Indian classical music, especially, Hindustani music, may not enjoy the patronage of a large audience, especially in South India. But that hasn’t stopped Madhuvanthi Narayan from experimenting with the genre.
Having imbibed the nuances of this music tradition from her father, renowned Hindustani musician and composer Ramesh Narayan, the young musician has come out with a production, which she hopes will bring more listeners closer to the genre. She has released a music video of her single, ‘Jaunty Jaunpuri’, which has the composition, ‘Payal ki jhankaar bairaniya’ in a new flavour. While the project has been conceptualised by her, music production is by her husband, Vishnu Vijay, composer and flautist, who shot to fame with his tracks in Guppy and his state-award-winning background score for the same film.
The single is the first song of Mellow Series, Madhuvanthi’s ambitious project through which she plans to give a contemporary touch to Hindustani compositions. “This song is a traditional bandish in Jaunpuri raga, composed by Sadarang and Adarang, who were court musicians of 18th century ruler Mohammed Shah. This composition is very close to my heart,” says the singer, now based in Chennai.
Experimental mode
Explaining about her series, Madhuvanthi says, “All songs will have a new flavour as they will be set to a modern arrangement. This is the original tune of ‘Payal ki…’, but it has been set in an EDM pattern. However, the other songs won’t follow the same style. The next one might be an unplugged version. Or I will use just one instrument, say acoustic guitar. We are working on it,” she says.
When asked about the duration of the video, which is just under three minutes, Madhuvanthi says that she deliberately did so. “In this fast-paced era nobody is patient enough to watch even a five-minute YouTube music video. That’s why I went for a capsule format,” she explains.
Madhuvanthi in a still from the video | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
Although she has been performing Hindustani and ghazal concerts, both as a solo artiste and along with her father, this is her first major work on any social media platform. “Before this I had brought out a cover version of the track ‘Kannamma’ from Kaala. This project has been at the back of my mind for a long time. I had made a rough track in 2015, but had never planned to release it on any platform then. When everything fell in place, I thought of giving it a try,” says the musician.
Musicians in the north have done similar experiments and she makes note of the work, ‘Piya bavari’, released by Pandit Ajay Pohankar and his son Abhijit Pohankar in 2002. “Social media didn’t have so much of reach then and only few people might have listened to it when it came out. But I always had this interest to do something new, that would appeal to all,” she adds. So, what was the response from her father? She says with a laugh, “I think he liked it…” And she is excited that the video has been appreciated by people who enjoy both classical as well as contemporary music.
The 27-year-old says that she has been learning from him ever since she could remember. She gave her first solo recital at the age of seven and started giving stage concerts by the age of 12.
Produced by Sujith Sreedhar of 2 Bar Q Studios in Chennai, the video has been shot in ECR beach, Chennai. Meanwhile, the singer who debuted in playback in Guppy with the song ‘Thira, thira’, has sung for her father in Paathi and will be next heard in a duet with Sooraj Santhosh in Soubin Shahir’s Ambili, which has music by Vishnu.