Oscar-Grammy winner AR Rahman launches ‘Thribinna’, an Indian Symphony project conceptualised by Grammy awardee violin maestro Ganesh Rajagopalan
Oscar and Grammy winner AR Rahman, who played a key role in placing Indian music on global map, launched Thribinna, an Indian symphony project conceptualised by Grammy awardee violin maestro Ganesh Rajagopalan, on December 27 (Saturday) at the Bigviolinshop, Chennai.
The evening started with AR Rahman launching the album, followed by a live performance of compositions from Thribinna by Ganesh Rajagopalan, featuring the Swarayoga Ensemble and Anirudha Bhat on the Mridangam.
In addition to legendary composer AR Rahman, distinguished guests from the music and film fraternity including popular classical musicians Krishna Kumar and Binny Krishna Kumar, violin maestro Kumaresh and veena virtuoso Jayanthi Kumaresh attended the event.
Thribinna is inspired by an ancient idea in Carnatic music where swaras were divided and experienced together, rather than only one after another. Rooted in early ghamaka concepts, Thribinna explores the simultaneous use of multiple notes from the same raga to create harmony in an Indian musical context.
This album expands the expressive scope of the raga, using it as a tool to build richer textures and larger musical forms. Thribinna reflects a vision of an Indian Symphony—where tradition and imagination come together to create music on a broader canvas.
Thribinna reflects Ganesh Rajagopalan’s continued commitment to keeping the roots of Carnatic music. The album features the Swarayoga Ensemble- students of Ganesh Rajagopalan, with eminent artistes Pathri Satish Kumar, Ojas Adhya, Trichy Krishna Swamy, and Swaminathan Selva Ganesh.
This album is available on all digital platforms.
For other inquiries:
Website: https://ganeshrajagopalan.com/
Email: swarayoga.music@gmail.com
It seemed to Bellevue violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan an act of fate or destiny was playing out when tabla player Zakir Hussain invited him to join Shakti in 2019. The Indian music-jazz fusion group was reforming after a decades-long hiatus to play two shows in early 2020 and needed a violinist to step in for former member Lakshminarayana “L.” Shankar.
“At that point, I was just elated,” said Rajagopalan, 59, a master of Carnatic (South Indian classical) music who came to the Pacific Northwest to establish Carnatic music schools in Portland and Seattle. Rajagopalan, who moved to Bellevue in 2015, runs the eSwara School of Arts in Sammamish.
It was a full-circle moment for Rajagopalan, who’s known of the band since childhood, through former Shakti percussionist Vikku Vinayakram. Shakti is nominated for a 2024 Grammy Award for best global music album for “This Moment,” the group’s first studio album in more than 45 years.
“When I was very young, [Vinayakram] used to play with me,” said Rajagopalan, who first rose to fame as a child prodigy in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh in Northern India, playing with his younger brother, Kumaresh. “He used to talk about Shakti a lot, and how the group is and everything. So I’ve been knowing Shakti as a young kid. It was just amazing I was able to join the group at a later point of time and be part of it, all that music, and play with them. It’s unreal.”
Rajagopalan’s two initial shows with the band in January 2020, one in Kolkata, India and one in Singapore, proved Shakti — which first got together in 1973 and released its then-last album in 1977 — still had something to say musically. British guitarist and band leader John McLaughlin also formed the band Remember Shakti, which released studio albums in 1999, 2000 and 2001, that included several of the same members.
Inspired to keep creating but facing restrictive travel due to the pandemic, the current iteration of Shakti — McLaughlin, Rajagopalan, Hussain, percussionist V. Selvaganesh (son of Vinayakram) and singer Shankar Mahadevan — started putting together an album the way many musicians were forced to during the lockdown: piecemeal over the internet.
“I got a new perspective about music after playing with Shakti,” Rajagopalan said. “As a musician, I do a lot of collaborations and fusion music, but this was a true eye opener because the way the music came, how the composition came about, and how much everybody was contributing and everybody was [stuck] in different areas. We were in five different places and coordinated the sent music to each other.”
For the members of Shakti, it was a new form of recording from what the longtime industry veterans were used to, but the results exceeded expectations as the album, “This Moment,” was released to critical acclaim in June 2023.
