‘Tarang,' a weekly music programme on Kairali TV, is for fans of fusion music. The Tarang band jams with a celebrated musician, be it a singer, an instrumentalist or a percussionist, in each episode. Singer Sayanora anchors this show telecast on Sundays at 10 p.m. Anupam K.C., producer of the show, talks about what makes it unique and appealing. She says: “It is a celebration of different music styles and genres coming together and blending to produce the best of fusion music.” Excerpts from an interview…
The show
It promotes fusion music and is definitely a new experience on Malayalam television. Rehearsals for each jamming session happens just ahead of the show. On-the-spot preparation and interaction with the artiste lend it a special charm and freshness. It resembles ‘MTV Unplugged,' a show on MTV channel.
The band
We've a band of talented musicians. Prakash Ulliyeri, who is on the keyboard and harmonium, leads the band. He composes the pieces for each episode and coordinates with the artistes for each episode. Other band members are Sayanora (vocals), Vivekanandan (of Asianet's ‘Star Singer' fame) who plays the violin and sings, Santhosh (guitars and banjo), Jossy (bass guitar), Mahesh Mani (tabla and mridangam), Shomi (percussions), Nirmal (drums) and Sudheer (ghatam). I also have a competent crew, comprising producer Senthil who gives creative support, sound engineer Rajesh Madukkani and online editor Rajesh Kumplampoika.
Guest line-up
Masters such as Purbayan Chatterjee (sitar), Anubrata Chatterjee (tabla), Lavanya (saxophone), Mattannur Sankarankutty (chenda), Kuzhalmannam G. Ramakrishnan (mridangam), Murukan Kattakkada (poet), Alappuzha S. Vijayakumar and Kavalam B. Sreekumar (thavil), Orumanayoor Gopi (nadaswaram), Shadab Bhartiya (tabla), Ananthapadmanabhan (veena), U.P. Raju (mandolin), B. Sundar Kumar (ganjira), and Subrata Bhattacharya (tabla) have been featured on the show. The forthcoming episodes feature artistes like cello player Jacob Charkey, singer Ramesh Narayan and violinist Harikumar Sivan.
Special episodes
The band has jammed with the folk troupe, Naattukoottam, from Puthussery in Palakkad. Besides folk songs, the highlight of the episode was the Mayilattam and Theyyam performances. We hope to bring in more traditional art forms on this platform.
There have been some memorable episodes as well. For instance, the episodes featuring Rajesh Vaidya (veena), Karayannur Narayanan Namboothiri and team (panchavadyam), Njeralathu Harigovindan (sopana sangeetham) and Kottakkal Madhu (Kathakali padam) won a lot of appreciation.
They all brought new music experiences to the viewers. Experimentation never stops in music and you can expect more interesting fusion sessions on the show.
Sayanora as anchor
She is a talented singer of the new generation and so we zeroed in on her to anchor the show. She got into the groove of things very easily. In addition to anchoring, she sings and plays the guitar on the show.
