Malladi Brothers & South FL Navarathri

Subha Madhu's Kolu

Jayanthi Seetharaman's Kolu

Bhagi Sahasranaman's Kolu

Oct 21, 2007
At Shiva Vishnu Temple

Navarathri formed a very nice back drop to the Malladi Brothers’ Vijaya Dasami day concert. I may be biased due to my upbringing but I think Hinduism got it right. The important portfolios of Power, Wealth and Education were governed by female Goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswathi. Hindus have been celebrating womanhood during Navarathri long before equal rights amendment. It is probably this kind of depth in our heritage which made the religion survive despite centuries of oppressive regimes.

Growing up in a household of two boys, my older brother Mani and myself, I do not remember Navarathri ever being a big deal. Without girls in the house, our parents probably were not motivated to externalize the holidays. Only special poojas that took longer than usual for our father. Vivid memories of Navarathri include standing around in street corners with friends to witness the parade of well dressed young maidens move in packs from house to house to practice singing. Shundal, not exactly my favorite dish, made out of a variety of grams was distributed freely. I am sure we all remember one of the neighborhood aunties dishing out handful of shundal of questionable quality.

When our daughter, Deepa, was about four we moved into our first single family home. Jayanthi started talking about having Kolu for the upcoming Navarathri according to how she was brought up. Oh boy, here comes the “Honey do” list (without the “honey”, of course). Can’t a man watch the Miami Dolphins lose in peace? Our neighbor, Matt, was incredulous – “Let me get this straight. You want to make steps, keep it inside the house, but no one is going to walk on it”. Anyhow, he gave me the idea and off to the Home Depot I went to get the support posts, planks, nails and most importantly the ready made stair case frame. After four hours of measuring, drilling and hammering on a hot Florida day, our Navarathri Kolu steps were born. Eighteen years later, we use the same Kolu steps. Every year we will add a little more to the festivities. I have also grown to like the holidays and it holds a whole different meaning for me now. Navarathi celebrations stayed with us as a tradition as we sailed through the years of ups and downs in our lives.

After Deepa went away to college we were thinking of pulling back. But out of the blue she calls and says “Can you book the tickets? I want to come home for Navarathri”. She said it was her favorite holiday and we had no idea that it had such a deep impact on her. Surely, there is more to Navarathri than well dressed young maidens.

It is well known that the Indians in South Florida know how to party, just ask the weekend visitors. We drag them through so many events like arangetrams, temple functions, association activities, parties, bhajans, concerts, picnics etc. The food we spread out at these functions will make a dietician crawl into the closet in utter shame. But Navarathri in South Florida tops this. Several families organize Navarathri celebrations in their homes and I am sure each family has a story to tell. This tradition supports the arts which our children are learning. Let us keep the tradition alive.

The Concert: Before we talk about the Malladi Brothers concert, I have a general question. It seems like many famous musician duets are siblings. Sometimes there are parent-child duets but it takes a few years before that team forms. Are there neighbors, cousins, students of same guru etc performing together on a consistent basis?

My overall impression of the concert: “Brilliant”. Malladi brothers blended so beautifully within themselves and with the accompaniments Sri Embar Kannan on the violin and Sri Neyveli Narayanan on the Mridangam. The last minute addition of Dr. Ramakrishnan on the Kanjira added color to the concert. Two things that stood out for me in the concert: main piece in Poorvi Kalyani and the highly spirited Thani avardhanam. Sri Embar Kannan was highly skillful in this piece and the entire concert. Another question here – when two or more percussionists play, do we still call it as Thani or is it Thala Vadhya Kutcheri?

When the brothers, Sri Ravikumar Prasad and Sri Sreeram Prasad, started in Kambodhi varnam the audience knew instinctively the concert is going to be a hit. It was a sampling of what is to come – perfect coordination between the singers and the supporting artists. First half of the concert was composed of Gajavadhana (Sri Ranjani – superb), Sadachaleshwaram (Bhoopalam – really?), Venu Gana Loluni (Kedara Gowla - sweet), Etula Brotuva (Chakravaham) and Pahi Parvatha Nandini (Arabhi – tempo is mounting) before the main piece of Meenakshi Me Mudam in Poorvi Kalyani (masterpiece). I put a question mark on Bhoopalam, even after the artists confirmed it, as many of us had difficulty identifying it. Sounded like a Hindustani raga rather than the easily identifiable Bhoopalam in Carnatic style. The concert tempo was established during the Arabhi song on Navarathri by Swathi Thirunal. Kalpana swarams were coming out as if someone set off the 1000-cracker serial during Diwali festivities in India.

