Rock and roll with the raga riff

The tempos are flared, the raga's gone rogue. And Car natic musicians are more determined than ever to think outside the box.

The `Skyfall' theme in the Keeravani raga. The `Game of Thrones' vani raga. The `Game of Thrones' title track in Nata Bhairavi raga. And of the course, the `kutcheri' of NRI kids, who've gone viral with their raga rendition of Sia's pop reggae number `Cheap Thrills'.

Dressed in pattupavadais and veshtis, vibuthi smeared on their foreheads, jasmine strands in their hair -when the violin, ghatam and mridangam begin playing, the setting is typical of a Carnatic concert. But that's only until lead singer Neha Pullela, in her full-throated voice, belts out, `C'mon c'mon turn the radio on'.And suddenly from a sabha it's Sia.But with the flourish of a gamaka.

While the `Cheap Thrills' song was performed earlier this year as part of a raga fellowship project, in Chennai, IT engineer and violinist Krish Ashok is collaborating with Carnatic musicians to create an Indianised version of western classical pieces, and classical vocalist Sriram Gangadharan has copyrighted several numbers that are a mix of Carnatic and heavy metal. Meanwhile, US-based Carnatic musician Mahesh Raghvan, who has become famous for presenting the south Indian classical music form in innovative ways, will release his version of the Harry Potter background score in 2017.

While traditional rasikas may turn their noses up at this Carnaticcontemporary mash up, these musicians say it's their attempt to give Indian classical music a wider audience. “It was definitely different from any traditional concert either of us has given,“ says

Naren Pullela

, the 11-year-old mridangist and Neha's younger brother. “I enjoyed setting my mridangam to beats I wouldn't normally try at a concert.“

Raghvan, who has been learning Carnatic vocals since the age of four, says he wanted to explore opportunities to present it in new ways using technology so it would reach a larger audience.“I did my first Indian style cover -Adele's `Hello', and the response was phenomenal,“ says Raghvan, who plays Carnatic music on his iPad, with which he has developed a technique to `Indianise' melodies. He recently launched Flair -Carnatic Music 2.0, his YouTube channel that features Carnatic and electronic music blends.

Krish, who shot to fame with his Keeravani-style `Skyfall' and his version of Grammy winner Daft Pink's `Get Lucky' in raga Karna Ranjani, is working on his adaptation of Led Zeppelin's `Stairway to Heaven'. While he plays all the instruments in his tracks, he collaborates with Carnatic vocalists in Chennai and Skypes with singers from around the world.

“The tracks I was creating got so popular that I was working on producing one every two weeks despite holding down a full-time job,“ says Krish. “I've done the whole December season kutcheri bit for several years,“ he says, adding that it got “boring“ as there was no edgy innovation. After living abroad and learning several other instruments like the cello and guitar, Krish decided to create his own genre.

It's what Gangadharan is trying to do with his heavy-metal-Carnatic blend of music. In between his kutcheris, Gangadharan teamed up with bassists and drummers from Chennai to create several tracks that have been copyrighted. “Our songs `Seventh Heaven' and `Bamboo Smash' became hits on YouTube,“ says Gangadharan, who performed his classical-metal numbers at traditional wedding kutcheris. “We did have raised eyebrows among the guests, who were surprised to see a Carnatic vocalist show up with an electric guitarist and mridangist-western drummer. It was not really what one would expect to see at a south Indian wedding reception in Pattukottai,“ says Gangadharan.

Krish too sees his share of naysayers. “While I do have a lot of followers, I also get my share of angry emails and calls from traditional rasikas and musicians who think what I am doing is blasphemous. But those reactions have reduced because people have become more accepting,“ says Krish, adding that his first attempt at Carnaticising a popular number was in 1989, when he and his friend, Chennai-based pianist Anil Srinivasan got together as pre-teens and set the Simon and Garfunkel's `Scarborough Fair' to Kharaharapriya ragam.

“What traditionalists need to realise is that a large number of NRI kids are learning Carnatic music abroad and performing in the Margazhi festival in Chennai. Blending in songs of today into the classical ragas they are learning is definitely a way to keep the interest from waning,“ says Krish.