Ranjani and Gayatri | Viruttham
7m 2s
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)
Ragamalika: Mohanam, Saveri, Sindhu Bhairavi
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 next piece, a Tamil ‘viruttham’ (sanskrit hymn with no rhythmic accompaniment) set to Raga Sindhu Bhairavi flows seamlessly into a composition in praise of the duality of Lord Shiva by Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer (1844-1893).