A memorable concert

After a mesmerising vocal concert by Ranjani and Gayathri, mridanga vidwan Vankayala Narasimham was felicitated and conferred the Sangeetha Kalasagara title

Duo Ranjani and Gayathri performed at Keyes High School recently to an 800-strong audience. Their swara madhuryam (tonal presentation) was par excellence. Born to Balasubramanian and Meenakshi into a Palakkad Iyer family, the duo Ranjani and Gayathri were deeply involved in classical music at an early age. They were trained by Prof. TS Krishna Swamy. Soon they established themselves as accomplished violinists and won applause as accompanying artists to DK Pattammal and others in a short span.

Ranjani and Gayathri began their recital with “Sami Nenne Koriyunnanu” (Garbhapuri) Sri Raga varnam with a pleasing note with due swaras and astounding ragalapana. They then moved on to “Indiranamamu Indariki” (Mohana) of Annamacharya as a straight rendition with elaborate, decorative charanams. Then they went on to a meaningful krithi of Thyagaraja “Kanta Choodumee” (Vachaspathi). The violin accompaniment by K Venkata Krishna was befitting Ranjani’s ragalapana.

They chose a Choukakala krithi of Deekshitar “Soundaraarajam Asrayeh” (Brindavana Saranga) which was neatly presented. The duo took “Yemo Jhesithi Nemi, Sri Rama?” (Todi) of Thyagaraja as the main piece of the evening. The rendering of phrases in anu pallavi and other charanams such as “Kaama Moha Daasulai’, “Guruvu Thaanaithey Nemi”, and their ragalapana execution were examples of the duo’s mastery.

Thaniavarthan by V Venkata Ramanamurthy (mridangam) and Nemani Somayajulu (ghatam) exhibited extraordinary calibre on the instruments. It was in the ragam thanam pallavi that the duo gave a spirited display of astounding singing. The chosen ragas were Aarabhi and Anandabhairavi. It was child’s play for them as they dealt the raga delineation, touching the two ragas singularly melodiously and exhibited individual expertise, too. For the pallavi in Tamil, they took each of four ragas: Saramathi, Salaga Bhairavi, Vasantha Bhairavi and Sindhu Bhairavi with ease and showed their mastery in shifting from one raga to the other easily and effortlessly.

The pallavi was set to Chaturasra jathi, Roopaka thalam, in Khanda gathi. It was also another speciality that the raga mudra (name) also spelled the last word of the relative charanams (phrases), thus keeping the raga bhavam intact. The duo’s dictum and rendition clarity was also appreciable. Further in the rendering of swarakalpana they showed tonal beauty in the higher octave as well as in the lower octave. The swarkalpana was intelligently and aesthetically rendered.

Ranjani and Gayathri concluded with a Bhageswari raga krithi and the last number was an abhang of Thukaram “Thujhe Rama Nam” (Mond) proved to be a scintillating rendition showing their Hindusthani expertise as also an embellished swarakalpana and raga bhava emotively. The Sangeetha Kalasagara title was awarded to mridanga vidwan ‘Kalatapasvi’ Vankayala Narasimham by the chief guest RS Sarma, Dharmadhikari of Sringeri Matham, Hyderabad. Indeed, it was a shining and memorable classical kutchery.