Carnatic meets Rock for soulful music

BENGALURU: Music is a medium that can be used to convey deep emotions, and that is what IndoSoul does with its alluring contemporary music. Their distinctive blend of Carnatic and Rock music has left an impression in many parts of the country.IndoSoul may have performed several times in Bengaluru, but this time, they are coming here with some fresh music from their new album, ‘2 Sides of Karma’. The band has just wrapped up their tour in the US, and received an “overwhelming responses,” according
 to the band’s lead vocalist and violinist, Karthick Iyer. With their new album, they intend on taking their listeners on a journey of life’s ups and downs with respect to the role karma plays in life.

The long and eventful musical journey of violinist and vocalist Karthick Iyer laid down the foundation for the band. The Carnatic musician started his journey at the age of eight, and hasn’t looked back since. “My mother was very keen on having me learn Carnatic music. Being from a Brahmin family, it’s second nature, it goes without saying. I stuck on to music and got more and more interested in it over the years, and it eventually became my calling,” he says.

The strong desire of the five members in the band to fuse both Carnatic, contemporary and rock genres led to the formation of this diverse band called the IndoSoul, six years ago. The band, which is two albums old, has Vikram Vivekanand on the guitar, Naveen Napier on the bass, Ramkumar Kanakarajan on the drums and Sumesh Narayanan on mridangam and percussion. They have already collaborated with various talented musicians, breaking the barriers of culture and language and making their music more approachable to people who have grown up listening to different genres of music. 

Karthick’s break from the Indian film industry as a freelance musician and a subsequent live concert by him and his friends at his sister’s wedding concert, sparked the idea of starting a band. This idea became a reality in a matter of few months, with the meeting of Carnatic and Rock musicians who wanted to create independent music together.The motivational responses they received for the album and which keeps them going during their North American tour from Indians as well as North Indians, has given them high hopes for their upcoming concert in Bengaluru, which is all set to be held at BFlat in Indiranagar at 9pm on March 31.