‘Raagraanis’ Leads a New Chapter for Women in Indian Classical Music

The new project Raagraanis is a five-track EP that brings together a unique team of Indian classically trained women’s voices, led by singer-composer Prajakta Shukre and singer-lyricist Himani Kapoor.

With the album also uniting stalwart voices like Kalpana Gandharva, Pratibha Singh Baghel and Varijashree Venugopal, Shukre says the overall vision was to write music that was “totally immersed in Indian classical ragas.” She adds, “Even the words that we have used for the compositions are very bandish-like words.” With modern production flourishes to back up the storytelling, Shukre says the artists were free to narrate stories from a woman’s perspective. “Compositions were also done knowing it’s going to be female-centric,” Shukre says.

Kapoor, who is the director at music company Namyoho Studios with the EP’s producers and musicians Kamal Bharti, Nataraj Kshetricha, Swapnomoy Chowdhury and Rajat Kumar, says she and Shukre created three songs initially. “As the songs came together, we realized we were building something special rooted in classical ragas with a modern touch,” the lyricist says. Released via the label Sufiscore, Raagraanis starts with the electronic fusion of the plaintive yet upbeat “Saiyaan Na Aaye” sung by Kalpana Gandharva in raag bhairavi, followed by the appropriately jazz-informed “Sajan Ghar Aaye” with Varijashee Venugopal in raag bhimpalasi. Pratibha Singh Baghel leads the stirring, cinematic “Jiya Nahi Laage” in raag madhuvanti and there’s a seemingly lush trip-hop and glitch-hop element that enhances Himani Kapoor’s “Tere Bina Saawan.” The EP closes with the exuberant synth-drenched “Bairi Chhaliya,” showcasing a whole range of traditional songs adapted into varying styles.

The first three songs for the project, when Shukre and Kapoor were initially working together, only involved Gandharva (“Both of us had the same name on our mind,” Shukre says). Then, they brought in Venugopal and Baghel, with Shukre helming the fifth and final track.

Gandharva recalls, “I got a call asking if I’d like to be part of an album that brings together some of India’s finest female voices. That alone was enough for me to say yes. The idea felt powerful—a collective of women expressing through classical music, reimagined.” She adds, “It’s rare to be in a space where every lead artist is a woman—and not just that, but women I admire and love as friends. That made the entire process more personal.”

Venugopal—trained more in Carnatic music—sang a bandish in “Sajan Ghar Aaye” based on raag bhimpalasi, which is based on raag bheri in Carnatic music. She says she was encouraged by Shukre and Kapoor to improvise as much as she wanted. “To have a little space for improvisation and an impromptu thread of thoughts was very beautifully placed in that song, I would say. I had a wonderful time exploring that place at the end of the song, which later was choreographed so beautifully as a duet part with the saxophone [by I.D. Rao] on the song, and turned out really well,” she adds.

Baghel, for her part, says she was “hooked” to the song “Jiya Naahi Laage” as soon as she heard it. She recorded it and sent it over to Shukre and Kapoor, who were in New Delhi at the time. “I still felt that if the composer and creator of the song is there when you sing, then you deliver better,” Baghel recalls. She went on to re-record the song and found herself much happier with the space to share her concerns with Shukre and Kapoor and work through it.

While the songs were stitched together remotely at times, the artists behind Raagraanis all came together for a photo shoot in Mumbai for the cover art. There are also plans to launch a four-city tour across Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Kolkata in the coming weeks. 

Kapoor says, “We’ll be performing the songs from the album both in their original form and as unplugged, acoustic versions. Along with that, we’ll also sing some of our earlier audience favorites.” Shukre adds, “Especially because all of us will be traveling together, it will be really wonderful.” 

Baghel calls all the songs on Raagraanis “masterpieces.” She adds, “Each singer is incredible in this project. And I am truly, I am truly grateful to be a part of this. This is definitely the first time, but I am hoping that this will continue.”