They sing as a duo, yet they are poles apart. One is mild and mellow, the other is vibrant and candid. However on the stage, they merge their diverse personalities into a single entity and the output is just eloquence. It’s no surprise that awards and accolades come their way. The ‘Hyderabad Brothers’, as Daroor Raghavachary and Seshachari are fondly referred to in the Carnatic music circles, have once again been bestowed with the ‘Senior outstanding vocalists’ award by the Madras Music Academy in Chennai at the end of the Margazhi festival.

How do they feel about this? “We are blessed. It is the divine that has been operating in our lives all the time. We live by our sruti and laya, our musical parentage. The rest follows naturally,” both respond with utter humility.

Way ahead of others in this region, the Hyderabad Brothers carved a niche for themselves at the Mecca of music by sheer dint of merit and melody. When classical music is replete with rigid grammar and syntax, how do they manage to tug at the heart-strings? “By breathing music, thinking music and living music,” Seshachary quips. “I don’t do research, then I will turn into an academician. Nor do I practise all 364 days. But as I relax after the day’s work, my mind churns out new sangathis, new swara patterns, keeps delving into varied ways of presenting a raga wherein the bhava springs up as natural fountain,” he says.

“We keep the raga bhava and the lyric bhava intact while rendering it in all its variations. This is a very important aspect of singing in a concert. Nothing should be harsh to the ears of the listener. A kriti should touch his heart. That is what the great composers felt. They are our guiding stars. This is no way of tampering with tradition or classicality. It is the approach that matters,” says Raghavachary.

Working in NMDC on the secretarial side, Raghavachary manages to keep his musical prowess intact, his recitals and his music lessons going without a break. “My organisation has been very cooperative; as far as my concerts are concerned. I’ve never been denied leave on account of my job. That is a great boon and I owe it to the NMDC,” he explains. Seshachary on the other hand works in the All India Radio; and that makes things easy as far as music goes.

Seshachary goes down memory lane:“We did not struggle to learn music. The entire family was into music and my father Daroor Ratnamacharyulu was our first guru. My mother Sulochana was also my father’s pupil. He was a music teacher in a private school. As a couple they presented recitals in temples during festivals. We belong to Hayatnagar though the family shifted to Yakutpura which is our birthplace in the twin cities. My father and mother would regularly hold recitals at Yadagiri Gutta. As a kid, I had a penchant for percussions and would take up the ghatam to accompany them. And towards the end of the concert, I would be overcome by sleep! There was no other way of life we knew except music.” .

“There was no Carnatic music in Hyderabad then. My father was the first to introduce it to a select lot. In Yakutpura other boys of our age would never address us by our names. “Sarigama jaare dekho!’ was our identity,” laughs Raghavachary turning nostalgic.

While Raghavachary polished his musical skills further under Susarla Sivaram, it was after a series of failed attempts to make it as a music teacher that the guru helped him to get into a non-music career for a livelihood. Seshachary topped the AIR music competitions; there has been no looking back since then. They sang individually till one fine day, at AIR, they were asked to experiment as a duo by then flautist N.A. Srinivasan. “This was later followed by a public concert at Tiruvyaar and the duo singing clicked. Much later, we came to be called the ‘Hyderabad Brothers’,” recalls Seshachary.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Arts> Music / by Ranee Kumar / January 19th, 2012

Hyderabad:

Hyderabad’s tryst with arts and culture continues. This time, it is the pen that promises to claim the honours with regional and national writers converging on the serene Taramati Baradari cultural centre here on Monday for the second edition of the Hyderabad Literary Festival. The fest, a multilingual one, will see Telugu, Hindi and Urdu writings getting considerable space alongside celebrated works in English.
The aim remains to promote regional works as much as English, and this was made clear in the inaugural address by Pawan K Varma, Indian Ambassador to Bhutan, who has authored a series of books on contemporary India.
“Language is not merely a means of communication. It is a window to your culture, to the identity of who you are. Without language a person is rootless.
Literary fests such as this should actively promote regional writers too and not just English,” said Varma.
Noted lyricist Gulzar, who graced the occasion, spoke of how English had today resulted in alienating different sections of the society and the need to undo it by returning to our culture and the writings that characterised them. Secretary, Department of Tourism, Chandana Khan, who was also present at the inaugural, echoed their views.
Germany has been selected as the Featured Nation at this festival, which is being jointly organised by Muse India, an e-journal and the State Tourism Department.
The three-day event is being supported by the German Centre (Goethe Zentrum), apa r t f rom Al l i anc e Francaise, the Osmania University Centre for International Programmes and The New Indian Express among others.
There was a sizeable presence of Telugu writers too at the event.
Muse India gave away awards in two categories. The Young Writer Award 2011 for Poetry was given to Anindita Sengupta’s City of Water, Sahitya Akademi, 2010, and the Translation Award 2011 was given to Ranjit Hoskote for his translation of I,Lalla, The Poems of Lal Ded, Penguin, 2011.
Pawan Varma’s first fictional work, When Loss is Gain, was also launched at a function in the evening.

source: http://www.ibnlive.in.com / South>  Hyderabad / Express News Service / The New Indian Express / January 18th, 2012

The wind is making way for the kites to soar high in the city. As kite makers and kite flyers get busy with their patang, manja and chakhri in the open, there is something traditional cooking even in the most modern kitchens. With the city boasting of residents from all regions, every household will have some special festival dish. Though most Telugus from the districts are headed to their home towns, resident Hyderabadis also enjoy varied festival flavours in their own traditional way.

