As I jumped up awake and got ready in the morning to usher in the December Music Season with a steaming cup of chai and the title card appeared, with the beautiful greenery in view, I knew I was in for a feast for the senses. But as soon as Ranjani-Gayatri’s music began to pour into my ears, the sensory experience was transcended almost immediately to something way beyond and above it.
Continue reading “Brindavanathil Margazhi – 6 December 2020”
How do you know Margazhi is here? Is it when some stars align? No, it’s when these stars alight the stage, to delight ceaselessly.
The Ranjani-Gayatri concert began with characteristic purity in a beautiful prayer to the Gananaayaka, in the very unique Rudrapriya, complete with a crisp offering of kalpanaswarams. You know from the first piece, even the first phrase, what sort of a CONCERT it’s going to be. After this was the supremely delightful, gently swaying boat ride through the ocean of nectar that is Devagandhari in their voices – Ksheera Saagara. The stellar percussionists Vid. Manoj Siva and Vid. Anirudh Athreya were quick to remind me of everything I miss about concerts – such a heartening and fulfilling experience to listen to them embellish a masterpiece like this – every beat, every silence perfect. And that celestially pure “Taaraka Naama”. Bliss.
As the dawn breaks on Deepavali morning, there’s always that one first burst of crackers that wakes the entire neighbourhood, that announces emphatically, that the festival is finally here! That’s how Ranjani-Gayatri’s concert began today, with Oothukkadu Venkatakavi’s fire-work of a composition, in Vasantha. To hear his beautiful Tamizh play in their perfect voices as they launched the brilliantly coloured RaGa rocket, complete with crisp swarams, was infinitely delightful. The celebrations had begun! The evergreen “O Rajeevaksha”in Arabhi was next, with all its beautifully constructed sangathis rendered with marvellous purity and synchronicity.
Continue reading “RaGa Deepa Prakashini! – 15 November 2020”
Golu. Sundal. Music.
Navaratri is here! A festival celebrating the Goddess in all her glory and ferocious compassion. This unity is celebrated in grand diversity all over India. Concerts are an integral part of this cultural phenomenon, concerts studded with treasures of compositions by great vaggeyakaras on the countless manifestations of Devi. How I miss the ability to take a stroll down busy temple streets, soaking in all the palpable, electrifying energy, and into a concert, to elevate the devotional fervour to even higher levels! This year, the music comes home.
What a week this has been. As the pandemic rages on, scores continue to suffer personal losses and tragedies. And then some are mourned by the world at large – it feels personal, on a global level. What a beautiful thing to leave behind, to remember one by, the eternal gift called music. The only consolation for death, if anything can ever be, is life. In music, in hearts, in memories, people truly live on, conquering even inevitable mortal demise. Because the music? Never stops.
Continue reading “Karnaranjani – 26 September 2020”
Notes on Ra-Ga 