The renowned vocalist D. Seshachary (of Hyderabad Brothers), aged 67, who passed away recently, believed that the prime objective of music was to create happiness. A musician can make rasikas happy only if he or she is experiences joy when performing, he used to say.
Born into a family deeply rooted in music, Seshachary, along with his elder brother Raghavachary learnt music from their father Daroor Ratnamacharyulu, who belonged to the fifth-generation lineage of saint Tyagaraja. Their father would teach them a varnam or a kriti and asked them to sing it repeatedly for a week to perfect every nuance. If they made a mistake while practicing a composition, they would be made to sing again from the beginning. This rigorous helped them uphold the patantaram when they began performing on stage.
Musical concert by D. Seshachari and D. Raghavachari at Nungambakkam cultural academy. PHOTO: THE HINDU ARCHVIES | Photo Credit: SRIDHARAN N
Though the brothers began singing individually, they came together at a concert in 1980 in Tiruvaiyaru as Hyderabad Brothers. Since then, they only performed as a duo.
During the next four decades, the brothers toured all over the world and won accolades. They made it a point to participate without fail in Chennai’s December Music Season. They won the Music Academy’s best vocalist award consecutively for three years, from 1990. The brothers also received the Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer Award for rendering rare Tyagaraja kritis.
Chennai, 16/12/2012: Hyderabad Brothers, D. Raghavachari and D. Seshachari, performing vocal concert at The Music Academy, 86th Annual Conference and Concerts, in Chennai. Photo: R. Shivaji Rao | Photo Credit: R_Shivaji Rao
Duo singing has always received special appreciation from music lovers and no wonder, the Hyderabad Brothers achieved phenomenal success. They sang in perfect unison and could largely fill the void left by the Alathur Brothers. The deep, resonant voice of Seshachary and the softer, mellow voice of Raghavachary blended beautifully to create a melodious effect.
A strong adherence to tradition, Seshachary insisted on preserving the heritage of classical music. “Some distinctive prayogas cannot be produced by magic. One has to contemplate on them to capture their beauty,” he had said before a concert.
Seshachary was also a mridangam exponent. He learnt the art from his uncle K. Sudarsanacharya and was a staff artiste (mridangam) in AIR.
Delhi P Sunder Rajan, who has accompanied the brothers several times on the violin, remembers Seshachary’s astounding prowess in writing notations. He said, Seshachary would listen to a piece just once and effortlessly transcribe the sahitya and swaras simultaneously”.
Unable to recover from the shock of his younger brother’s passing, an emotional Raghavachary said, “I have lost my right hand.”
