A tribute in Carnatic idiom to Ilaiyaraaja’s classicism in film music

Ranjani and Gayatri will be performing a unique concert, ‘RaajabyRaga’, on June 5 at The Music Academy to celebrate the maestro’s 80th birthday

When Carnatic singers Ranjani and Gayatri perform a unique concert RaajabyRaGa, on June 5, to celebrate the legendary music director Ilaiyaraaja’s 80 th birthday, they will be fulfilling the stated or unstated desire of many musicians, including flautist T. Viswanathan.

While receiving the Sangita Kalanidhi award of The Music Academy, the late Viswanathan called upon traditional musicians to take the first step towards a mutual understanding between traditional art music and film music.

“Ilaiyaraaja has effortlessly created a bridge between classical and film music. We are going to celebrate his classicism in film music by interpreting his compositions in Carnatic style,” said sisters Ranjani and Gayatri, who have chosen to render some of Ilaiyaraaja’s film compositions in the June 5 concert at The Music Academy.

They have planned it as a two-and-a-half or three-hour programme with all the elements of a Carnatic concert, including ragam, tanam, pallavi and Ragamaalika renderings.

“We are not going to reproduce his compositions. The orchestrations have been done with laser-like precision. We will sing to the accompaniment of violin, mridangam and ghatam. It is a tribute in Carnatic idiom to his music,” said the sisters who first collaborated with Ilaiyaraaja in project Maayone.

They said each piece would explore a particular idea of Ilaiyaraaja’s music and his trademark Carnatic adaptation. They have chosen Chinna Kannan Azhaikkiran set to Reetigowla for ragam-tanam-pallavi.