Art speaks loudly even before it is taught. One does not need formal training to understand and appreciate it. While music, in particular, has transcended culture, tradition, and boundaries, it also has undoubtedly sustained and fanned out its magic across generations and ultimately, time itself.
Carnatic music is a case in point. It has traversed oceans, mountains, and more recently, the unconventional spaces in which it is performed in; the form has continued to evolve while retaining its essence. Among the many efforts that make Carnatic music relevant and accessible to younger audiences is ‘Thribinna’, an Indian symphony project conceptualised by Grammy award-winning, violin maestro Ganesh Rajagopalan.
Launched on December 27 by Oscar-Grammy winner AR Rahman in the city, Thribinna refers to a ghamaka that is split into three distinct strands and rendered. Ganesh notes, “‘Thribinna’ is inspired by an ancient idea in Carnatic music where swaras were divided and experienced together, rather than only one after another.”
Rooted and expansive
Rooted in ancient ghamaka concepts, the album explores the simultaneous use of multiple notes from the same raga to create harmony in an Indian musical context and 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,” he adds.
This musical concept has existed in ancient Indian musical practice, where melodic movement was not always linear but layered. “My long engagement with raga grammar made me curious about what lies beyond linear progression. ‘Thribinna’ is an attempt to make that implicit harmony explicit, without borrowing from external harmonic systems.”
In a nutshell, the project is an expansion of this foundational idea — taking an early ghamaka principle and developing it into a large-scale, contemporary musical form while remaining rooted in raga grammar and tradition.
Innovating the known
The idea behind this production emerged from reflecting on the expansive way Indian music once viewed sound and structure. Ganesh says, “The idea was less about adopting the Western notion of a symphony and more about discovering how large-scale form can organically arise from Indian musical thought itself.”
Every creative creation hits a curve — a challenge — and in ‘Thribinna’, it was retaining the subtlety of ghamaka while placing it in a larger, multi-layered context. “Ghamakas are deeply personal and fluid, so translating them into a collective, structured format requires clarity, discipline, and deep listening from every performer.”
Listening beyond the linear
While ‘Thribinna’ is Ganesh’s brainchild, it also features the Swarayoga Ensemble, his students, with eminent artistes Pathri Satish Kumar, Ojas Adhya, Trichy Krishna Swamy, and Swaminathan Selva Ganesh. “Swarayoga Ensemble is made up of my students, trained within the same musical philosophy. Their shared grounding allowed me to work with precision and trust,” reflects Ganesh. The sound of the album is a direct result of that long-term pedagogical relationship and collective discipline. “When there is a shared vision, supported by discipline, dedication, and focus, collective expression becomes deeply powerful and transformative, regardless of scale,” he says.
The team’s rehearsals served to internalise the vision rather than alter it fundamentally. The guiding principle, throughout the process, as Ganesh says, was that “Every melodic line, even when layered or simultaneous, strictly follows the raga’s grammar. Expansion was only in form and texture, never at the cost of the raga’s soul. Refinement happened during rehearsals, especially in balance and phrasing, and encouraged students to think structurally, not just performatively.”
The album is released at a time in history when Carnatic music stands at a point where depth and scale both need to be addressed together. “This felt like the right time to show that innovation can emerge from within tradition, not by moving away from it,” notes Ganesh.
By exploring a wider aural spectrum, the team portrays the vast universality of music. “There is no change in the musical truth itself but only in the format, scale, and the consciousness through which it is presented,” he concludes.
Thribinna is available on all digital platforms.