A Carnatic celebration of the maestro’s classical gems

The Madras Music Academy has reverberated with the music of Carnatic legends catering to connoisseurs and also hosted orchestras belting out cinema songs. The twain met a couple of Sundays back. Raaja by RaGa was the brainchild of Sriram, a friend, advisor and confidant of Ilaiyaraaja and head of Mercuri Entertainment. Ranjani Gayatri, the gifted Carnatic singing sisters were enthused and planned the concert as an exploration of the maestro’s classical connection and presented it as a celebration and tribute to his glorious music.

A huge stadium doesn’t seem enough when a Raja concert is announced and there was a clamour for tickets when this unique endeavour was announced. For once the laity jostled with the cognoscenti in the haloed hall. The sisters seamlessly sewed swaras before regaling the audience with Raja’s lilting creations. There was a sense of deja vu when during the rendition of ‘Kalaivaniye’ the audience applauded at exactly the same time the listeners onscreen did. The evening ended with the maestro generously praising the sisters after listening to the entire concert. Of course, the three hours were just not enough to satiate fans of this living legend.

A chat with Ranjani and Gayatri about the unique experience

Have you had so much fun onstage before?

I think we always have fun during our concerts. We are reminded of someone who regularly attends our concert. He said when you sing it’s like two young puppies having fun. When we start singing it’s like a great adventure. This of course was a novel concert and there was some amount of anxiety since it was the first time we were attempting something like this. Once we started singing we had great fun.

You hail from a musical family. Were your parents the kind who had a condescending attitude towards film music?

We want to be politically correct here. Our parents were immersed in Carnatic music. We were born and brought up in Mumbai and we were restricted from listening to other music at home. There was a cassette shop downstairs though that kept playing popular film music. We couldn’t escape Hindi film songs.

This concert was a unique idea. How did you broach this with Ilaiyaraaja?

It evolved during a discussion. It definitely was not our initiative.

Did you feel unshackled from the confines of Classical music when you were singing?

We don’t consider Classical music as a shackle. We feel it’s a glorious playground for us to play with. We would like to change the feel of the metaphor here. Classical music is a huge canvas. There was freedom with riders and the challenge is to have boundaries. The challenge was to integrate Raja sir’s music with classicism in a way that was very seamless and gained from each other. That was the intention. We have huge reverence for Raja sir. The whole purpose of music is to connect with people’s emotions. His music hascaptivated 300 crore people. This concert was a tribute to that individual who’s a living legend.

Would you call his music a bridge between classical and cinema?

Inadvertently he’s done that. He’s composed many songs based on ragas and popularized them. That’s definitely a kind of bridge. He’s also introduced a lot of complexity and nuance in rhythms. He has sensitised the masses to the higher aspects of music unobtrusively. Many people recognize ragas because they’ve heard them through his tunes.

You don’t rehearse for concerts because you practice together but you had to rehearse for this in his presence.

You’re right we don’t rehearse for concerts because we’re always on the same page like a free flowing conversation. We didn’t rehearse in his presence for this concert. The concept came from their side as a celebration of his eightieth birthday. They felt it would be a great idea if we do something through the idiom of classical music. An exploration of his work. We met Raja sir and told him the concept we had in mind. He was very happy and said it was an outstanding idea. He actually did not know the songs we were going to present.

The most difficult part must have been the selection of songs and ragas.

Like you said there are hundreds of ragas and multiple compositions in them. There are many romantic numbers that are deeply classical. So how do you choose from the works of a legend who’s used a raga but extended the scope of the raga. There are so many who said you missed Charukesi and Shanmukhapriya. The list is huge. We wanted to bring out the essence of classicism in his work. The Sapthaswara medley had many unconventional songs but it was bound by alapana, tala and swara. We thought out of the box. The choice of singing ‘Kalaivaniye’ was to challenge ourselves. When was the last time a musician said you will only sing in Aarohanam or Avarohanam? The Essence of Manodharma in classical music is free flowing, an upward and downward movement. It’s a huge challenge to restrict that. We missed some compositions but hopefully there will be more concerts like this.

Did your respect for playback singers go up a notch? Someone like SPB was untrained.

Absolutely. You can say that a hundred times.These people go to the studio, learn the song and sing. We got to listen to the songs multiple times to get a reference. They used to sing with a live orchestra unlike today. We already knew but after this we appreciate the continuity and precision needed.

Ilaiyaraja as you mentioned onstage is untrained. Did you ask him whether he even knew the names of the ragas?

It’s a very interesting question because you put a finger on one of the most amazing, incredible things about the maestro. To answer your question of course he knows. We think at some point he would have ascertained. But yes we don’t think he composed knowing this is a particular raga. His vision of the music and the way he looks at the notes is abstract. It’s not the same way a Carnatic musician would look at the notes. In some ways he approaches it like western notes. He has a musical language and universe of his own in his head. We get glimpses when we talk to him. We are not able to articulate it but we think the tunes form not because he thinks of it as a raga or any such structure. It just seems to come to him magically.

The fascinating part is he does this without veering away from the basic grammar of music.

Exactly and that is what makes it all the more incredible. You won’t hear one alien note in the representation of a raga in his composition. When we recorded the song ‘Maayonae’ for him there were some phrases of ‘shubha pantuvarali’ that crept into our rendition. He called us the next day and pointed it out and wanted it corrected. So for a man whose understanding of raga or grip is not swara or raga oriented his mastery over it is unquestionable. He entered this world with all of it coded into him. The mind boggling thing is he’s produced all this music with so many constraints, with the producer always in a hurry.

He’s usually parsimonious with praise but seemed to have enjoyed the concert immensely.

(Laughs) Yes. We would say it’s his reverence for classical music as a reason. He’s such a respectful human being. He’s very large hearted in his praise. There’s an innocence and genuinity shining through. He doesn’t utter a word that he doesn’t believe is the truth. He’s very forthright with his opinions. Political correctness is not part of his DNA at all. That’s what makes it overwhelming, the way he appreciated our effort. It’s surreal and a heavy burden. The best thing is to practice harder and move on and not dwell on it.

The icing must have been his request that you sing an ‘Abhang’.

Yes. There was only one meeting and we asked him if he would like any songs to be included and he mentioned ‘Mari Mari Ninne’ and the other was ‘Abhang’.

(The author has been writing on cinema for various publications for four decades).