To get a sense of the electric chemistry between the five band members, check out Shakti’s joyous appearance on NPR’s Tiny Desk series from October. Sitting cramped in a circle, the group’s communication and creativity is on full display as they build a layered sound that truly seems to fuse Eastern and Western traditions.
“It was amazing how it all came together, but playing onstage was so different than the record because it was all spontaneous and a lot of things changed,” Rajagopalan said. “When you hear ‘Shrini’s Dream’ that came out in the album and then to hear it in the concert, it’s so different. The composition is the same, but how we played with the composition was completely different.”
The positive reaction to their album, live performances and Tiny Desk appearance was validation enough that the group was on to something, but Rajagopalan said he never dreamed that they’d snag a Grammy nod.
“It’s too much,” he said. “The moment it was announced, I didn’t believe so many people here in India would be so delighted that we would be nominated for the Grammys. The reception that we got, the emails, the phone calls, the messages, were incredible.”
Widely respected in the world of Carnatic music for his playing and composing, Rajagopalan and his brother won the 2018 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Carnatic instrumental music, the Indian equivalent of winning a Grammy Award. Rajagopalan has also branched out as a solo artist.
While waiting for the Feb. 4 Grammys ceremony, Rajagopalan has kept busy touring India in January. He’s also worked on a new song with the jazz pianist Marina Albero that is yet to be released, aptly called “Rain, Rain in Seattle.”
“It was a beautiful combination of me and her and a saxophone player, jazz musician, who actually knows a lot about Indian music, Mr. George Brooks,” Rajagopalan said. “I loved doing it.”
And come Grammy night, if Shakti wins? Rajagopalan broke into a mischievous laugh.
“Oh, it would be huge,” he said. “I think 50 years of Shakti, it has never won the Grammy, so it would be a huge feather in the cap for John and Zakir, they are the glue. Many other people have come and gone, but this is a tribute to them. That would be a great thing.”
Reputed violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan’s Yugma, is now live on YouTube and music platforms like Spotify. This original composition by Rajagopalan was recorded in July 2023, with maestro Christophe Chagnard conducting the Northwest Sinfonietta at the Lagerquist Concert Hall at Mary Baker Russell Music Center in Tacoma, Washington.
The piece is a reimagination of the raga Hamsadhwani, presented in a form called “ragapravaham” that Rajagopalan has pioneered.
The name Yugma is derived from Sanskrit, and represents the confluence between Rajagopalan’s Carnatic violin stylings and the Western Classical flavor brought in by Chagnard’s Northwest Sinfonietta, a 35-member chamber orchestra.
“As an artist, playing with a string orchestra has always been my dream,” said Rajagopalan. “Among my compositions, Hamsadwani Ragapravaham stood out as a piece that begged for such an arrangement. During the pandemic, I had an epiphany: ‘Why not record it with an orchestra?’ I shared this idea with Christophe [Chagnard], who embraced it wholeheartedly.”
Watch Yugma on Youtube or listen on Spotify.
When asked if releasing singles online would challenge the success of albums, Rahman said that both of them will continue to co-exist.
“The laws here are not stringent enough to block soundtracks which are copied and not credited,” music director A.R. Rahman said on Wednesday.
Speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of the launch of a neo-Carnatic single by violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan, he said when it is released, people should follow the guidelines, but should they use it and put someone else’s name, it becomes a problem. “That’s why there is a fear in putting things out first,” he said.
When asked if releasing singles online would challenge the success of albums, the Oscar and Grammy-winning composer said that both of them will continue to co-exist. “The whole process about physical product and printing gets avoided. For instance, the song thalli pokathey was conceived in a week but mixed and uploaded on the digital platform the same day. The power of putting it out is simple and tremendous, but you should do it when you believe it is the right time,” he said.
“The laws here are not stringent enough to block soundtracks which are copied and not credited,” music director A.R. Rahman said on Wednesday.
Speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of the launch of a neo-Carnatic single by violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan, he said when it is released, people should follow the guidelines, but should they use it and put someone else’s name, it becomes a problem. “That’s why there is a fear in putting things out first,” he said.