Each festival is marked by at least one special dish, which may differ from one household to another, depending on the taste and preference of the family and the customs followed. But you can be sure that every home will have something made of either rice or millet, and jaggery to celebrate the harvest season.

Pournima Surve, a media consultant, waits for Sankranti to relish the bajari rotiand mixed vegetable curry. “Bajari is millet and the combo with the sabji differs with every household. The mix vegetable sabji at home has vegetables like carrot, drumstick, papdi and tomato,” explains Pournima.

On the first day of Sankranti, called Bhogi, til and gud (jaggery) is used, so gud-poli is what everyone looks forward to. In a narrow lane in Shah-ali-banda while the kids are flying kites the women are busy making a gud-pol or the puran poli. “The polis are soft as cotton and served with a generous drip of ghee, with a tangy mango pickle to go with it,” says Meenal Vyas, a research scholar. She has timed her visit from US to ensure she celebrates Sankranti with the family in their ancestral home.

Prateek Shah, a Gujarati and a consultant cum trainer says, their family is all forghar mein banaya khana, “Bajre Ki Khichdi. Actually undhhiyu (mix vegetable) is more famous as well as puri kadhi.”

If you happen to visit a city-based Bihari’s home during Sankranti, you can expect Chura, Gur laddoo, sweets made of til such as Tilkut, Tilwa, Maska, etc. “It is convenient to make these anywhere as the ingredients are easily available,” says homemaker Dipti Verma.

Sankranti is also the best time to visit a Tamilian household and eat the variety they cook — Pongal with new harvest rice, kozhambu and the seven curry kootuare not to be missed.

A typical Assamese household in the city misses kath-alu. “Breakfast consists ofkoni-pitha (fried dumplings made of rice flour and eggs), kath alu fry and the traditional pithas made from sticky rice and til and jaggery. It is absolutely difficult to find the ingredients here, so the best option is to get some couriered,” says Dr David Bordoloi.

Those who miss their families and crave for festive food will receive a warm welcome in most native Telugu homes. Want to know what really cooks in a traditional Telugu household? Traditional Pongali, a sweet rice and jaggery, and Gummadikaya koora (pumpkin curry) are a must. The feast is usually elaborate. “We will have Ravva Ladoo, Bellam Pulusu, Pulihora, Avadalu(Andhra version of dahi vada), Garelu and Gutti Vankaya koora for lunch. We cook the new rice of the year for the first time on this day, and offer it asnaivedyam (offering to God),” says Nalini Vidmahe, a retired government official.

However, to make life and celebrations easier shops are also making a special Sankranti sweet box which comes with a baby kite and a kite wheel. So come Sankranti, the city will be abuzz with fun, frolic, films and festive food.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Life&Style> Food / by Prabalika M. Borah / January 12th, 2012

Masterworks NCPA archives: Balamuralikrishna

A treasure trove

The digitally mastered CD has vintage Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna in his heyday.

The inimitable genius has a voice to match his masterstrokes! And the ten pieces on this CD which runs for an hour plus, mirror his style of rendition and are like a treasure trove for Balamurali fans. Right from the varnam in Nattai (Nata ragam) Ee naadamu… to his trademark tillana in Kuntalavarali, the tone and tenor are a steady flow of the classical, the Balamurali way. More than the traditional kritis in ragas Ananda Bhairavi, Hindolam and Sri, it is the Punnagavarali, Chenchuruti and Chandrajyoti that stand out in melody, rhythm with tilting cadence inherent in the raga itself. It is such ragas that get an exceptional treatment by Dr. Balamurali and bear out his brand of rendition. So too the Madhyamavathi Nagumomu gala vaani…which is associated with many a concert of his. The improvisations and alapana (prefacing) are far and few and hardly allow us a glimpse into his creative output. That is, if the listener is also a learner! The brief on each raga in the jacket of this CD by Mahadevan R is like a ready-reckoner to the uninitiated. The attempt to capsulate a cross section of ragas that were treated by this maestro by Sony Music is laudable. The output is clarity personified with the nuances of the mridangam by legendary late Dandamudi and violin by Annavarapu Ramaswami, also a maestro in his field, well captured. Kudos to NCPA for bringing out the archives collection with latest technology. The CD is priced at a reasonable Rs. 199.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Arts> Music / January 12th, 2012