.

Kamboji alapana, by Sriram Prasad , was mostly sung in the lower/middle octaves. Fairly elaborate, typical kamboji phrases. Vittalarangan, in his turn, brought some nice takes to the fore. He was enhancing the vocalists alapana with his impressive follow and highlights. It was , yet again, mari mari vacuna of Mysore Vasudevachar, which I predicted when the alapana started. As much as I like this composition, I would love to listen to them singing other kamboji compositions. There was detailed neraval and swaram singing before a fine tani avartanam by Sudhindra and Omkar.

They started the pallavi well past 8:30. Alapana was really good. By the time, they got into the tanam, the ‘time pressure’ was evident. They had ‘rushed through’ or cut short the tanam, or it would have been 3 super tanams in a 3 days. Pallavi in khanda triputa in khanda nadai was with trikalam and ragamalika swarams. Concert concluded with a dasar pada, annamayya keerthana on Hanuman and pahadi thillana, just enough time for me to rush back for the first match of the Worldcup.