Bhava and Bhakti were the hallmark of the Carnatic music concert presented by the duo, Sri Rama Prasad and Sri Ravikumar who are known as the Malladi Brothers. The concert was held at MIT Wong Auditorium on Sunday, May 1 2005 under the aegis of Soundarya Lahiri and MITHAS.

Soundarya Lahiri, an organization that is actively involved in promoting spirituality and education based on Hinduism has a wing called Kalalahiri that brings cultural events to the New England area. They are also actively involved in community service and provide much needed relief to the poor in India. MITHAS is an organization that brings quality classical music concerts to people in the New England area.

After the welcome by George Ruckert, the artistic director of MITHAS and Subbarao Kompella the spiritual leader of Soundarya Lahiri, the artists took the stage and treated the audience to a splendid recital. The vocalists were accompanied by Tara Anand on the violin and Arjun Kumar on the Mridangam.

“Mother” seemed to be the overarching theme of the presentation. The evening’s repertoire featured many songs dedicated to the different forms of Divine Mother. The recital opened with a Kalyani Varnam, Vanajakshi.  This was followed by Kavi Mathruboddaya’s composition “Nee Mathi Salaka Nannu Brochuda” in AnandaBhairavi. Thyagaraja’s  “Samayamu dElisi” in Asaveri followed.

The Thyagaraja kriti “Shri Tulasama” in Devagandhari was dedicated to  Mother in the form of “Tulasi” The reference to Parijata, Vakula and Saroja flowers created a beautiful symbolism of the offering of a Mother’s day floral bouquet to the Divine Mother.

"Matangi Sri Raja Rajeshwari" in Rama Manohari was presented with beautiful elaborations. Kritis in Ravi Chandrika and Mukhari were followed by a Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi that opened in the light but melodious Ragam “Behag” The Pallavi in Thisra Nadai was a challenge and the artists delighted the audience with a rendition that showcased there mastery over rhythm and melody. The accompanists kept pace with the main artists and the final creation was a real treat. A composition in Revathi was followed with a Thamizh composition in Sindhubhairavi dedicated to Lord Muruga. They ended the concert with the popular Tukda “Muddugare Yashodhe”

The brothers, hailing from Andhra Pradesh, had the advantage of knowing the essence and depth of the Telugu compositions, and hence their rendition of the `krithis' were crisp and lucid, with the `sahitya' never being a casualty, as it usually is with many artistes. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they showed the same care to the Thamizh composition as well.  Their raga alapanais showed considerable imagination.

Tara Anand’s accompaniment was in perfect step with the main artists and she was able to showcase her considerable talent on the violin. Arjun Kumar in the typical Umayalpuram style brought melody to the percussion accompaniment while delighting the audience with some dazzling tanis. 

The concert ended with Srinivasa Bala from Soundarya Lahiri offering tokens of appreciation to the artists. The concert was fairly long but to those who spent their Mother’s day evening listening to the music it was sheer delight.

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