The Malladi Brothers’ concert was shaped by thoughtful raga exposition and classic kritis

On several instances, a concert turns out to be not just entertaining but also enlightening because of the performer’s choice of ragas and kritis, and their presentation technique. Malladi Brothers Sreeram Prasad and Ravikumar’s recital for Kartik Fine Arts was one such. The duo’s presentations are always traditional.

The brothers were supported by H.N. Bhaskar on the violin, Neyveli Narayanan on the mridangam and T.V. Gopalakrishnan on the kanjira.

The brothers began with the lesser-heard Tyagaraja kriti ‘Evvare ramayya’ in raga Gangeyabhooshani, the 33rd melakarta raga. The kriti featured an interesting swara exchange. It was followed by a raga exposition of Darbar. The choice here went once again in favour of Tyagaraja, and the kriti was ‘Narada guruswami’. It was adorned with several matrices of swarakalpana, deploying the signature swaras of ‘ggars’ ‘nndp’ both in the first and the second kalam strings. The kriti highlighted Tyagaraja’s devotion to sage Narada.

Malladi Brothers with H.N. Bhaskar on the violin, Neyveli Narayanan on the mridangam and T.V. Gopalakrishnan on the kanjira.
| Photo Credit:
SRINATH M

Then came an interesting raga alapana of Kumudakriya by Ravikumar, with Ramprasad adding some extended phrases and fascinatingly-placed brigas — the brothers’ voices effortlessly traversed in all octaves. Violinist H.N. Bhaskar’s response was high in melody. Muthuswami Dikshitar’s ‘Ardhanareeswaram’ was rendered with poise and grace, with a swarakalpana segment. It also demonstrated how effortlessly the brothers could reach tara sthayi.

The rare ‘Mrudubhashana’ by Tyagaraja in raga Maruvadhanyasi came up next.

Ramprasad then started with an exposition of Kedaragowla with slow and steady phrases. The raga’s range and versatility provided ample scope for the vocalist to improvise soulful karvais; Ravikumar took up the enchanting briga segments.

‘Mangalalaya mamavadeva’, a rather lesser-heard composition of Narayana Tirtha was their choice for this raga. The niraval and swara exchanges focussed on rishabam were fixed to the pallavi line. The responses from Bhaskar on the violin and by Narayanan and Gopalakrishnan on the percussion enhanced the appeal of the kriti.

The tani avartanam by Narayanan and Gopalakrishnan resembled a pleasant drizzle, with soft rhythmic exchanges.

The closing pieces were Muthu Tandavar’s ‘Chithambarame janmam niraivera’ in Nadanamakriya, and Annamacharya’s ‘Avadharu raghupathi’ in Khamas, as a tribute to their guru, Nedunuri Krishnamurthy.