The Hindu, Chennai, 29th August 2008

Unhurried rendition

Sasikiran’s booming tone and the facile voice of Ganesh complimented each other to garnish the items with depth and felicity.

All the secrets of music’s beauty locked up in ragas and kirtanas wait to be brought out by the performer, the nature of his voice of course playing a significant role. If this ought to be the central objective and the summit of aspirations, the effort by the Carnatica Brothers — Sasikiran and Ganesh — for the 50-50 club was noteworthy. Sadhaka and commitment seemed to have ripened if the way they unhurriedly rendered the kirtanas was an indication. Particularly at the hands of Sasikiran the outward interpretation of the well-selected songs gained an inward orientation.

The duo has one great advantage – Sasikiran’s booming tone and the facile voice of Ganesh compliment each other to endow the items depth and felicity. Though lacking in mobility Sasikiran’s placement of Purvikalyani (‘Gnanamosagaradha’) revealed talent and self-assurance, marked by kutcheri maturity. His endeavour really was not to explore every inch of the raga, but to deploy his resources to telling sancharas. The dense texture of such passages gave weight to the handling. It conveyed a happy blend of sampradaya and creativity.

Fluent and effortless

In the alapana of Kedaragowla by Ganesh, ‘Saraguna Palimpa,’ there was fluency and effortlessness in negotiating melkala sancharas…Framing a successful concert calls for big effort in the choice of kirtanas, deciding the alapana and the length, the amount of swaraprastaras and the objective that has to serve as motivation. The Carnatica Brothers can be said to have thought on these lines.

After the Ata tala Kanada varnam, ‘Nera Nammiti,’ the song list anchored first in the Arabhi Pancharatna ‘Sadinchane’ followed by the Purvikalyani kirtana, ‘Marivere Gati,’ (Anandabhairavi) and ‘Vidajaladura’ (Janaranjani).

They left out the usual practice of an elaborate Anandabhairavi alapana and an equally over-loaded swaraprathara (somewhat as gilding the lily) to the already sweet chittaswaram composed by Syama Sastri.
It spoke of where their musical instincts lay. Such adherence to values provides the building blocks to their future rise in the field.

The experience gained by frequent presence as an accompanist has conferred its reward on Usha Rajagopalan (violin) to bring her artistry close to the style of the Carnatica Brothers with flashes of raga sancharas in her solo sessions peppering the usage of Purvikalyani and Kedaragowla.

Kallidaikurichi Sivakumar (mridangam) presented himself as one whose talent is backed by discriminating percussive support while playing for kirtanas. He never lost the focus of the role of laya-intense and rippling in his thani.

The Hindu (Review of 'Sangeetharpanam'), Chennai, 2nd May 2008

The Carnatica Brothers' rendition was both heart-warming and praise-worthy.

Captivating Rendition

“That aesthetic pleasure in Carnatic music is not the product of just a cerebral exercise, is what a performer needs to understand fully before each performance. This has to be comprehended by repeated listening to the music of stalwarts of different schools of Carnatic music. This kelvi gnanam (knowledge obtained through listening) can, to a great extent, enhance the fine tuning of the presentations of a performer.
It is heartening that the music of the young vocal duo, K.N.Sashikiran and P.Ganesh, reflects their having absorbed many finer aspects of great vidwans. Their robust and strong voices mix well and yet provide a refreshing contrast.

In this compact disc the brothers have chosen the Andolika varnam (‘Needayarada’) of the legendary G.N.Balasubramanian as the opening number. This varnam is an apt curtain raiser to the fare which follows. One of the most moving compositions of Tyagaraja, ‘Teliyaleru Rama’ in Dhenuka with a spate of kalpanaswaras is rendered with the contours of the melody not being trespassed with. The Bowli creation of Uthukadu Venkata Kavi ‘Kshanameva’ is not often heard and is sung with an appropriate lilt by the vocalists and is a refreshing number.

Amongst the various compositions of Tyagaraja in Sriranjani, ‘Brochevarevare’ stands out due to its different structure which amply reflects the musical genius of the bard. This rendition is vigorous and the solfa passages for the opening lyric as well as for ‘Raghupathe’ stand testimony to the innovative bent of mind of the artists.

Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s Kannada masterpiece ‘Sri Mathrubhutham’ in praise of Thayumanaswamy of the Rockfort temple at Tiruchirapalli, is sung true to the patanthara of T.Brinda. The brief raga alapana of Kannada which precedes the song rendition is in accordance with the largely accepted grammar of the melody. The solfa passages are rendered at ‘Suvasitha Nava Javanthi,’ which is an Adhitha eduppu and falls at one mathra before samam. These are presented with a great degree of confidence and arrive with pin point precision.

The brothers do well to present one of M. M. Dandapani Desigar’s compositions, ‘Ennai Nee Maravade’ in a captivating Amrithavarshini, which in recent times has been presented as captivatingly by their sibling N.Ravikiran on the Chitra veena. This song comes as a refreshing breeze to the generally overworked ‘Sudhamayi’ of Muthaiah Bagavathar in the current concert scenario.

The piece de resistance of this disc is Tyagaraja’s Saramathi krithi ‘Mokshamugaladha.’ The vinyasa of Saramathi by Sashikiran is a careful one without deviating from the raga lakshana and is praiseworthy. The sarvalaghu swaras are competently rendered for the pallavi. The violinist V.V.Ravi’s portrayal of Saramathi has a silken finish and falls very pleasantly on the ear. Percussive accompaniment provided on the mridangam by Thiruvarur Vaidyanathan reflects his sangeetha gnanam and his familiarity with the compositions that have been sung. Vaidhyanathan offers a crisp Mohra Korvai at the conclusion of ‘Mokshamugaladha.’

A beautiful Thamizh padam of Vaithiswarankovil Subbarama Iyer in Sahana ‘Ini Enna,’ portraying the feelings of a Kanditha nayika is a raga bhava-laden rendition. The concluding Javali in Behag ‘Samayamidhe’ is soothing and the voice modulation of the artists reminds one of John Higgins’ presentation of this javali.”