How often do we hear something like a classical duet? Well, that’s about to change. Two classical Hindustani singers and musicians have come up with a rare classical duet album titled Dhwayam. The album, a collection of duet bhajans and abhangs by Chitra Mohan Kumar and C Rajasekar released by Times Music, was launched at Starmark bookstore in Chennai recently.
The idea behind the album was to familiarise Hindustani Music to the South Indian audience in a package where there is a unique touch of carnatic music in each song so that people can relate to both the genres.
“Based on our experience in learning and singing Hindustani music, we found that people in South India do not have much exposure to Hindustani. Most often, they fail to recognise it as classical. So in the album, we have blended both the genres and have given a different flavour to each by singing duet bhajans. This is rare because Sruthi plays a major role in duet, but we have tried. This album will convey the versatility of Indian classical music and can be appreciated by any music lover,” said Chitra Mohan Kumar, Hindustani and carnatic singer.
The album was launched in the presence of special guests like eminent violinist Mohan Chandrasekaran, who also turned out to be Chitra’s father in law; Meera Savoor, Hindustani singer and trainer and P Unni Krishnan, carnatic and playback singer.
Unni Krishnan lauded the efforts of Chitra and Rajasekar, with whom he had had long histories of friendship and music. He recollected their college days when Chitra and he used to participate in inter-college competitions and win prizes every time. He congratulated Chitra for getting back her feet after a hiatus to where she actually belonged – music – and wished them both success.