Bhoomija had organised an eminently memorable Carnatic- Hindustani classical vocal ‘Jugalbandi’ of the renowned vocalists Ranjani and Gayatri with Kaushiki Chakraborty in Chowdaiah Memorial Hall recently . The collaborative musical extravaganza commenced with a vibrant, succinct Hindustani classical vocal solo in Raga Bihag by Kaushiki Chakraborty. After a prefatory alap with a commendable melodic heft in the anibaddh, non–rhythmic mode, Kaushiki presented a medium tempo jhaptal composition “Chinta Na karare” . In this rhythmic cycle of ten beats, Kaushiki delineated the ‘swaroopa’ of this ‘raganga raga’ with felicity and aplomb, interspersing alap with crisp ‘sargams’, ably accompanied by Tanmay Deochake on the harmonium and Sandeep Ghosh on the tabla. In her impeccable rendition of the fast paced drut Bandish “Dhoom Dhoom Kanhayi more Gokul ki Nagari” , Kaushiki’s swift taankari encompassing the three octaves was noteworthy.
The sisters Ranjani and Gayathri commenced their Carnatic vocal solo with the Raga “Poorvi Kalyani”. Capturing the essence of this beautiful raga in their ‘alap’, the sisters rendered the famous Tyagaraja kriti Jnanamosadaraga”in roopaka tala, one of his masterpieces, popularized by the legendary Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. Critically acclaimed for their excellent ‘ragabhava’ , Ranjani and Gayatri consecutively embarked upon laudatory extempore improvisations with impressive ‘neraval’ and masterful execution of ‘kalpanaswaras’ and tanams followed by an euphonious violin accompaniment by Vittal Rangan and a galvanizing performance on the mridangam by Vidwan Sai Giridhar.
In their jugalbandi section, the artistes chose raga Sri Ranjini and Bageshree from Carnatic and Hindustani classical music systems respectively for their initial presentation. It was Kaushiki who began with a lilting teental composition “Avo sajavo mandirwa” in Bageshree, Ranjani and Gayatri joined in and rendered the Tyagaraja composition “Budini Dasudane ” in Raga Sriranjini. The connoisseurs were spellbound by the three outstanding ‘swarsmiths’ extraordinaire, when their propulsive ‘taans’ overflowed in a cascade, one after the other with the three artistes exploring Raga Sriranjini and Bageshree in their many hued splendour.
The piece de resistance of the concert was the scintillating Ragam-tanam-pallavi in Raga Charukeshi . This was a consummate presentation consisting of an elaborate alapana, tana to tana and pallavi to a single line composition set to the sampoorna raga Charukeshi. In keeping with the mood of the Holi festival of colours and Shringar, Ranjani and Gayatri chose the ashtapadi “Priye Charushile” from Jayadeva Kavi’s Geeta Govindam in chatushra jati triputa tala. Kaushiki presented a madhyalaya teen tal composition “Radha Govindam Bhajare Manare” embellishing it with arresting layakari, swar vinyas and taankari to correspond with the sections of ragam-tanam-pallavi sung by Ranjini-Gayatri. Together they created a melodic rhapsody, making it a sublime aesthetic experience for the connoisseurs. In the detailed exposition of Raga Charukeshi, Gayathri negotiated a very complex ‘grahabedham ’ -- Charukeshi to Hamsa Natai,with astounding ease and precision. Kaushiki also engaged in an extremely resourceful creative response by way of executing creative ‘tirobhav sanchars’ exploiting the myriad possibilities of this melody to its fullest potential. In the “tani avartanam” that followed Vittal Rangan on the violin captivated the listeners with his soulful improvisations and a laudatory execution of Grahabedam . The percussion duet by Sai Giridhar on the mridangam and Sandeep Ghosh on the tabla provided another electrifying dimension to the richness of this ragam-tanam-pallavi experience.
In celebration of the Holi festival , the artistes chose to render a Holi thumri and rendered Radha ki Holi Thumri “Rang Darungi Darungi Nanad Ke Lalan Pe”. The thumri rendition by the vocalists was marked by expressive and poignant use of the words of the bandish in slow tempo. In the exquisite Bol-banav that followed, Kaushiki , Ranjani and Gayatri took turns to depict the many nuanced shades of mood and meaning through alluring inflections and modulations of words and voice, a veritable testimony to the range of their imagination. The Thumri genre being extremely adaptable and supple, offered them a wider vocal mobility and the singers ingeniously used this aspect to introduce lively and novel emotional and tonal colours into their recital. Sandeep Ghosh regaled the listeners with a series of nimble and compact rhythmic improvisations in the ‘laggi’ section .
The spectacular Carnatic – Hindustani Jugalbandi ended with an enchanting rendition of the maestro Lalgudi Jayaraman’s tillana in Raga Madhuvanti by Ranjani–Gayatri and Kaushiki, leaving the connoisseurs with a lingering feeling of yearning for more of this melodic feast.
