Exploring Traditional Music in Innovative Ways

TISB Grade 12 student, Aditya, has together with three other artists set out on a musical journey of traditional Indian music, but in a new modern fashion. The result was ‘Sangati: A Dharmavathi Rendezvous’ – a collaboration that takes trend and tradition and weaves it into one piece. It showcases the versatility of the instruments and highlights the intricacies and dynamics of Carnatic Raga. We got in touch with Aditya to learn more about how this amazing piece of music and the accompanying video came into being.

As a community of IndianRaga fellows, we are always looking to find new and innovative ways to present our traditional art to a much wider, global audience - one that would transgress all boundaries of age, nationality, religion, and cultural backgrounds – Aditya, Grade 12.

In a world that is pop-dominated, where few people – especially among the younger generations –appreciate the complexity of Indian classical music, the group felt like there was a need to give the opportunity to more people to experience this. “Hopefully this piece opens up the doors for other innovative ideas and inspires other artists to delve into this new realm of Indian classical fusion”, says Aditya. As such, the composers attempts to achieve a crucial balance between trend and tradition. “I have grown to understand the importance of promoting such a vast ocean of an ancient art form”, says Aditya who has been a Carnatic violinist for 10 years. 

The collaboration happened when Aditya and his friend and mandolin player, Saigovind, decided to come up with a piece of music that reflected the intricacies of Carnatic music, but at the same time bring the genre into a new light. Selecting a ‘raga’, the melodic framework for classical Indian music, was easy for them and they decided on ‘ Dharmavathi’ as it would allow them to showcase two distinct but essential parts of Carnatic music: “The slow, melodious nuances and the thrilling, dynamic energy as well”, explains Aditya. Before they knew it, they had begun composing the original piece virtually over the phone, and within the course of a week, they had completed the composition.

Excited to hear how the composition had turned out, the duo started recording their individual parts from their homes, and simultaneously worked on developing reference mixes for the electronic arrangements. “Draft through draft, we worked on perfecting our parts and gave feedback to each other until the piece came out as close to perfect as we wanted”, says Aditya who is a fellow at IndianRaga. A few weeks later they got in touch with the CEO of IndianRaga, who suggested incorporating elements of morsing and tabla. Immediately they recorded Raghul (morsing) and Anirudh's (tabla) parts. The video was filmed the very next day in Bangalore, at the Reva University campus at 5 in the morning. “It was an idyllic balance between the tranquillity of dusk and the vibrancy of sunrise – analogous to the dynamism of the Raga and composition we had chosen to present” says Aditya, who spent the next 5 months completing around 50 audio drafts and constant feedback sessions with his fellow artists, and a mixing and mastering engineer.  “I remember this process of post-production to be one of the most tiresome and extensive, as the only way to communicate was through back and forth emails” says Aditya, and continues: “But of course, it was all worth it when we saw the video drafts and today, we couldn't be happier with the way it all turned out”.

Aditya believes that the future will hold new opportunities, as him and his peers set out on a journey to explore and push the boundaries of Carnatic music – be it mixes of a Billboard Chart No.1 or modern arrangements of a traditional Krithi. He explains: “The beauty of such collaborations is that exciting initial moment of unfamiliarity with the people you are working with. We had actually never even met each other before the fellowship, so such projects are something I always look forward to – no matter what genre or musical background an artist is from.”

Watch the video and enjoy the musical fusion on IndiaRaga’s YouTube channel.