The raga delineation of Mohanakalyani, which in general is a snappy one in concerts, came as the main raga with tanam and pallavi in Ranjani and Gayatri's concert for the Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha .
Ranjani presented the raga in the lower and middle octaves, aesthetically etching every phrase. Gayatri continued the raga in the tara sthayi, structuring it in small and long phrases without being loud in the upper octaves.
The sisters took turns to present the tanam. Interspersed with akaras, the tanam syllables came in with brigas too. The remarkable aspect was that the tanam was Mohanakalyani in long and short bits and not a trace of Mohanam even when the arohanam phrases were rendered in long stretches.
The pallavi ‘Ramani Raghuveeranai Dinamum Nee Ninai’ was set in Misra Jampa talam. The trikalam was enjoyable and the subtlety of the mathematical aspects made it easy for the rasikas to follow. The swaras in the mel kalam added lustre, especially in the ragamalika session.
The tala too gave ample scope for the percussionists to display their skills. Manoj Siva followed the vocalists through their manodharma as a shadow and Purushottam did his part well when H.N. Bhaskar replied precisely in the trikalams and the swaras.
The concert had a variety with a vivadi raga kriti of Koteeswara Iyer in Chalanatai – ‘Edayya Gati,’ Tyagaraja's ‘Manasuloni’ in Suddha Hindolam and an expansive Kedaragowla followed by Papanasam Sivan's ‘Samikku Sari Evare.’
The brisk rendition of ‘Sri Guruguha Tarayasumam’ (Muthuswami Dikshitar) in Devakriya and ‘Patti Viduva Radhu’ (Tyagaraja) in Manjari also contributed to the variety.
Gayathri maintained the sowkhyam in the alapana of Kedaragowla. The kalpanaswara series had more rounds in a slower speed with minimal rendering of fast phrases, which was apt for a raga like Kedaragowla.
For the tukkada session, the sisters chose Bharatiyar's ‘Pagaivanukkarulvai’ in ragamalika and Namdev's abhang ‘Vithoba Chala Mandirat.’ While Bharati's song brought out the passion of his verses, the abhang had its usual zest.
