Of late there is a surfeit in duet mode of recital in classical Carnatic music. Fledglings who have just spread wings, have started opting to sing in twosome. We have ‘sisters' and ‘brothers' tagged to the musicians' (mostly vocalists) names or still better, to the place they hail from, like Bombay sisters, Alatoor Brothers and so on.
When did this trend come into vogue and what are its plus and minuses?
Melodic attraction
Says Malladi Suribabu, the senior Malladi brothers, “Way back in the 1850s Aanai Iyer and Ayya Iyer brothers were known to have sung in unison in Tiruvaiyyur. Saint Thyagaraja himself was astonished at the fusion of their voices which created an illusion of a single voice. They popularity peaked in the then Tanjore state. They composed music under the signatory of ‘Umadaasa' ( Intha paraaka neeku naa eduta nilichi palukutaku ..). Then much later, the Alathur Brothers pioneered duo singing. They were not real brothers but guru's son and pupil. Their USP was singularly similar rendition of any keertana they handled. They brought into light rarest of rare kritis and popularised them for all of us.” Malladi Suribabu and his brother Narayana Sarma were the first duo in the classical vocal music recitals in our state. “The positive side to this combined music concerts is that it generates what is called ‘rakti' (melodic attraction). The depth in two voices which of course have to merge, keeps the audience alert and enthusiastic. It lends a depth and authenticity to the concert. The limitations are there too. Both the musicians have to be ready to sacrifice their respective manodharma in order to fall into line with one another-call it synch or whatever. Other technicalities like sangathis , etc. to have to cultivated and curtailed omitting finer details in notation. Intricate nuances cannot be explored to the fullest possible extent. On the more mundane plane, monetary considerations cannot dominate personal rapport in singing. This is a very important element in duo recitals. Only then, can both the singers make a successful pair,” says Suribabu.
More or less conceding to the elder Malladi, his brother Narayana Sarma adds, “Creativity which is the essence of manodharma music, gets dented to a great extent. Total involvement is not possible because either has to concentrate and take cue from the other. A raga can be elaborated only through individualistic treatment which is not 100 per cent possible in duo singing. In order to popularise your brand of music you resort to singing together which in a way is good to propagate music. Synchronised music has its appeal in a way. That's where twosome singing works.” The younger Malladi brothers (sons of Suribabu) Sriram Prasad and Ravi Kumar have topped the popularity charts with their powerful, mesmeric style.
The Hyderabad Brothers known for their erudite yet enchanting, emotive performances say, twin singing has its appeal majorly due to the strength of two voices against one. Raghavachari, the elder of the two traces back their foray into duet singing as an experiment conducted during their AIR days when on the advise of a veteran instrumentalist, the brothers began as one voice. “But later, we sang together at Thiruvaiyyur and I personally feel the blessing of Saint Thyagaraja there has seen us successful to this day.” “It is a matter of great adjustment where we got to bury our ego at various levels in order to emerge successful and harmonious on stage,” says the more out-spoken Seshachari. “From practice to performance, there are many issues to deal with. There has to be a vigil over oneself not to supersede and assess each other's merits striking a balance in order to blend. Further, duo singing has turned into a vogue due to its nomenclature which plucks at fancy. Today, despite all claims of classical music picking up like never before, there is a fear of losing ground for pure classicism. And like in market jargon, the consumer is the king-here — the audience is the sovereign.
The organisers have to cater to listeners' choices and so do we fall in line..” Hyderabad sisters Lalitha and Haripriya seemed to be born to sing together. Lalitha enumerates varied advantages of singing as duo. “We are a tremendous support to each other. As performers we have to travel extensively and being women we are bound to face certain problems. But our strength lies in being together As duo singing, we can set the pace, and get breathing time as we go along the recital which is quite a blessing.”
Contrasting tones
What if you have contrasting tones?
“That's even better since it lends variety to the concert. Having exactly same tone and tenor may not be as attractive as hearing two different tones, merging and emerging individually. Synchronisation is one of the vital points to be taken care of in duets. Which means, we have to rehearse together and measure our creativity, flow and such other technicalities, cor-relate and work on it. It has always to be a conscientious effort towards absolute balance,” she explains.
