What happens when a flautist and award-winning music composer from here teams up with a techie in distant California who is also keen on the notes? The answer could be elementary.
That’s ‘Rithu Chakra’ (in Devanagari script), an album with six singles—three each by flautist Nagaraju Talluri and Surya Vakkalanka, an avid composer and keyboard player from the United States of America. Now the latter has floated his own banner by the name ‘Avakaya Music’ and is all set to release the 45-minute album on August 15 in California. At a pre-launch announcement, the duo revealed the details of the product. Mr. Nagaraju and Mr. Surya said each of the instrumental singles was theme-based, revolving around the six seasons—spring, summer, monsoon, autumn, pre-winter and winter, which in the Hindu scriptures are Vasant Rithu, Grishma, Varsha, Sharat, Hemanth and Shishir or Shita Rithu.
The music was composed by Mr. Surya with Mr. Nagaraju fusing the flute and sitar with four keyboard artists and a dozen violinists making up the popular ‘Chennai Strings’ group. Apart from lending her voice for the background harmony with seven other singers, Mr. Nagaraju’s wife Mani, a singer herself, handled the logistics of the production. “As a music lover, I can surely say that this album is composed for a global audience with international appeal. The singles will be available on most platforms, including iTunes and Saavn,” she said.