The second half of the concert included a few elaborate songs and several thukkadas to please all. Rama Bhadra (Ananda Bhairavi), an Annammacharya krithi in a rare ragam called Vahulabharanam stumping the audience, Rama Namame Thudhi (Desh), a song on Sathya Sai Baba called Sundaravadana (Abheri – soul stirring), Sri Rama (Edukula Kambodhi – shall we dance), Marubari thala (Kamas), Hari Smarane Madu (Yamuna Kalyani – pleasing), a sloka followed by Chandrasekhara Easha (Sindu Bhairavi – any time ragam) and ended the concert with Rama Chandraya Mangalam in Kurinji. I confirmed the ragams with a few knowledgeable rasikas but please let me know if some are off. It would be nice if the artists announced them at the end of each song. As you can see the raga selection was excellent for the 4PM concert. The concert ended at 7:30PM and it seemed like the tireless artists could go on form another 4 or 5 hours.

I took an unofficial poll among the audience as to which brother they liked more. It was very strange that 50% picked Sri Ravikumar Prasad and the other 50% picked Sri. Sreeram Prasad – no kidding. This can only mean one thing – they were both superb artists. It is no wonder that Malladi brothers had brought Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai Baba to tears through their singing. When they sang the Sundaravadana song on Baba, in Abheri, it was so meaningful that the singers lost themselves in the song and many in the audience were mesmerized.

The voice quality of both singers was rich. The Malladi brothers are so young and they have already achieved such greatness. As they mature with age they can surely achieve even greater heights. The troupe brought their own sound mixer and microphones making the job of our sound engineers easy. The sound was well balanced through the auditorium. Instead of the usual microphone for the violin, Sri Embar Kannan had a contraption that was attached to the violin to amplify the sound. During sound testing we were a bit worried that the violin would overpower the singers. But it worked out so beautifully. Sri Neyveli Narayanan on the Mridangam was highly gifted. He actually engaged the audience through his combinations of strokes and the nadam he produced from the instrument was simply superb. Our very own Dr. Ramakrishnan on the Kanjira was gifted as well.

Though the mridanga vidhwan did not offer up many playing opportunities to Kanjira during the songs, Dr. Ramakrishnan showed what he was made of during the highly spirited Thani avardhanam. They were matching each other beat for beat through the long passages followed by “kuraippu” the audience erupted in a loud applause in the end - great job. The students of Dr. Ramakrishnan, including my son Prem, in the audience were stunned by their mastery. It is a fantastic last minute decision to add him to the concert. Professional artists showed their generosity in including a local artist.

Talking about applause, when did we ever have such a loud applause for an alapana like the one for their rendering of the Poorvi Kalyani alapana. The knowledge of our South Florida audience in Carnatic music and their ability to appreciate the finer aspects of the concert need to be commended. They have proved once again that they don’t just go to a concert to wear fancy clothes, snack and socialize. When the audience appreciate better the performers get better as well as they get motivated. Those who have visited with us before certainly know about us but we should make it a point to inform the artists who visit us for the first time.

The song in Vahulabharanam was very interesting. We were all discussing among ourselves by guessing and eliminating ragams. I don’t think anyone in the audience got it – not even our “amazing” Mrs. Anu Aji. Finally the artists announced it. It sounded a bit Arabic in tune. It was refreshing to hear the use of swaras as well during the alapana – frequently done in Hindustani but rarely done in Carnatic alapanas.

One thing I would say for the singers is for them to improve their Tamil pronunciation as sometimes the words got mangled. They probably knew this as the number of Tamil songs in the concert was limited. The concert was set at a faster pace in general. Sprinkling a few slower, more melodious songs would have balanced the concert better.

Discussions from previous commentaries:

Mrs. Gayathri Venkataraghavan concert: I received a spectrum of comments about the whole concert experience and the individual artists – from excellent to lacking in tempo. It is great to have healthy and respectful disagreements which make us all grow. I also heard that Saturday concerts will be better than Sunday concerts and that our Cultural Committee should analyze the cost and benefits. My point is this – red-eye flight or not, the discriminating South Florida audience deserves the best from the visiting artists.

