MUDHRA
Into regions less traversed
Through their splendid alapana of Kantamani, Malladi Brothers took their audience at Mudhra to regions less travelled in Carnatic music. The rasikas applauded heartily at Sriram Prasad's demonstrative arohana-avarohana of the 61st Melakarta raga, showing the taste for such hidden gems. The heady twang of the suddha nishada gives the raga a distinctive flavour. And towards the end of the song (`Palintuvo'), when the mudrika came, it was as though an invisible hand had written through the air in smoky letters, "Oh, has Tyagaraja composed a kirtana in this raga?" Coming on the heels of another rare, Lalitha, Kantamani underscored Malladi Brothers' penchant for adventure.
The 11-minute Lalitha alapana (by Ravikumar) stood distinct from its twin Vasantha, an example of the singers' depth of talent. Syama Sastri's `Devi Brova Samayamida' followed, brimming with bhava.
After such an intense intellectual exercise the sit-back-and-relax Bhairavi enhanced the thrill of the concert. Ravi's Bhairavi alapana gave way to `Upacharanulanu' of Tyagaraja. Niraval and swaras appeared as expected at `Kapata Nataka.' After such a treat, the hasty Nattakurinji RTP seemed a formality. All through, violinist Mysore Manjunath proved equal to the task given to him. As it was a four-hour concert, Mannargudi Easwaran and V.Suresh had ample time and in the riveting thani, Easwaran must have produced around 50 varieties of half-tala cycle beat sets, which Suresh followed. The lengthy applause was well won.
M. RAMESH
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