Thiruvananthapuram, As soon as the melodious voices of Ranjani-Gayathri duo float in the air, singing “Kuliramathi Vadhane…” to the soft, romantic tunes of composer M Jayachandran, a journey begins. It is a journey of musicians and music lovers who are dedicated to reviving the timeless legacy of Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma, the famous Maharaja of Travancore. It is the first song in a series of 18-songs titled “Swathij Manipravalam”. This project brings to light the lesser known “Padmas” romantic poem in which Lord Sri Padmanabha’s female lover Swathi expresses his deep love while throwing fresh light on the versatile musical legacy of Thirunal. The king, who ruled Travancore from 1813 to 1846, composed more than 400 compositions in both Carnatic and Hindustani styles during his brief 33 years of life. Jayachandran told PTI, “This is a revival of the musical heritage of Kerala and Swathi Thirunal’s ‘Padams’. We have no reference as to how the music of these ‘Padams’ was composed, because those tunes are completely Are lost.” Creating music that reflected Swathi Thirunal’s era became a challenge. “These ‘Padams’ are available in a book written by Chidambara Vadhayar in 1916. That book contains about 26 ‘Padams’ of Swathi Thirunal. However, we do not know the original tunes of these ‘Padams’.” The book mentions that the padam ‘Kulirmaathi Vadhaane’ was composed in ‘Dhanyaasi Raga’ and was based on Mishra Chapu taal. We were curious how he might have composed it. Ragas have evolved over the years, and the way we use Dhanyasi raga now is likely to be different from the way it was used then,” he said. Jayachandran said his attempt to incorporate his own elements He said, “This is my journey with Swathi Thirunal and we can relate to his thoughts during those years.” That this music is also world Music because it is reviving the musical heritage of a place and combining it with western harmony. “Nobody has combined ragas with western harmony like Dhanyasi and hence it can be considered one of its kind. For the entire team involved in the project, it was a challenge to both create and visualize the Padam while connecting it to the era of Swathi Thirunal. “We wanted to create an atmosphere reminiscent of the temples of Kerala. When a lamp burns, you feel it. Even the costumes of the singers were chosen accordingly,” said the song’s visual director Rajesh Kadamba. He added that it took him three and a half years to create this single song, with multiple retakes in a studio in Chennai. “We kept on making improvements based on Jayachandran’s suggestions. Our primary objective was to create a visual narrative that, at no point, overpowers the musical composition,” said Rajesh. ”It is a revival of the great musical heritage of Kerala, India, and it is a composition that proudly bears that heritage. ,” Jayachandran said. The song was produced by Gopakumar, a former music student, IT professional and now a Chennai-based music entrepreneur.