Recorded at Darbar Festival 2015, on 18th September, at the Purcell Room of London's Southbank Centre.

Musicians:
- Ranjani & Gayatri (vocals)
- HN Bhaskar (violin)
- Sai Giridhar (mridangam)
- Giridhar Udupa (ghatam)
- Mithila Sarma & Kiruthika Nadarajah (tanpuras)

Raga Arabhi

Renowned for the lyrical luminosity and purity with which they continue to present Carnatic music to audiences around the world, Ranjani and Gayatri’s performance from this Darbar festival 2015 video is a firecracker that will be remembered for years. As siblings who embarked on their musical journeys hand-in-hand, they are blessed with an extraordinary timbre and an infectious personality on stage.

HN Bhaskar’s support on the violin is ripe with patient refrains, varied melodic improvisations and a strong sense of rhythm.

Sai Giridhar (mridangam) and Giridhar Udupa (ghatam) interlace the melody with a meticulously woven rhythmic support that calibrates mindfully to the music in delicate and robust crests and troughs.

The second composition set to Raga Arabhi, was written and composed by Saint Thyagaraja (1767-1847). Ranjani takes the lead to introduce the alapana in crisp and steady rapid notes accentuated by oscillations. Each note is welded to the other in smooth switch-overs as they flow and ebb in a series of synchronised, rhythmless melodic tides. ‘Nada Sudha Rasam Bhilanu’ gives a stunning metaphor of Rama as a personification of the supreme, divine medium of music.