Sixteen years ago, when they had barely learnt to speak, they shared a prize for music. The silver went to both of them and that year, no one got the gold. The Ananda Vikatan magazine, which held the music competition, ‘mazhalai medaigal’, put their pictures side by side.
As though the shared prize touched off a habit of sharing, carnatic vocalists Dharini Kalyanaraman and Sriranjani Santhanagopalan share many things today. A bench, for instance. The girls sit next to each other at MOP Vaishnav College, where they are doing their bachelors in commerce. They share a passion for carnatic music and a desire to scale the summit of the art. Above all, they share an abiding friendship and are great admirers of each other.
In 1993, when Ananda Vikatan held that signal competition, the musical prowess of the little girls, barely four years old then, left the audience, which included me, awestruck. (Those days, Dharini’s family and mine were neighbours and the little girl used to insist that I give her motorcycle rides all the time.) As Dharini struck bulls-eye unfailingly each time judge Rajam Iyer hummed a tune and asked her to identify the raga, actor K S Gopalakrishnan, standing among the audience, kept exclaiming ‘my God!’
When her turn came, Sriranjani sang a sterling Saveri, varnam, sara suda, cutely nodding her head with each gamaka. Neyveli Santhanagopalan, who had stormed into the music world only a few years earlier, stood there, regarding his daughter with a stern look, as though waiting to catch an error.
From that day, Dharini, daughter of Srinivasan Kalyanaraman, an employee of Ashok Leyland, proceeded to make waves in the field of music, devouring all the prizes and awards from competitions that came her way. Sriranjini, for years, kept a low profile and it appeared as if she was lost to the world of music. But she has come back as though with a vengeance. Today, Sriranjini is regarded among the most promising stars of carnatic music.
Not only Dharini and Sriranjini are great fans of each other, the mutual admiration extends into the families too. “She’s just brilliant; she sings so effortlessly,” says Dharini’s grandmother (and her first teacher), Lakshmi, of Sriranjini. And Neyveli Santhanagopalan, who was once the Chief Guest at one of Dharini’s concerts at VDS Arts Academy, is always full of praise for Dharini’s music.
As though the shared prize touched off a habit of sharing, carnatic vocalists Dharini Kalyanaraman and Sriranjani Santhanagopalan share many things today. A bench, for instance. The girls sit next to each other at MOP Vaishnav College, where they are doing their bachelors in commerce. They share a passion for carnatic music and a desire to scale the summit of the art. Above all, they share an abiding friendship and are great admirers of each other.
In 1993, when Ananda Vikatan held that signal competition, the musical prowess of the little girls, barely four years old then, left the audience, which included me, awestruck. (Those days, Dharini’s family and mine were neighbours and the little girl used to insist that I give her motorcycle rides all the time.) As Dharini struck bulls-eye unfailingly each time judge Rajam Iyer hummed a tune and asked her to identify the raga, actor K S Gopalakrishnan, standing among the audience, kept exclaiming ‘my God!’
When her turn came, Sriranjani sang a sterling Saveri, varnam, sara suda, cutely nodding her head with each gamaka. Neyveli Santhanagopalan, who had stormed into the music world only a few years earlier, stood there, regarding his daughter with a stern look, as though waiting to catch an error.
From that day, Dharini, daughter of Srinivasan Kalyanaraman, an employee of Ashok Leyland, proceeded to make waves in the field of music, devouring all the prizes and awards from competitions that came her way. Sriranjini, for years, kept a low profile and it appeared as if she was lost to the world of music. But she has come back as though with a vengeance. Today, Sriranjini is regarded among the most promising stars of carnatic music.
Not only Dharini and Sriranjini are great fans of each other, the mutual admiration extends into the families too. “She’s just brilliant; she sings so effortlessly,” says Dharini’s grandmother (and her first teacher), Lakshmi, of Sriranjini. And Neyveli Santhanagopalan, who was once the Chief Guest at one of Dharini’s concerts at VDS Arts Academy, is always full of praise for Dharini’s music.
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