Reviving melodies of a royal composer

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 26 (PTI) As the mellifluous voices of the Ranjani-Gayatri duo soar through the air, singing "Kulirmathi Vadhane..." to the tender, romantic strains of composer M Jayachandran, a journey begins.

It is a journey of musicians and music lovers alike--dedicated to reviving the timeless legacy of Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma, the illustrious Maharaja of Travancore.

It is the first of an 18-song series titled "Swathi's Manipravalam." The project brings to light the lesser-known "Padams"--romantic poetry in which the women lovers of Lord Sree Padmanabha express their deep love--shedding fresh light on the multifaceted musical legacy of Swathi Thirunal.

The king, who reigned over Travancore from 1813 to 1846, composed over 400 works in both Carnatic and Hindustani styles during his brief 33 years of life.

"It is the revival of the musical legacy of Kerala and Swathi Thirunal's 'padams'. We had no reference for how the music to these 'padams' was composed, as those tunes have been completely lost," Jayachandran told PTI, recounting how recreating music reflective of Swathi Thirunal's era became a challenge.

"These 'padams' are available in a book written by Chidambara Vadhyar in 1916. There are about 26 'padams' of Swathi Thirunal included in that book. However, we do not know the original tunes of these 'padams'.

"It was mentioned in the book that the padam 'Kulirmathi Vadhane' was composed in the 'Dhanyasi raga' and set to Mishra Chapu tala. We were curious about how he might have composed it. The ragas have evolved over the years, and the way we use Dhanyasi raga now is likely to differ from how it was used then," he said.

Jayachandran said his attempt was to recreate the tune with his own elements. He explained that he had used the pure form of Dhanyasi raga, after spending over a year listening to it performed by various singers and composers.

"It is my journey with Swathi Thirunal and we could get a connection to his thoughts during those years," Jayachandran said.

The music director believes that this music also is part of world music as it is reviving the musical legacy of a place and infusing it with the Western harmony. "No one has infused ragas like Dhanyasi with the Western harmony and so this can be considered one of its kind," he said.

For the entire team involved in the project, it was a challenge to both compose and visualise the padam while connecting it to the era of Swathi Thirunal.

"We wanted to create an ambience reminiscent of the temples in Kerala--the tone you feel when a lamp is lit. Even the costumes of the singers were chosen accordingly," said Rajesh Kadamba, the visual director of the song.

He said it took them three and a half years to produce this single song, with multiple retakes in a studio in Chennai.

"We kept on improvising based on suggestions from Jayachandran. Our primary aim was to create a visual narrative that, at no point, overshadowed the musical composition," Rajesh said.

"This is the revival of the great musical legacy of Kerala, of India, and it is a composition that proudly bears that heritage," Jayachandran said.

The song was produced by Gopakumar, a former music student, IT professional, and now a musical entrepreneur based in Chennai.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)