On June 21, World Music Day, Kochi-based online music school musicshikshan.com uploaded Gitamritham , a Sanksrit music video, on their YouTube channel. The song is a celebration of music. Singing in it are 155 students, ranging four-and-half years old to 60 years, from different countries across the globe such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Maldives, Ireland, Singapore and Australia.
Every year, since it was founded in 2012, musicians Devki and Sudheesh have brought out a music video to commemorate World Music Day. “Last year for Music Day, we had plans for a musical programme with our students at Guruvayoor. Everything was ready, the hall booked and several of our students from abroad had booked tickets to come. Then the pandemic broke out and was cancelled,” recalls Devki Nandakumar, who founded the online music school with her husband, singer Sudheesh Kumar. The school conducts online music classes for students across the world. Although they started with Carnatic music, they now offer lessons in Hindustani and instrumental music too.
With the outbreak, they tweaked the plan and released a video recording with 84-odd students singing. “We decided then that we would do something similar next year [2021]. We started planning in advance, right from the song to the composition,” Devki adds.
The song, which traces the origin and growth of music, has been written by Madhavan Kizhakkoot and set to music by Jaison J Nair. Although the idea was conceptualised a few months ago, the last two months were spent teaching the students the song, recording and finally, editing the video before it was uploaded on June 21.
“The students were taught the song virtually. They worked very hard on it, perfecting it — not only singing but also recording it. Everybody was a 100% invested in the project. It would not have come together if not for the hard work of the students,” says Devki.