Table of Contents
The solitary ‘Vizhi’ by the young Carnatic musicians Lakshmi V and Vishnudev K.S. is about harmony in nature and art
Lakshmi and Vishnudev say that 1 of the uses of this composition is to broaden the scope of Carnatic and other ethnic genres of music
A tough exploration that Carnatic musicians generally undertake is achieving western-model harmony. Though there have been a lot of makes an attempt, really few have succeeded mainly because intrinsically Carnatic tunes is not effortlessly amenable to the notion of harmony as we understand it in western audio. It is not just the gamakas that stand in the way, but also the aesthetics, material, and the attributes of the genre. At finest, it will stop up as a very good-sounding fusion tune, and at worst, a cacophony of seems hoping to find a prevalent floor.
Observed Carnatic musicians Lakshmi V and Vishnudev K.S. have occur up with a single, ‘Vizhi’ that’s all about harmony. It’s a two-aspect harmony in which there’s no conventional primary melody or counter melody. In basic phrases, the closest case in point will be a western song, in which the lead singer is harmonised by a backup singer. What’s a lot more fascinating is that in ‘Vizhi’ the harmony is not only about new music, but also about the ‘divine, character and oneself’. “It implores a individual to seem beyond dissimilarities and to find the oneness that connects almost everything,” say Lakshmi and Vishnudev.
Although it may well sound straightforward, the challenging component is writing/composing the two-section harmony and executing it, that way too without the need of compromising on the gamakas and the attribute flavour of Carnatic new music. “Both melody-sales opportunities have been presented equal worth. The thought is to harmonise symmetric phrases/melodies within a Carnatic audio scale so that when sung alongside one another, these phrases audio seamlessly blended and the listening impact is compounded. The phrases are chosen in this kind of a way that just about every nuance is identical, together with the measure of oscillations (gamakas) of each individual observe. This is also performed preserving in mind the aesthetics of the raga/scale,” describes the duo.
Lakshmi and Vishnudev say that 1 of the functions of this composition is to broaden the scope of Carnatic and other ethnic genres of music, and to examine formats other than reside or recorded performances. The approach of harmonising total-duration compositions also allows male and woman duo singers triumph over their vocal-array variances.
Arresting visuals
Besides the two-section harmony, involving male and female voices, what would make the composition stand out are the visuals that accompany the tunes and the interesting arrangement. When the visuals developed by director Gautham Soorya and actor/design Punya Elizabeth Bose try to discover the contiguity of songs with mother nature and its things, the arrangement provides a discernible generic range devoid of diluting the critical good quality of Carnatic songs. Mridangam by Sumesh Narayanan sets the rhythm in a crisp and rhapsodic way. “The online video intends to visualise the relationship between us and character, portraying the strategy that we all have an essence of the universe in our existence.”
Syamaprakash M.S.’s cinematography, Deepak Murali’s choreography, Malavika V.N.’s editing, and Studio D-Cloud Creations’s colouring insert to the partaking allure of ‘Vizhi’. It was released on Planet Tunes Day by Bodhi Silent Scape’s YouTube channel, and has turn into one particular of the top considered Carnatic-based compositions in modern times.
The author is a journalist-turned-UN formal-turned-columnist centered in Travancore.