Exclamation point usage: Surprisingly, the paragraph on the use of exclamation point evoked a lot of emotions. Apparently I was not the only adult to use the exclamation points in writing. Deepa told me “Dad, believe in your sentences and let them stand on their own merit. There is no need to draw attention through exclamation points”. I am going to take that advice and denounce the use of exclamation points. In addition, I will also avoid underlining, capitalizing and italicizing.

Music Primer: Thank you for all the encouraging remarks on the music primer. I thank Mrs. Usha Polavarapu for her contribution below. The site is a compendium of information on Carnatic music. It is incredibly extensive – Enjoy.

http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/Homepages/shivkuma/personal/music/varnams/index.html#basics<>

My sincere thanks to all that took the time to write back.

Jayanthi joins me in wishing you all a Happy Deepavali.

See you all at the next concert
Nov 16-18 Sixth Varshikotsavam Festival at our Temple
Nov 17, 9:00AM-5:00PM Cultural Program by local talent at the Community Hall
B. Seetharaman
Oct 23, 2007

Gayathri Venkataraghavan

Sep 30, 2007
Shiva Vishnu Temple of South Florida

Navarathri season is to begin in less than two weeks. There will be music and divinity in the air. In South Florida, Navarathri is celebrated in a very grand manner. Jayanthi joins me in wishing you all a Joyous Navarathri season.

While growing up, I used to be amazed how our elders are able to identify ragams after listening for a short time. When you ask how, the answer is always you have to listen to a lot of Carnatic music. It is good advice for those who already have some music training but for most that is only a partial answer. If you do not have the basic knowledge you have nothing to build on. I thought a primer from an amateur will help.

Music can be viewed as a multi-dimensional space with each ragam following a specific path within this space. Be it Indian or Western the dimensions are Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa Da Ni or CDEFGAB plus 5-half notes to make a total of 12 notes to an octave. The half notes (the black keys on the piano keyboard) are called sharps/flats in the western system.

Similar to sharps/flats, in Carnatic, there are two representations each for Ri Ga Ma Da Ni in simplistic terms. For example, for Ma is represented by Shuddha Madhyamam and Prathi Madhyamam and there are special names for each note. Sa & Pa are pure notes without sharps/flats. Arohanam (ascend) and Avarohanam (descend) are how you go up and down the raga’s music scale with strict rules. Sankarabharanam is a sampoorna ragam with seven notes up and the same seven notes down. Hindolam has five notes with only Sa Ga Ma Da Ni. Bilahari has five notes up and seven down. Within a ragam Arohanam and Avarohanam can have same or different notes giving opportunities for some beautiful patterns as we travel through the musical space. For more theory on Carnatic music I leave it to the experts. In simple terms, pattern matching and some basic understanding of music scales will help us identify the ragams making a concert much more enjoyable. The blessed ones identify them heuristically, not I. Let us get practical:

Select one of your favorite artists, preferably vocalist, and a set of songs. Know the ragams of each song ahead of time, in other words “cheat” – it’s ok. Pay close attention to how the artist travels the music scale in the alapana and kalpana swarams. Memorize the songs and their ragams.
Repeat the above until you immerse yourselves in this set of songs. Use the “random” option in your CD player to pick songs randomly and be comfortable that you can identify all the ragams from the limited set.
Expand your horizon by listening to different ragams, preferably from the same artist. The reason being different artists sing in different pitch, shruthi or kattai and the same ragam will sound different to throw you off. This is especially true when you switch from male singers, who sing at a lower pitch, to female singers.
Expand further by adding more artists to your collection of songs you routinely listen to and pretty soon you will be able to talk intelligently about music.
It is very important that you listen to a lot of live concerts at every opportunity you get. The energy you get from a live concert, even with poor music system, you cannot get from even the best recording in the world.
When you listen to a song try to match the pattern to the songs that you already memorized.
Like everything else in life, a little organization will go a long way. Our Cultural Committee should organize a music/dance appreciation course. How about it?

Sometimes you will have an off-day with respect to identifying ragams. Even the popular ones may baffle you, like it happened to me in this concert. May be it is just me but I have difficulty in identifying ragams for female singers. Sri ragam sounded like Madhyamavathi to begin with, then I knew it was not, but could not figure out exact ragam. But as soon as an expert says what it is the light bulb goes on in your head and the bell rings. Don’t be discouraged, pick up and try again – we’ll get there.

Let us get to Smt. Gayathri Venkataraghavan’s (Mrs. GV) concert.

