As I take a breather after the hectic season, many things are in my mind, both the mundane and the special. Mundane as in the usual warm up before the concert, child care logistics, and other matters which come up in the course of running a household without the help of Krishnan, my husband who was in most part of December in London on official work.
What makes the life very interesting and meaningful are the special moments when you give your best and everything clicks to make the moment so memorable. These moments stay with you for a lifetime.
After a very long gap of two years, we performed a violin Duet concert for Brahma Gana Sabha due to a very bad throat infection. We were to sing on the 16th, but all the medication and salt water gargling could not cure the sore throat. We called the secretary up ,told him about our inability to sing and asked him to fix up someone else in our stead. But the secretary explained that he would not want to look for a suitable replacement in two days time and requested us to play violin instead. We were quite hesitant, as we were honestly out of practice and were not sure if we could play to our satisfaction. But surprises of surprises!! All those years of practice and passionate involvement stood us in good stead. I felt very comfortable with the violin as if I have played on it almost everyday. Gayatri said that she felt the same way too.We were very happy with the performance that day, our accompanying artistes Manoj on the mridangam and Guruprasad on the Ghatam did a fantastic job. I could feel my late Guru T.S. Krishnaswamy smiling and blessing us! Maybe, everything - even throat infections happens for the good!
Each of our concerts this season was special in different ways. The Narada gana sabha sound system I heard has been upgraded and we felt the difference right away and enjoyed singing there. Krishna Gana Sabha also has a very good ambience and acoustics, we discovered what a beauty the ragam Sarasangi was in that concert. It is quite surprising that there are not many compositions in this wonderful raga save a couple.
Music Academy as always was very special for us. We sang the three raga Ragam Tanam Pallavi based on the Durga Lakshmi Saraswati theme. Singing RTP is such a pleasure, it gives the artiste the freedom to handle it the way he or she wishes. Gayatri was as usual excellent in shifting from one raga to the other in quick succession and bringing out the essence of each of the ragas in the first phrase itself. We also were awarded The Best Concert in the senior category and all this has made our season 2009 a special one.
The only regret this season was that I could not listen to many concerts, especially the concerts of Parasala Ponnamma, Nedanuri Krishnamurthy, R.K.Srikanthan to name a very few, I hope to make it up the coming season.
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11 comments:
Hi Ranjani !,
I was indeed privilege to be one of the audience to have experienced the katcheri.
It was just mind blowing to see you and Gayatri singing the salutation to trinity goddess - Durga, Lalitha and Saraswathy. Have the CDs of the same released? If so I would love to buy it.
Regards
Sudha
It is indeed a pleasure to read that the audience of Brahma Gana Sabha were blessed to witness a violin duo. In my opinion, a violin concert once in a while would give more freshness to your performances. If that is not feasible atleast a violin CD release once in a year would do. The melody of "Madhuryam" is still ringing in our ears and would like to listen to more of violin from you both.
Dear Ranjani & Gayatri :
I am from Manila, Philippines and a fan of your Divine music since Nov 2007. I came to Chennai in Dec 2008 to attend your concerts- couldn't make it in Dec 2009.
I have listened to your 2009 season's postings in Youtube.
My sincere wishes for your successful musical journey and may Goddess Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati bless you with more accomplishments in the years to come - Arun Arunachalam
You guys are twice blessed. Once for your vocal ability. Next time too for your expertise in violin. Indeed, God has been so nice to you two. All the very best.
kt
Wonder how you find time for blogging..especially with your limited time to practice and perform and whirlwind tours and emails ???
Thanks for the wonderful performance today @ the Hamsadwani hall! Thank you for singing my request - EkNatha abhang. I don't know much about carnatic music but I listen to this song everyday on my way to work! And I love the sounds you both produce.
Amitabh Bachhan's blog contains all thoughts by his admirers..do you filter the comments received before posting the same, as there aren't many in your blog....
Looking forward to a new post :-)
Hi,
I am your fan. I have not been listening to you both recently. Being from Amchi Mumbai, and as versatile as Ms. Jayashree, I would like to here you both releasing an album of lullaby compositions in different languages (like vatsalyam), if one is not released already. Let me know if there is one already.
Thanks and please grace our house when you are in Pune next!
Usha & Srinivasan
Dear Ranjani& Gayatri,
I'm a very recent fan of your musical offerings and I want to thank you for being an inspiration to aspirants like me.
I'm a mom of 2 kids living in the US and am re-discovering my passion for Carnatic Music. You have really inspired me to set lofty goals and am grateful for that.
Would love for you two to sing in Seattle!
Dear Ranjani & Gayatri:
We are thrilled and eager to attend your concert in Raleigh, North Carolina on OCT 17. Our family thoroughly enjoys your singing and we have been following your music for the last few years.
I will be greatly delighted if you can accommodate our song requests during your Raleigh concert. Could you please consider the following:
* Hiranmayeem Lakshmim (Raag Lalitha)
* (Lalgudi Sri Jayaraman) Thillana (Raag Revathy)
Thanks so much and hope to see you both soon!
Sincerely,
Mini
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