Recorded by Darbar on 22 Jun 2017 at Italy’s Ravenna Festival:
- Ranjani & Gayatri (vocals)
- Jyotsna Srikanth (violin)
- Patri Satish Kumar (mridangam)
- Giridhar Udupa (ghatam)

Raga Chandrakauns
Raga Madhukauns

“I present two ragas at the same time, through a device called murchana…” The singing Carnatic sisters blend two ragas by using the illusion that Ma has become Sa.

Learn more about the music:
Ranjani and Gayatri are sisters who sing and play Carnatic music on violin. They were born into a musical family and their talent was recognised very early (it is said that they could identify complex rhythmic patterns and hundreds of different ragas by early childhood). They trained within the family, as well as receiving violin lessons from T.S. Krishnaswami and vocal instruction from P. S. Narayanaswamy. They are notable as prolific song composers, and for fusing ideas from Hindustani and Carnatic music.

‘Murchana’ (1:10) describes the concept of modality in Indian classical music. In this instance, the sisters begin in Raag Chandrakauns, a spacious, distinctive, and comparatively modern form. They allow the listener’s ear to settle into Chandrakauns’ scale of SgmdNS, before then refocusing their melodies on Ma, creating the illusion that it has become the new Sa. The resulting scale is Madhukauns (SgMPnS), a popular night raga. In a sense they are still in Raag Chandrakauns, but have rotated the scale’s centre of gravity to produce a new essence from the same notes. Jasrangi jugalbandi [male & female vocal duets] sometimes employ murchana by having the female singer treat Ma or Pa from the male’s scale as the Sa of her own. Some consider this fascinating concept to be the closest that Indian classical music gets to key changes, modulations, and thinking in distinct ‘layers’ of music.

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