Overall my impression of the concert was “blah”. It was a type of concert that is thoroughly enjoyed by the musicians in the audience but not by the general public. To me the first half of the concert was more like music practice and the second half picked up quite a bit. However, the tempo was missing in the entire concert. In spite of the apparent rapport between the artists they took the entire first half to come together. The singer did not connect well with the audience. I hope our Cultural Committee will have worked the bugs out of the sound system before next concert by Malladi brothers. Let us take a bit more care in pronouncing the names and places during introduction.

There is no question on the technical abilities of Mrs. GV. Her voice was deep, well trained and rich. In some instances the voice became a bit flat but overall it was very pleasant. Let me quickly run down the songs – Sarasi Jana (Varnam in Natai), Thulasi Dala (Mayamalava Gowla), Vande Vasudevan (Sri), Hari hara putra (Vasanta), a murugan song in Suddha Saveri and a song in Ahiri. The main piece was the popular Etha Unaka in Kalyani followed by Yadava Ni Ba in Kapi. RTP was in Keeravani with a ragamalika section. Then a Nadanamakriya song followed by a signature Ragamalika song with names of ragams embedded. Finally a Bhageshwari song, a peppy “Aadum Chidambaram” in Behag followed by Thillana in Surutti and Mangalam.

The only fast numbers were Suddha Saveri, Behag and the Thillana. But the concert needed more resuscitation. Kalyani alapana was excellent to my ears but when Akkarai Subbalakshmi, the violinist, picked up the alapana we could not hear much. One listener – let’s call him Mr. Sarcasm – said that the violinist was playing “effortlessly” meaning sometimes there was “no effort”. When the violinist played the high pitch strings all we could hear was the loud electronic tambura. I have heard the violinist before and she certainly is more capable but this was not her day, I guess. There certainly were moments of glory and even the singer was intently listening to learn from the violinist. I must say that the singer had excellent training from a list of gurus and it showed especially her kalpana swarams, as the name implies, were highly imaginative.

Sri Manoj Siva was on the mridangam. The way he kept the mridangam squarely in front of him (not over his leg) was different. Dr. Ramakrishnan explained to me that it was Palghat Raghu’s style who was the guru of Sri Manoj. He provided adequate support. But mridangam accompaniment should be an inspiration to the musicians and it was lacking. I may be biased from a past bad experience with him.

Keeravani alapana in the RTP again was excellent. The “thaanam” part of the RTP was done with mridangam accompaniment. I have seen this done a long time ago by Smt. Sudha Raghunathan. It was refreshing. Thillana was another peppy song with a good raga selection, Surutti.

I received some feedback from my daughter on my writing. Deepa is a final year Journalism student from Northwestern so I guess she is qualified. She said I used a lot of exclamation marks in my writing and good writers use it only once in a lifetime. She also said that I should use verbs instead of adjectives. Deepa, you should be proud that I took the feedback and have not used a single exclamation mark in this article so far. I guess the use of exclamation marks in writing is like laughing for your own jokes when your children are looking at you with a stone face! So there! I could not resist! Being a rebellious parent I had to use it and get it out of my system!

Let me close with a discussion on my previous commentary.

Maharajapuram Ramachandran commentary (discussion continues): I received a strong push back from my cousins and friends from India for even referring to Sri Ramachandran and his father Sri Santhanam in the same sentence. These are high flying business executives during the week and carrom-playing music critiques by the weekend – called the Carrom-Club. I grant that they have a lot more experience in critiquing but none of them have listened to Sri Ramachandran in about 3-years. They have written him off – damn accountants. Let me make two points – 1) I heard Sri Ramachandran a couple of years ago and was less than impressed. But now he has changed his style of singing to match closer to that of his father. Also, his shruthi has dropped a notch or two making his voice match that of his father. 2) My father who was an ardent fan of Sri Vishwanatha Iyer refused to listen to Sri Santhanam for a long time and slowly transformed to become one of his best fans. History repeats itself.

I am glad that at least some of the Carrom-Club members agreed to listen to Sri Ramachandran in the upcoming season and let me know their thoughts. I will wait.
See you all at the next concert
MALLADI BROTHERS Sri. Ravikumar & Sri. Sreeram Prasad
Vocal
Sri. Embar Kannan
Violin
Sri. Neyveli Narayanan
Mridangam
On Sunday, October 21, 2007, at 4:00 PM
B. Seetharaman
Oct 1, 2007