On the contemporary Carnatic music scene, the Hyderabad Brothers, D. Raghavachari and D. Seshachari occupy a prominent place. They have rapidly built up a reputation as a competent duo. "Like, in the case of many musicians, we have a good family background in music. Our father late D. Ratnamachariyuiu was a sangita sahitya vidwan and our mother too could sing very well."
"I suppose your father was your guru in the initial stages?"
"He was the one and only guru for us though my elder brother. Raghavachari 'had some training from the late Susarla Sivaram. He joined the diploma course in the music college. As for me, I learnt only from my father," said Seshachari.”
"Did both of you learn together from your father?"
"Being older Raghavachari started his lessons some years before I started learning, when I was six. I had rigorous training from 1961 to 1971"
"When did you start gang performances?"
"When I was nine"
"Did both of you start giving cutcheris as the Hyderabad brothers?"
"No we were giving performances independently. It was only in 1982 that we emerged as the Hyderabad Brothers."
"What were the circumstances that brought you together on the dais."
"We attended the Tiruvalyaru Tyagaraja festival in 1982. Then it occurred to us that we could jointly give a concert. Therefore on the auspicious occasion of-the Tyagaraja aradhana at Tiruvaiyaru we started our musical career as the Hyderabad Brothers. There was very good response from the large audience gathered there. That gave us encouragement to continue. What started as an experiment has now come to stay." Seshachari explained.
"But how were you able to jointly give concerts all on a sudden without much practice as duo artistes?"
"We felt no difficulty. We had learnt music from our father. The patantara is the same. So the transition from individual vocalists to Hyderabad Brothers was really smooth."
"Singing together as Brothers has an advantage, I think. Each one can draw Inspiration in manodharma while singing raga alapana and swarams from the other. Am I right?"
"Yes. We sometimes sing alternately. I do the alapana in the madhyama sthayi upto the shadja. My brother would continue from where I left and complete the picture of a raga in the tafa sthayi. Our vocal endowments being different, the presentation can have variety. At any rate our method of singing seems to be liked by the listeners. Sometimes either I or Raghavachari elaborate a raga completely." said Seshachari and added "We see to it that we adhere strictly to tradition."
"What is tradition? For instance some vidwans stag the Poornachandrika kirtana" "Telisi Rama chintanato" with the pace speeded up; some others sing in strict madhyama Kala. Which type conforms to tradition?"
"Each kirtana has a particular kalapramana, as observed by great vidwans. We strive to stick to it as far as possible."
"What was the method of training your brother followed?"
"He would teach us a varnam or a kirtan. Once it is completed we had to repeat it for a week at least 100 times daily. My father would sit before us and watch us do the exercise. lf in the middle, say the tenth or eleventh' time, a mistake occurred, it was not enough if we repeated the line which was sung wrong. We had to start singing the varnam or kirtana from the beginning again. Each item was practised thus. Because-we had the same rigorous training from our father though at different times (Raghavachari, because he was elder to me, had begun learning music some years before me) our patantara remains the same. That has been the reason for our success as the Hyderabad Brothers."
"How do you increase your repertoire."
"We hear the tapes of great vidwans and learn from them."
Are you a staff artiste of AIR?"
"Raghavachari works for MMDC. I am a staff artiste in mridangam. First I joined the Vijayawada AIR and was there from 1984 to 1988. Then I joined the Hyderabad station."
"I learnt to play the, mridangam when I was seven or eight from K. Sudarsanachariar. and continued the lessons for about seven years. AIR does not entertain vocalists. Before joining Vijayawada AIR I worked in a printing press for some time," Seshachari said with a chuckle.
"Being Andhra artistes you must be quite well acquainted with Tyagaraja sahityas. But you seem to follow the same pattern as the other Tamil Nadu artistes."
"Madras is the centre for music. If one wants to make a name and continue to be patronised by the Madras public he has to follow what pleases them. I find good response from listeners both in Madras and Bangalore. It is exhilarating to sing in both places." Seshachari said with satisfaction and Raghavachari, seated next to him, gave an approving nod.
