He’s a youth icon in the music field, a YouTube sensation and boasts of over 6,00,000 fan following online. Chennai-based music fusion artiste Mahesh Raghvan is known for his unique brand of peppy and urbane Carnatic music. “I have been juggling with music and technology for long now. My goal is to combine the two, give Indian music a twist and present it in a whole new way, so that it’s relevant and appealing to a varied audience,” says Mahesh, who, along with violinist Shravan Sridhar is set to perform a live concert titled Carnatic 2.0 in the city, this Sunday.
The duo, that has been collaborating for online music videos, started performing together at live concerts a year ago. So far, Carnatic 2.0 has seen over a dozen stages across India, Dubai and China. “Both of us have been learning Carnatic music ever since we were kids,” says Shravan “We try to bring in fresh, experimental elements from different genres of music while keeping the Carnatic core of a song intact. Mahesh’s songs are structured in a way that they’re suitable for dissecting them into two halves. While he sings the pallavi and charanam , I play the hooks for the song, complimenting what he does or vice versa. We also perform certain sections of the song in unison for a larger impact.”
According to Mahesh, they also do Carnatic versions of popular themes, such as Game of Thrones and Pirates of the Caribbean , says Mahesh. “Since I specialize in EDM (Electronic Dance Music) and Carnatic and also have been doing music technology, I enjoy mixing these to come up with something unheard before. Anyone who listens to my songs the first time doesn’t really need to have knowledge of Carnatic music to appreciate it.” He adds, “That’s the reason for the mass following for our shows. When we performed live in Mumbai a couple of days ago, we did the last song and the lights came up and no one moved from their seats. We ended up playing more songs. This makes us happy and motivated.”
Carnatic 2.0 is a 90-minute repertoire of different ragas, infused with various western elements. “We have a set of songs to play but there’s always scope for on-the-spot improvisations. We also add or remove songs, gauging what the audience want and how they react to our surprise elements,” explains Shravan. “For instance, ‘Shape of You: Carnatic Mix’, released by IndianRaga on YouTube has garnered over five million views, gives a Carnatic twist to Ed Sheeran’s popular single.” Another interesting aspect of the show is that Mahesh will be playing on the iPad. “I play on a music app and do the vocals while Shravan plays the interludes with the violin,” adds Mahesh.
Harsh Garg of Eight-O-Eight events, who is organising the show in the city, says, “Given how entertainment-starved Madurai is, my idea is to bring in healthy and quality events to the audience here who otherwise head to bigger cities in search of such shows. We hope to introduce more interesting events.”
Tickets for the show are priced at ₹499 and ₹808. It’s happening on August 26, 5 pm onwards at JC Residency, Lady Doak College Road. For tickets, call 7373000034. Or buy online on bookmyshow.com
