Suswara Sangeeta Vedika celebrated its second anniversary in Dubai on Friday with a Carnatic music concert by the Malladi Brothers.
The three-hour musical journey, presented by Sri Lakshmi Events, was a treat for pure classical music lovers. The music of Malladi Brothers Sriramprasad and Ravikumar is marked by the perfect unison of two voices. The duo hail from a family of musicians from Andhra Pradesh who inherited music from their grandfather, Malladi Srirama Murthy, a Harikatha exponent of his time. They had their initial training from their father, Malladi Suri Babu.
The Malladi Brothers, who began performing in 1990, have received national level prizes from All India Radio in classical, light classical and light music categories.
For the Dubai concert, the Brothers performed a diverse range of compositions in Telugu, Tamil and Kannada catering for all South Indian music lovers.
They began the evening with a tarangam (waves of devotion) Jaya jaya swami composed by Narayan Theertaar in Kambhoji raaga set to aata tala varnam. (Tala is beat and varnam is a relatively long piece in both music and dance).
They followed it with a devotional Pahimam Sri Raja Rajeswari, composed by Vidyanatha Aiyyar, and in quick succession by Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s Mathangi Sri Raja Rajeswari in Roopaka talam.
Then they chose Tyagaraja’s devotional song Teliyaleru Rama bhakti maargamunu.
As the mood among the audience looked evident to soak in more the duo began singing the spiritual Sharavana Bhava Guhane, composed by Tamil composer Papanasam Shivan.
They followed it with Ramadasu’s Telugu kriti Chakkani raja maargame undaga and as the concert then settled down to a languid mode they rendered Narayana Thirtaar’s Jaya jaya Durge jita vairi.
Next they regaled the audience with Purandaradasa’s Kannada composition, Kande na Govindana Pundarikaksha.
The Brother’s next sang Paluku tenela talli pavalinchu composed by Vaageyakara Annamacharya. The elder of the brother’s tells the audience his grandmother likes it so much, especially when rendered by their guru Nedunuri Krishna Murthy, that she requests him to sing the same whenever he visited their home. The bothers really sang it sonorously.
They next sang Govinda sundara mohana, composed by Ramadasu aka Kancherla Gopanna and followed it by a devotional song Janula madhya thirugaade jagapati in praise of the late Sathya Saibaba, set to tune by their father Malladi Suri Babu.
The evening came to a conclusion with a rhythmic piece Thom thom tadara thillana.
The concert was sheer aural pleasure for both the uninitiated and the connoisseur.
For any concert of this sorts instrumental support goes a great length in making it a success. Nagai Sriram, considered a violin prodigy, ably supports the Malladi Brothers. Percussionists, Sriram Subbaraman (mridangam) and Kumar Sitaraman (ghatam), both UAE residents, did a fairly wonderful contribution.
