Subhiksha Rangarajan - Article in Deccan Chronicle for Music Festival 2010

Subhiksha Rangarajan is a multifaceted artist: performing artist, painter and writer all rolled into one. Having started early, she is deep into different genre of music, even at age 22! In her concert for Karthik Fine Arts, she was using her abilities to the fullest and spun out exquisite strains of Abhogi, Bhairavi and Pantuvarali. Accompanying her on violin was another young talent, Akkarai Swarnalatha. Subhiksha’s strength is being able to build up the mood of the raagam, while Swarnalatha has the ability to first set up an environment and then place one note in its centre. Guru Raghavendra on the mirudhangam smartly added to this harmony.
Apart from her performance in sabhas, Subhiksha also sings for a contemporary Indian music band: Yodhakaa. What is Yodhakaa? Subhiksha says, ‘We compose music for lyrics that are drawn from Sanskrit slokas. Most of these are old songs, but a few lyrics have been written by our friend, Pranav. He also helped us with our other slokas. Our music is influenced by many styles from around the world: Latin, African, Jazz, and so on, but it’s not, ‘in the face’! We take care that the styles are blended into the sloka and other melodies’.
Carnatic music takes pride in being complete, so how are these compositions different? ‘We do not compose for the meaning or mood of the songs, rather we try to highlight the effect of the syllables! In the song, ‘Gnaanam’, for example, rather than stick to one raagam, we stress on the syllable ‘Paap’, and the instruments all try to imitate this sound’.How does she separate the purist carnatic style from such fusion compositions? ‘ It’s not different, really. If you ask any senior musician, they will say that the raagam is more important than the notes it is made of. I always sing thinking of the song as a whole. I always stick to that picture and not always the notes’.
Subhiksha’s approach is new and to be lauded. Art in its growth must also touch a common chord in all people; it is to be hoped that musicians of her generation will be endowed with that liberating gift.