As I watched Ranjani-Gayatri’s concert on Eppo Music – the only kind of screentime that strives to elevate instead of distract, I couldn’t help but feel such endless awe at their music.
Duality. Who better to take up this theme than this electric duo. At the outset they invited us to look at the concept not just as how two things separate, differentiate, but also how sometimes two come twogether. As the perfect beginning to this exploration came the dance of Shiva and Shakti, in that almost equal aarohanam-avarohanam, the ethereal vilamba so beautifully contrasted by the energized madhyamakala in Dikshitar’s Ardhanaareeshwaram. Delightful swarams at Aagamaadi Sannutam.
Alapana. The duality of Gayatri ma’am’s voice and the violin of the one and only Vid. Charumathi Raghuraman. United by the nectar of Reethigowla and that pursuit of the most aesthetically pleasing. What a ragam. How that non linear ascent and descent twist themselves in such delectable patterns of beauty! Aha, Dwaithamu Sukhama, Adwaithamu Sukhama. The little joy when the karvai flows into Dwaithamu to make it seem like Adwaithamu! Then came swarams… As if to decorate the Ma from both sides… Swarams ending in GG-M to lead to PP-M of “GaGana”. And then the quintessential dual concept of Vadi-Samvadi in the raga came out in the most delectable GGM and NNS conversation when the second speed swarams began. Oh how BRILLIANT these musicians are!!!
Next came the words of Kalamegha Pulavar that when split one way, revealed the identity of Shiva, and a subtly different way – that of Vishnu! Vishnu came as the pouring dark clouds of Amrithavarshini followed by Shiva’s locks dancing in sweet Surutti, before Gopalkrishna Bharati’s Thillai Ambalatthaanai, Govindaraajanai made our hearts sway to Mishra Chapu.
Seated in that grand visual treat of a setting, in that part of the house that’s open to the skies, as the day moved into night through the beautiful colours of dusk, they invoked the master of all dualities – Sri Naarasimha Maam Paahi, in joyous Phalamanjari, with a short burst of swarams.
Ranjani ma’am began the alapana. I knew, instantly, what was about to come. Two ragas that represent the pinnacle of Carnatic Grandeur. Yet so different in the emotions they evoke. The melancholic majesty of one, the soaring happiness of the other. The beginning and end, of a magnum opus. Saveri, Madhyamavathi. They took turns in exploring how each raga expresses itself in different modes – lower notes, karvais, fast runs. How the higher intensity phrases feels so different in them both. That section when Gayatri ma’am swiftly moved between madhyama kala and durita phrase variants of similar ideas! And then when Ranjani ma’am and Gayatri ma’am alternated between Saveri and Madhyamavathi in quick succession! Sigh. So much beauty. Taanam flowed with loads of raga bhava before the pallavi –
Bhaavayaami Raghuraamam Bhavya Sugunaaraamam!
Vilasita Pattaabhishekam Padmanaabham
Set to Dwinadai Tisra Ata – Purvanga in Chatushram and Uttaranga in Tishram. The same measure of time, expressed first in four’s first and then in three’s. Seamless neraval ensued between Saveri and Madhyamavathi, with some jaw dropping smooth transitions. From slow to fast neraval and swarams, music flowed with such purpose and so much generosity. There was even a part in the fast neraval exchanges where both of them alternated with 1/4ths of the pallavi! Crazy! Those two are one. Two contrasting pairs of Nattakurinji-Dhanyasi and Mohanam-Mukhari came as the most natural ragamalika swarams in their koraippu before that GRSD, RSD, SD, korvai! The percussion duo of the phenomenal Vid. Delhi Sairam and Vid Ghatam Krishna concluded this pallavi with a crisp Thani.
They were NOT done being awesome. We were treated to Purandaradasa’s Enagu Aane, Ninagu Aane’s sweet promises in Kurinji, moving joyously between chatushram and tishra nadais. And for the grand finale came a Grahabheda medley, a bhajan in Jog sung from Madhyamashruti that morphed into the Brindavani of Eknath’s Gaulan.
What beautiful music this is, what musicians these are. They already set the standards for concerts far too high but for a thematic concert, it’s even higher! How they’ve put all their brilliance together to conceptualize such a festive kutcheri. Each choice made to delight. And the way they connect, appreciate, let the music happen during the course of the concert. So much love. No duels here, only duets. The more you see the more there is to find. Layers that never stop revealing. Every ounce of time packed to the brim with value. Every detail worth gushing over. So many awe-inspiring dualities, all brought together by the singularity that is music, that is RaGa. Grateful.
Notes on Ra-Ga 