Fusion foresight

KOCHI: In July, as the world was in the throes of a raging pandemic, the news of India’s biggest superstar Amitabh Bachchan testing positive for Covid-19 came as a blow to all his fans. While the veteran actor received thousands of messages wishing him a speedy recovery, one voice that provided him solace like no other. Bachchan tweeted the video of Arya Dhayal, a 24-year-old singer from Kannur, whose electric fusion of classical Carnatic and pop music ‘brightened’ his day at the hospital. 

It is anyone’s guess what followed. After a dizzying episode of overnight glory, Arya has recently released her second single titled ‘King of my kind’ which has garnered over two lakh views in just three days. TNIE caught up with the young musician who looks to bewell on her way to lasting fame.

It seems like you have been dabbling in both classical and western music genres for many years. Tell us about your journey.
I started learning Carnatic music from a very young age. I trained for over 20 years and participated in a lot of singing competitions. I started listening to western music when I was about 15 or 16. Eventually, I started practising it by adding swaras in between. That is how my mashups began. My tryst with western music began with listening to Taylor Swift. During the lockdown, I bought a Ukulele and learnt how to play it which gave me the option to strum my own chords.

Did you always imagine taking up music as a career?
I always took music seriously. I never missed my classes as I found that it relieved me from stress. But I never thought I would become a full-time musician. I was good at academics and my parents wanted me to excel at it so I completed my post-graduation in statistics. Having said that, I also knew music would be a part of my life throughout. However, I expected it to be a gradual growth. My video became viral across the country after Amitabh Bachchan shared it. My follower count shot up from 4,000 something to over 3.5 lakh subscribers on YouTube.

What was your reaction when you found out?
So the ‘Believer-Carnatic mix’ video of mine was sort of going viral in Kerala and was being shared by celebrities from the Malayalam film industry. But the fun fact is that what Amitabh Bachchan shared was a completely different video of Suddha Dhanyasi raga and ‘Shape of you’ mashup. I have no clue how it reached him. When I picked up, he told me to drink a glass of water and then informed me about the Bachchan tweet. I couldn’t speak for the next couple of minutes.

You have talked about your last single as a blend of Carnatic and pop which wasn’t that experimented with as compared to Carnatic and rock. What was your frame of mind while writing it?
‘King of my kind’ is all about my dreams and how I look forward to my future. It also delves into gender and culture-based factors that lock me into following a certain lifestyle and how I want to break that. Through the lyrics are in English, it has been composed in the Suddha Dhanyasi raga. 

The accompanying video portrays a complex, non-linear story arc. Tells us about the visualisation.
Amal Komath and Abhijith Kuttichira, who helmed the concept and direction ,worked on my first single. They also know me pretty well so I wanted them on board again. We found cinematographer Favaz Afi online who in turn introduced us to the editor who goes by Artofshambu. We included incidents from my life in the script and the whole thing was visualised as a dream. We shot in Wayanad and at my home in Kannur.  

What are your plans going forward?
I would love to do more independent music. I think it gives me a lot more freedom and flexibility so a few singles are in the pipeline. If I am presented with a good playback singing opportunity, I will consider it as well.