A musical equation

CHENNAI: The brothers were born into a business family, and were naturally expected to excel at numbers and not hold a tune impeccably. But as kids, they were inspired by their father, who took the road less travelled and became one of the renowned artists of our time. Yes, Srikrishna and Ramkumar Mohan, also known as the Trichur brothers, may have an affinity towards numbers, much more than your average musician but that’s to be expected considering both were chartered accountants before becoming musicians.

As sons of the the great mridangam vidwan R Mohan, their introduction to Carnatic music when they were six. CE indulges in a conversation with the duo, who fascinate audiences with their control over aalaap and versatility in the art. They open up about their beginnings where they were humble accountants and share their displeasure in assessing the popularity of an art form during a season like Margazhi.

“We have hundreds of concerts during Margazhi in the city and since people have choices, they might skip one or two. The situation can be best explained with two scenarios in a buffet restaurant — one where we have a thousand people and three counters and another one with thousand people and 100 counters,” says Ramkumar, the younger of the two brothers.

Parents inevitably influence our lives in a lot of ways. How much of their father’s decision to pursue music influenced theirs? “We were not forced into our career paths. We had the freedom to do what we want. Music was always there but we did not work towards this. Ram was a cricketer and a part of under-16 Kerala team. But, we grew up seeing MS Subbalakshmi and Chembai Vaidyanath visiting our home often. Maybe that is a reason we were driven towards music,” adds Srikrishna.

The Trichur brothers were taught by the best in the business and they have a long list of mentors. But they remember one they fondly recall... “We trained under the late Neyyantikara Mohanchandran for 10 years. He used to come only four times a month since Neyyantinkara was a bit far from our place. Then we would have a 14-15 hour long practice session starting at 5 am in the morning.

The best thing he did was to make us realise the importance of aesthetics of Carnatic music over its technicality. He taught to channel the peace of mind we get when we sing. He told us that music concerts are getaway trains for common people from all the chaos of life,” adds Srikrishna.

They believe that the way music is perceived varies with every platform and is also based on compositions. “We are not saying that we are not open to singing for movies but we tend to not sing certain numbers that are trending today. Obviously, the composers also know that Carnatic musicians perceive music in a slightly different way. If a composition interests us and suit the requirements, we will be more than happy to sing it,” smiles Srikrishna.

The former CA professionals also have a contemporary band called  ‘Anubhoothi’ which performs from Carnatic to rock and jazz. They recently made an anthem for the Clean Ganga campaign ‘Namami Gange’ which garnered them national attention. The tribute they made to Indian armed forces caught AR Rahman’s attention who congratulated them with a tweet.

“That was like a dream come true moment for us. When Roja was released, I was probably seven and I grew up listening to his music. Now he recognised our work and appreciated us. What more can we ask for,” says Ram.

The Trichur Brothers will performing at Phoenix MarketCity tomorrow from 7pm onwards. For details, call: 66513007