Three mighty musical oceans combined – roared, flowed, ebbed and swirled. One hour and 40 minutes perhaps never seemed so inadequate. As Carnatic and Hindustani vocals met the flute in a perfect place, pure music filled the senses. The second evening of the The Hindu Friday Review ‘November Fest’ in Kochi had Carnatic singers Srikrishna Mohan and Ramkumar Mohan, known as the Trichur Brothers, Rakesh Chaurasia, nephew of flute maestro Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, and Hindustani vocalist Jayateerth Mevundi creating a colourful musical experience.
Together they mixed and matched swaras with such ease that the confines of language seemed irrelevant. It is a task to compress three different schools of music into a performance, Srikrishna Mohan said. “It is very difficult to contain it in an hour and a half. We ourselves are not sure where the music will take us,” he announced, before opening the concert with the popular ‘Mahaganapathim’. The challenge may have been a tough one, but sheer genius sparkled through. As one singer started, the others followed, repeating a raga, elaborating on it, transforming it and making it his own. So Natta soon made way for Jog before Rakesh and Mevundi delved into the finer aspects of Yaman. The brothers, meanwhile, explored Kalyani. The artistes went back and forth, without a single dull moment in between, accompanied by Narendra Nayak on the harmonium and Udayaraj Karpoor on the tabla.
The Trichur Brothers, sons of mridangam vidwan Trichur R. Mohan, who accompanied them on stage that evening, started performing in the late 1990s.
The performance was also a delight to watch, as the artistes interacted with one another, exchanging appreciative gestures and gentle challenges. As the electrifying concert drew to a close, there was more fun with improvisation. The brothers started a Krishna bhajan, which was complemented by Mevundi’s and Rakesh’s ‘Vaishnavajanato….’ The brothers then moved on to the Jnanapana and the evergreen ‘Harivarasanam’. Surprises were not to end so soon. Mevundi returned with ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumahara…’ at which the brothers sang in one voice: ‘Ente swaravum ningalude swaravum othuchernnu nammude swaramayi’ (my voice and your voice become our voice), the two Malayalam lines from the iconic national integration song, which stood true for the concert.
