Carnatic music with a twist

“I look at music from a Carnatic point of view,” said Mahesh Raghvan, before his performance with violinist Shravan Sridhar at Bay 146.

Mahesh, who has done MSc in Digital Composition and Performance, always wondered how Carnatic music would sound with technological intervention and that is when he began to experiment. He felt that fusion would be a good starting point for those who haven’t been exposed to the genre and it would also show how versatile Carnatic music is.

For Shravan Sridhar, it was an overnight decision to pursue music after doing mechanical engineering from BITS, Hyderabad. “The violin seemed to be a worthy tool to express what I’ve wanted to say,” said Shravan.

The show commenced with a fusion version of ‘Maha Ganapathim.’ After this Mahesh explained the working of the digital compositions on the iPad and how technology can be used.

Mix of genres

The duo then performed a few Carnatic pieces that blended various genres. Songs such as ‘Alaipayuthey’, ‘Krishna Nee Begane’ and ‘Govardhana Giridhari’ were enjoyed by the audience, who also kept the beat.

Mridangam artiste Akshay Anantapadmanabhan joined the duo during thillana. The three artistes then played the theme music of popular TV shows such as Game of Thrones, Sherlock Holmes, Pirates of the Caribbean and Harry Potter. This delighted the younger members of the audience, more so as the artistes encouraged the listeners to guess the names of the serials.

The musicians followed it up with a medley of popular numbers such as ‘Shape of You,’ ‘Urvasi’ and ‘Kannodu Kanbadhellam’ that left the audience wanting more.