Rudrapatnam Brothers on 16th May 2010

The banks of the river Cauvery is known for its great fertility both in agriculture and culture. It can boast of some of the greatest exponents of Carnatic music. One important village along its route, is Rudrapatnam which has produced many important musicians of Karnataka. Nadasurabhi is proud to present the famed Rudrapatnam Brothers - Vidwan R.N.Thyagarajan and Vidwan Dr. R.N.Tharanathan on Sunday 16th May 2010. The Rudrapatnam Brothers come from the illustrious musical lineage of Musiri Subramanya Iyer and Mysore Chowdiah. Being associated and performing in AIR and DD as A Grade artists for several decades, the brothers have won the AIR's vocal music competitions from the President of India on three occasions. They have also been awarded the Musiri Subramanya Iyer award by the Music Academy, Chennai. Karnataka Government too honoured them with the Rajyothsava Award. Rudrapatnam Brothers are noted for their total adherence to tradition and sruti suddham. They have performed around the globe and have been an inseparable part of the Chennai and Bangalore music seasons for the past many years. They have also brought out several music albums both in India and abroad.

Sri. R N Thyagarajan has a post graduate degree in mathematics and is a retired deputy director of Doordarshan Kendra in Bangalore. His brother Dr. Tharanathan, has a doctorate in Organic Chemistry and retired as additional director of the Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, CFTRI in Mysore. However music has always been a part of the siblings.

Concert Review

Rudrapatnam Brothers offer a beautiful garland of music.

Hemming together a string of soft beautiful ragas and placing a heavy Kalyani raga in the middle, Rudrapatnam Brothers offered a highly adorable garland to the rasikas, during their music concert for Nadasurabhi, on Sunday 16th May 2010 at the Indian Heritage Academy Hall, Sri. R.N.Thyagarajan and Dr.R.N.Tharanathan presented a carnatic music treat which was an embodiment of "Shuddha Sangeetham". There was not a single harsh or jarring note in the entire two and a half hours and felt like a cool cruise down the river of music. The outside temperature also fell sharply due to the sudden heavy downpour which Bangaloreans have been waiting for a long time.

The selection of melody oriented sweet (Rakti) ragas started with the Kedaragowla varnam, followed by Saurashtram and Devamanohari. One of the most enjoyable pieces was the Naagaswaravali raga alapanai performed by Sri.Thyagarajan with the popular Sri Sankara guruvaram followed by swaras. Once again the delectable Manirangu piece was chosen as sub-main piece. Here Dr.Tharanathan gave the alapanai. Unlike other brothers and sisters pairs, the Rudrapatnam Brothers were equally talented. They had however divided among themselves that most higher octave sequences will be handled by Sri.Thyagarajan and the lower octave handled by Sri.Tharanathan. Manirangu with neraval and swaraprasthara was an extremely satisfactory experience. A slow paced Dwijavanti- Chetasri Balakrishnam followed. In order to counteract the slight monotony of the krithi , they came up with an excellent swaraprasthara which was very thoughtful and nice.

The main Kalyani raga was handled by Thyagarajan. The Shyama Sastri krithi Talli Ninnu nera namminaanu was a majestic presentation, true to the mood the composer must have had in mind for this piece. The final pieces included a sharp Poorvikalyani Javali, a Suruti Purandaradasa number and a thillana in Anandabhairavi.

Overall it was a very good presentation of pristine carnatic music which provides "Soukhyam" to the listeners, without any circus or gimmicks. The humility and devotion of the artists to music was palpable. Accompanying them was Smt.Nalina Mohan on violin who provided adequate support. Sri. H.S.Sudhindra has specialised in the art of closely following the mood and emphasis of the singers with his mridangam. Also, he becomes vibrant and impressive during the tani. Sri.Dayananda Mohite  could bring out the special metallic rhythm from his ghatam.

List of Songs:

01 Saami daya jooda ( varnam) – Kedaragowla

02 Ninnu joochi dhanyudai – Saurashtram

03 Kanna tantri naapai – Deva manohari

04 Sri Sankara guruvaram – Naagaswaravali

05 Jaya jaya padmanabha – MaNirang

06 Chetasri BaalakrishNam – Dwijavanti 

07 Talli ninnu nera  namminaanu – KalyANi  (Main)

08 Nee maatale Maayenura ( JAvali) -  Poorvikalyani 

09 KeLano Hari taaLano  – Surutti

10 ThillAna  – Anandabhairavi

11 MangaLam