Scintillating sisters - Ranjani and Gayathri

Brightly dressed and cheerful-looking sisters Ranjani and Gayathri performed a wonderful concert on the 28^th of December, 2012, in the company of B.U.Ganeshprasad on the violin, H.S.Sudhindra on the mridangam and H.Sivaramakrishnan on the ghatam, at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club. They started the concert with the ‘Vanajakshiro’ varnam in Kalyani, set to Adi talam and composed by Nagapattinam Veerasvami Pillai. They sang the second speed too. It was a brisk start. The second song was ‘Paalaya madhava’ in Asaveri, composed by Swati Tirunal and set to Adi talam too. Ranjani was quite often looking into the paper and referring for lyrics of the Anupallavi. The song was neither slow nor fast. The swarams were sung at the charanam in the second speed and very really good. The sound from the violin was a bit strange and hoarse. There were a lot of gaps in the crowd. The auditorium was only half full. Next was ‘Maakelaraa vichaaramu’ in Ravichandrika, composed by Thyagaraja and set to Adi talam. The ragam was beautiful. If one noticed intently, he would notice that the intricate nuances were complete. The fast-paced akarams were really good. Suddenly, a man came holding a tray with three cups of hot coffee, which were given to the ghatam, mridangam and violin artists! The ghatam artist rarely played, but when he did, he was awesome! They sang the swarams in the charanam in the second speed. Both of them have wonderful voices.

After that was ‘Kannil kuralai kettu’ in Bhairavi. It was slow-paced and really good. Next came the main in Saveri – ‘Kari kalabha mukham’, composed by Mutthuswami Dikshithar and set to Rupaka talam. The ragam was splendid and filled with brihas. They did full justice to the ragam. It is a beautiful composition and it was beautifully rendered too. The violin was really good. The ‘kaveri thata stitham saveri raga nutham’ line was super. The neraval was done at ‘Neela greeva kumaram neeratha shobhaaharam’ and Gayathri sang it really well. The swarams were sung in both the speeds. Ranjani lost the sruthi slightly in one place. The thaniyavardhanam was awesome. The mridangam and ghatam were very good. The ghatam artist was excellent and received many claps! After this was ‘Yagnyaadulu sukha’ in Jayamanohar, composed by Thyagaraja. It was very appealing.

Then came the Ragam-Thanam-Pallavi in Nasikabhushani. Ranjani sang the ragam really well. There were a few places where the sruthi was lost when the violin played. Gayathri, with her bold and attractive voice, sang the ragam really well too. They were beautifying beauty. There were thunderous claps. The thanam was very soft and slow and melodious. Though they sang it in the second speed, the melody was not lost. Since it was Thiruvaadirai that day – a special day for Chidambaram Natarajar, their pallavi was ‘Chidambara Natarajam ashraye ham shivakami pathim chith sabhapathim’ set to Tisra jathi tiruputa talam(2 kalam). The swarams were very wonderful. They sang it in the second speed too. The changed the kalam from the 2^nd to the 1^st. The transited from Shyama-Kalyanavasantham-Vasanthi-Megh malahari and came back to Nasikabhushani, in the swarams. After that was a vritham – ‘Aadhiyaay naduvumaagi’in Bilahari. It was continued in Hamsanandhi by Ranjani and in Sindhubhairavi by Gayathri again. It was followed by ‘Aandavan darisaname thyagesan’ in Sindhubhairavi too, set to Eka talam. Last but not the least was ‘Pandaricha bhootha mote’, an abhang in Chandrakauns, which some of my friends and I requested them to sing. The abhang says – ‘Don’t go to Pandaripur as there is a ghost there, a ghost called ‘bhakthi’ which will never allow you to return back’! It was beautiful. The concert concluded with the mangalam, followed by ear-splitting claps from the elated audience.