When asked if releasing singles online would challenge the success of albums, the Oscar and Grammy-winning composer said that both of them will continue to co-exist. “The whole process about physical product and printing gets avoided. For instance, the song thalli pokathey was conceived in a week but mixed and uploaded on the digital platform the same day. The power of putting it out is simple and tremendous, but you should do it when you believe it is the right time,” he said.
Violinist Ganesh said that his single, released in collaboration with singer Bombay Jayashree and pianist Stephen Devassy, wanted to present a different visualisation. “This is an age of visuals. When we think of carnatic, we relate it only to some images of temples or a community. I wanted to change the cliche.” He said he had brought the single in raga Begada and tried to portray it in a modern way. “Even people who may not usually like Carnatic music may appreciate this one,” he added.
Ganesh Rajagopalan and his Shakti band members won the Grammy for Best Global Music Album with their studio album 'This Moment'. The band's fusion music, evolving over 50 years, continues to inspire and create beautiful music.
It was as if time had stopped, says violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan as he recalls walking up to the Grammy stage with his Shakti band members to receive the golden gramophone for 'Best Global Music Album'. Shakti won the Grammy for "This Moment", the band's first studio album in over 45 years.
Rajagopalan, Shakti's founder and guitarist John McLaughlin, tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, singer Shankar Mahadevan and percussionist Selvaganesh Vinayakram won the award at a ceremony in the US earlier this month.
"It was like euphoria because time stopped (for us). We had a contingent of 25 people with us so celebration started at that time. It was like a beautiful moment, unforgettable, etched in memory," Rajagopalan told PTI in an interview.
The violinist, 59, who along with his brother Kumaresh, is a prominent name in the Carnatic music fraternity, is settled in Seattle (US) but has a home in Chennai too.
He credits McLaughlin and Hussain for being the driving force behind the studio album that was created during the pandemic with members sitting in "different corners of the world".
"We created a drop box so every composition, every thing was put on that drop box. After the composition was run, we played layers and layers and layers, so everything was mixed. It was so beautiful that the whole thing came (together) because in the beginning, there was only one line and after that everything was added one after the other...
"When you hear the music, it's so beautiful. It all sounds like we were in one studio, seating and playing against each other. It sounds like that now but it was actually played in different parts, from different parts of the globe. So, that's the power of 'Shakti' I think," he said.
Rajagopalan became a member of 'Shakti' in 2019, stepping in as a violinist after Lakshminarayana L Shankar left the group, which was originally founded in 1976.
The musician said Shakti as a band is very special for each member.
"When we get together, the vibration, the energy that Shakti brings in, you will be sucked into that kind of feel. We long for that when there is a gap. To be rubbing shoulders with such great people is also one of the incentives of playing with 'Shakti'."
Rajagopalan said the band, whose founding members were McLaughlin, Hussain, Lakshminarayan Shankar and Vikku Vinayakram, "defined fusion".
"It's a very unique, special band. That's how it was formed. After ten years or so, they disbanded and then after that it came in another avatar and then it got disbanded again, then another one happened.
"50 years have passed and 'Shakti' has also evolved with time and music is so different from what it began and what is it now. It's so different, so beautiful and it's evolved with the times, change in members and now it's come a full circle."
Rajagopalan has collaborated with musicians like A R Rahman, Ilayaraja and M Keeravani in the past and is also the founder of Eswara School of Music in Portland (US).
As an artist, he said, he is always open to new ideas in music.
"Music is more like an addiction in a way... From the beginning, I have been fortunate to be playing with top most people in the world... The stop comes only when you think that you have done it all but I think there is more to come," he said.
Shakti’s violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan talks about the joys of being part of a Grammy winning Indian band
Vocalist Shankar Mahadevan, violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan, Ustad Zakir Hussain and percussionist V Selvaganesh of Shakti pose for photos with the award for best global music album for ‘This Moment’ during the 66th annual Grammy Awards, in Los Angeles, USA, Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024. (PTI Photo)
Over a video call from Seattle, Shakti’s violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan, known for his solo work as well as being one half of the sibling Carnatic duo Ganesh-Kumaresh, says it was a really big surprise when news of the nomination came last year. He says, “I did not expect that we would get nominated, but we did. Somehow from that point on, I was sure we would win it. I don’t know why, but I really thought that it was ours. That trophy is ours, and we got it. It was a premonition of sorts, but a good premonition.”
