A festival of love, of spring, of rejuvenation, of music, of dance, of celebration. Experienced sitting under the skies from the bright sunny morning into the colourful night, as both sun and moon played witness, while gorgeous birds flew past the beautiful shadows the trees cast on the skyscape… an experience called Madanotsava.
As I saw the crowds pouring into the venue as night approached, I wondered how a seemingly infinite number were entering this finite space. But again, isn’t that what Ranjani-Gayatri do in their concerts? An Infinity of music, in finite space-time. A concert well past 8 pm – the start had to be a rocket launch – Thyagaraja’s exuberant Anupama Gunambudhi shot us up instantly, with a tail of sparkling swarams.
Aha, how she gave away the kriti glimpse immediately! Gasp. Gayatri ma’am sang the most jaw-dropping Thodi alapana, and the inimitably eager rasikas of Bengaluru cherished and enjoyed every moment of it. How playful, how marvellously creative! How many beautiful patterns, woven in abandon! That prowess that makes the voice immediately paint the mind’s ideas. The conviction that broadens the canvas each time! Those contrasts and emotions! Such a go-getter alapana – how it just goes into the raga with unquenchable thirst to keep finding newer possibilities! The absolutely magical Wiz. Vittal Rangan (yup, for Wizard) treated us to a wonderful alapana before they rendered the amazing Enu Dhanyalo on Lakshmi. The thrill of a Rupaka tala kriti anchored and embellished by such awesome percussionists is something unmatched! Fiery swarams ensued, to the pallavi. After this grand piece came yet another fantastic rendition of a classic – Dikshitar’s Subrahmanyena Rakshitoham in Shuddha Dhanyasi.
Accho, the Ragam Tanam Pallavi. How to even express the joy we felt. What felt, I’m still feeling it, rejoicing in it, just from memory. One of those precious things I’ll never mind reliving over and over. A point in time I’ll definitely come back to, if and when time machines are invented. As we sat under the pretty night sky, with baited breath, so happy even in the anticipation, Ranjani ma’am began her delightful alapana. The most, most beloved of all – Maand!! Yaaaay. How she unveiled such adorable facets of the raga in her divinely charming voice, patiently gliding, adorning each note, chiselling with such grace, those Aarumo Aaval glimpses were beyond love. After her joy incarnate alapana came the super awesome violin alapana. Wiz. Vittal Rangan performed utter sorcery yesterday during the entire RTP. Not just in his solos where he wrung so much joy but every second that he reproduced a phrase too, he made it into the most charmingly rustic, most endearing, most playful that the raga could be. Gayatri ma’am’s Maand… Her voice is born for music. I feel so lucky to be even in the same universe as her music. What a pure thing her voice is, a thing of sweet glee, of limitless exploration in pursuit of the highest of beauty. Every spot she highlighted turned into nectar, melted our hearts into a pile of nothing as it dissolved over and over in her music. Then came those beautiful rounds of tanam, again with each one of the musicians making that joy-spring fly higher.
I can’t even get over the pallavi’s perfection… Thinking of it makes me pout my lower lip like a kid overwhelmed with joyous disbelief, as my whole being hopelessly lights up with joy and adoration… Accho!!
MaDaNaSundara Gopala Radha Ramana!
SaDaa Paahi Koti-
MDNS. SDP. Those Swaraksharams, the line’s construction. The Madana-Maand-MDN convergence of awesomeness that just makes so much beautiful sense. Who needs overstated complexity when subtle, elusive simplicity is such an epitome of beauty?! Their neraval was such a lovely experience. Once Gayatri ma’am even did the MDN Swaraksharam in the higher octave?! Whaaat. How?! The last two rounds of slow neraval and the seamlessly flowing fast neraval between the two celebrated Krishna from the heart (is there any other way even?!), as he danced in their downpour of Maand. This was not a rain to save people from, but the rain that saves souls. So he danced. And we watched, in Brindavan. Those swarams in different speeds! That second speed pallavi – what a sense of urgent beckoning in that packed Madanasundara! That grip in the pallavi, wow. Aha, look who arrived next – four bewitching Gopikas, enchantresses of Spring – Vasantha, Kalyana-Vasantham, Basant and Bahaar! The last two didn’t come as their Jod avatar, but in their own right, but then alluded to their sweet union now and then, such a delight! And then a thunderously fun thani between Vid Sai Giridhar and Vid Chandrasekhara Sharma, as the crowds cheered on.
Malaya-marutham came as a gripping yet gentle breeze atop the RamAnjaneya Gudda, before none other than the boundless Brindavani as they took us into the Dasarapada, Ranga Banda which then flowed, in a manner almost too meant-to-be that it HAD to be divine sankalpa, into Kashi Zaavu Mi Vrundaavana! Sigh. Too much awesomeness.
When writing about an experience like yesterday’s that felt like a hearty slice of heaven, I feel like no metaphor, no amount of expression, gratitude can ever be too much. When the music, when the emotions, when the experience is so elevated, so beyond comprehension and hence translation, words, writing, and language itself will forever be busy playing catch up.
The five arrows of Madana, sitting on stage, piercing us over and over with the best of music, relentlessly… Lovestruck, Awestruck, Musicstruck, Joystruck. (See? Language simply isn’t enough!) It was too special, too out of this world and feels like a dream now. Reality itself dreams, of being lost in a Ranjani Gayatri concert for eternity. Why won’t I?!
Notes on Ra-Ga 