Music director and lyricist Dr. Hamsalekha’s trysts with various genres in Kannada film music, right from pop, rock, Indian classical, folk, ghazals to Sufi, have helped him attract fans of all ages.
Having worked in over 300 films since the 1980s, Mr. Hamsalekha has time and again shown how he can use just one instrument to create a background score, and even compose mellow vocal tunes without a single instrument. His rustic folk style for the film Hagalu Vesha had no synthetic sounds.
Mr. Hamsalekha’s latest single, O Bhoomiye, Ninna Rappeyu Alugadithe, is a heartfelt tribute to the people of Nepal who lost their homes and loved ones in the earthquake that devastated the country last year.
“The visuals of the Nepal earthquake remained with me. I had to pen a song to mark the tragedy. I composed the song in 20 minutes,” Mr. Hamsalekha said.
He could not stop replaying the images of the destruction caused by the quake in his mind: a child caught under debris screaming for help and people searching for their loved ones through the mounds of rubble
“The visuals on TV showed a Buddha statue next to the wailing baby. As my poetry came through, I thought the lines could sit well on a Malaya Maaruta and Chakravaka raga scale for expressing the roller-coaster of emotions,” he says. The song, an emotional plea to Mother Earth, is brought to life by the maestro’s talent on the keyboard, guitar, piano, harmonium and percussion.
“I will soon upload the song on to YouTube. It is a huge choral project with 100 professional singers,” he said.
New compilation out soon
The Golden Melodies of Hamsalekha will be presented on May 22, 6 p.m., by well-known singers and musicians as part of the Annual Day Celebrations of Babu School of Rhythms at H.N. Kalakshetra, Jayanagar National College Campus, 7{+t}{+h}Block. Mangala Ravi, Usha Umesh, M.D. Pallavi Arun, Radhakrishna Mohan, Vyasraj, along with Srinivas Achar and Venugopala Raju will be part of team.
