Vocalist Sriranjani Santhanagopalan’s ‘Mavericks’ celebrated the feminine power through music and dance

Sriranjani Tapasya Santhanagopalan presented an all-women concert for the International Women’s day at the Madras Literary Society in Chennai.
| Photo Credit: Akhila Easwaran

Feminine power surged on International Women’s Day as Sriranjani Santhanagopalan’s ‘Mavericks’ presented an all-women Carnatic concert under the aegis of Tapasya Chamber Concerts. Reinforcing the theme, all five songs featured were penned by women composers.

Set against the backdrop of sprawling racks housing over 50,000 books in the library hall of the Madras Literary Society building, the fund-raising programme for the Society, established in 1812, transported the audience through aeons with compositions ranging from those by Andal and Avvaiyar down to Sriranjani herself.

Sriranjani Tapasya Santhanagopalan with Deepika Venkatraman (violin), Charu Hariharan (mridangam & pandero cuadrado).
| Photo Credit:
AKHILA EASWARAN

With Deepika Venkatraman (violin), Charu Hariharan (mridangam & pandero cuadrado), and Jyothsna Akhilan (Bharatanatyam) as her co-’Mavericks’, Sriranjani opened her recital with Avvaiyar’s Vinayakar Agaval verse ‘Paalum thelithenum’ as a virutham in Bahudari. It is worth noting that multiple poets by this name appear in Tamil literature, and this one is believed to have lived in the 10th century CE.

Jyothsna’s graceful movements and expressions for the Tiruppavai verse was riveting. 
| Photo Credit:
AKHILA EASWARAN

Sriranjani’s own creation, a vibrant varnam ‘Vallabha nayaka’ in Purnachandrika, was rendered next. She recalled an interesting anecdote — overhearing someone’s request to her father and guru, Neyveli Santhanagopalan, to compose a varnam on Ganesha in the raga — which spurred her into action.

After a succinct alapana of Varali, Sriranjani sang ‘Azhimazhai kanna’ from Tiruppavai. Jyothsna joined at this juncture to add visual delight with her dance, bringing to life Andal’s compassionate plea to Varuna, the rain god, to shower universal prosperity. The confluence of Sriranjani’s evocative niraval at ‘Vaazha ulaginil peidhidaay’ and Jyothsna’s graceful movements and expressions provided a riveting experience.

Joshna Akilan.
| Photo Credit:
AKHILA EASWARAN

Bangalore Nagarathnammal’s poignant javali ‘Mathada baradeno’ was another high point. The Khamas piece conveys the plight of a nayika who is suffering separation from her Lord. Jyothsna caught the attention again, enacting four metaphors to depict the situation — a fish thrown out of water, a derailed creeper seeking its tree, a flower desperate to bloom craving sunlight, and sruti, which had fallen out of sync with laya.

In a brief detour, mridangam gave way to pandero cuadrado, a percussion instrument which has its roots in Portugal and Spain. Charu, in the company of Deepika, ably demonstrated how to play the square-shaped frame drum. Also known as adufe, it is struck using a stick on one side and the hand on the other. The Meera bhajan ‘Pag ghunghru baandh’ wrapped up the recital on a devotional note.

The event flyer bore the tagline ‘Go forth and conquer’ for ‘Mavericks’. And they certainly did, winning the hearts of the rasikas with an energetic fare.