The pandemic might have quickly introduced the curtains down on live shows and musical gatherings, nevertheless it has not silenced musicians from Kerala. Some have been letting their artistic juices circulate by unbiased music movies, maybe a becoming medium for artistic expression for the occasions.
It isn’t simply uplifting melodies or catchy tracks which have seen the sunshine of the day but in addition classical compositions, whereas rap and hip hop notably gained discover among the many Malayali viewers. Whereas recordings will be executed indoors, musicians say thematic movies too will be safely shot at dwelling or close by areas adhering to pandemic protocols and with a skeletal crew.
Playback singer Okay S Harisankar, who lately launched his single ‘Neela Mukile’ says the pandemic-induced lockdown gave musicians like him “extra time” to strive new indie tasks. “Recordings for movie songs go on, behind the scenes for motion pictures releasing, however I at all times like popping out with music movies, and the lockdown has lent me the house to experiment,” he says. At a time when live shows are a no-no, the younger singer feels it’s paramount to mark one’s “digital presence and keep stay.”
For him, being an unbiased artiste is as essential as doing movie tasks. Harisankar feels another excuse for extra takers for music movies now’s the change in leisure consumption sample. “Nowadays, extra persons are staying at dwelling and therefore search for new content material on-line, particularly when there are so few film releases even by way of OTT. Music fills that hole,” he provides.
N J Nandini in a nonetheless from the music video ‘Chentharsayaka’
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Carnatic vocalist N J Nandini concurs with Harisankar’s view on the necessity for musicians to carve out a digital presence for themselves. She lately introduced out a music video on erstwhile Travancore-era poet-composer Irayimman Thampi’s Malayalam padam ‘Chentharsayaka’.
“In music, identical to in different artistic domains, out of sight is out of thoughts. As artistes, we’ve got to maintain working and producing in order that we don’t fall between the cracks. Furthermore, I imagine, artistic artistes can’t sit idle,” she says. Within the absence of live shows, creating music movies lends a component of “self-satisfaction”, provides Nandini.
Others, like filmmaker Mridul Nair who lately launched ‘Return — Taka thai tha’, really feel that anybody would like to revisit an excellent tune, some even taking part in them on loop. “Not like a brief movie or comparable content material that often stays in your thoughts just for the interval you’re watching it, a catchy songs linger in your thoughts longer and you could come again to it,” says Mridul. Composed by Manikandan Ayyappa and sung by Vineeth Sreenivasan, the music video options actors Sunny Wayne, Deepak Parambol Ganapathi S Poduval, Subish Sudhi amongst others.
Having the precise platforms to showcase work on this digital age is one other incentive for artistes. “Through the 90s, there was a increase in unbiased music in India. However, later, it type of contracted a bit, largely because of problems with piracy when the digital development got here in. It has now made a revival due to a number of professional streaming platforms and there is extra help for indie artistes as of late,” says playback singer Jyotsna Radhakrishnan. She lately launched a soulful English observe, ‘Espresso Mug’, on the pangs of affection and that includes Purbayan Chatterjee on the sitar.
Written and composed by Jyotsna herself, ‘Espresso Mug’ is visualised in a no-frills 2D animation video. “I needed to strive one thing completely different with the video this time. Additionally, such a music video helps maintain the voice within the foreground,” she provides.
Sithara Krishnakumar, who introduced out or was related to a number of unbiased music productions throughout the lockdown, says it has been a creatively productive part for musicians. “Until then, we have been going with the circulate, specializing in movie compositions. All of us had time in our fingers, particularly these hours we used to spent travelling for recordings or shoots or exhibits. Regardless of technical limitations and different sensible difficulties, we tailored to the scenario,” says Sithara.
Inside a couple of days of the lockdown, her band, Mission Malabaricus, got here up with ‘Track of Valour’. ‘Chaayapaattu’ had musings on the lockdown written by Muhsin Parari, after which got here ‘Priyane’. The latter, set to her personal lyrics, was her first try at modifying as effectively! “I downloaded new cell purposes and picked up a number of points of constructing music sitting at dwelling,” she provides.
She additionally sang or collaborated within the unbiased tasks of different composers, comparable to Gopi Sunder (‘Indumathi’) and Shahabaz Aman (‘Manassinte Madrassa’). “Within the final 4 or 5 years, I haven’t sung a lot of non-film compositions as I did throughout the lockdown. Everybody was stepping out of the movie music zone,” she says.
Previously few years, rap and hip hop emerged on the favored scene in Malayalam. Tracks by rapper Hirandas Murali aka Vedan (‘Voice of the Unvoiced’) and actor-dancer Neeraj Madhav (‘Panipaali’) went viral. Neeraj’s tune video too was made in 2D animation, successfully utilizing the style for storytelling. “The Malayali viewers has additionally grow to be extra open to numerous content material. So there is a rising house for indie music. In fact, it has been there for some time however I feel it’s increasing now,” says Neeraj, explaining why there are extra takers for music movies now.
“One more reason why catchy music movies go viral is as a result of they’ll merely be shared so simply, due to WhatsApp and social media,” Neeraj factors out.
(With inputs from Athira M)
