The Trichur brothers defy convention in order to promote Carnatic music

Attending a performance by the Trichur Brothers is always a pleasure, not just because of the exquisite Carnatic music they perform, but also because of the way they engage the audience. One of the brothers, Ramkumar Mohan, says, “A little boy asked when we were going to do the’sing-along portion’ during a concert.” It is one of the ways we try to make Carnatic music seem ‘cool’ to the younger generation.

The brothers are notorious for their experimenting, and they were recently in the city. Since the beginning of our performances in 2010, we have honed a lot. We have combined Western-style elements with Carnatic music, but we haven’t gone too far since we both grew up with choirs and Michael Jackson.

Never were we purists. Srikrishna Mohan says, “I vividly remember how we were criticized for breaching the conventional Carnatic mold when we began including harmonization components in our performances. Ramkumar continues, saying, “I frequently feel that what people term a purist approach is a closed approach, in the sense that it is about not developing with time, and it is not about keeping the music pure. Evolution must continue to take place to a certain extent.

They come from a family of music enthusiasts, and their father, the seasoned Mridangam Vidwan Trichur R Mohan, was the one who introduced them to music. “We could listen to whatever sort of music we wanted, and there was a lot of music all around us. All genres were enjoyed by us as children. Naturally, the most well-liked genre was light devotional music, which P Jayachandran and KJ Yesudas popularized. Keralan music has a significant Carnatic influence, whether it be from religious music or movies. Thus, in that regard, learning came naturally to Srikrishna.

The two brothers were talented in other areas than music. They were formerly prosperous chartered accountants as well, but they had no qualms about quitting their lucrative jobs to focus on their musical endeavors. We relocated to Chennai in 2004 after completing our studies in chartered accounting. We had a busy life until 2014, balancing work at the workplace with attending concerts. In 2014, we were performing between ninety-nine and one hundred shows annually.

We found it challenging to give the music or the job we were doing the honor it deserved,” says Srikrishna. Ramkumar quickly responds, “A decision had to be made,” to this. Actually, Srikrishna left his employment seven months ahead of me. I like what I did, so I didn’t even want to stop. But it dawned on me one day while I was enjoying some classical music in my cabin that there was a wider world out there for me to discover.

The boys wouldn’t have it any other way, looking back. Their largest musical endeavor, Namami Gange, which later became the Clean Ganga Movement’s song, came about shortly after they began playing music full-time.

 

The Trichur Brothers said that Carnatic music is a unifying element in the current dispute over the Madras Music Academy’s awarding of the Sangita Kalanidhi to Carnatic singer TM Krishna. “Mr. TM [Krishna] is only dividing people with his story and is needlessly politicizing the entire issue,” they said. Do not include any music in it.