How ‘Arul’, nominated for JUNO Awards, gives a new twist to Carnatic music

Sandeep Narayan with Yanchan Produced
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Sandeep Narayanan has sung Thyagaraja kritis on several stages, but this one was going to be different.

Recording the popular ‘Manavyalakincharadate’ for a track called ‘Tradition’, the Carnatic singer had to sing traditional lyrics over hip-house Afro beats and rhythms. “I had to get over my mental block of whether it was appropriate,” he mulls, “To be genuinely convinced and tell myself that it’s okay to go ahead was one of the most challenging things about this project.”

‘Tradition’ is the first track of Arul, an EP that resulted due to a musical collaboration between Sandeep and popular Canadian songwriter-music producer Yanchan Produced.

The beats are modern and trendy, while the song and the lyrics are classical.

Arul is a project that has prompted conversation among purists on the way Carnatic tracks are used. Arul is also a project that has appealed to global listeners on its unique approach to blending Western and classical ideas, hence resulting in a prestigious nomination: to the upcoming 54th Annual JUNO Awards in Canada.

At the awards ceremony set to be held in Toronto later this month, Arul will compete, in the South Asian Music Recording of the Year Award category, against the likes of AP Dhillon, Chani Nattan, Inderpal Moga & Jazzy B, Jonita Gandhi and Karan Aujla. “It was extremely flattering to be in a category with such well-known names. I think we have a great chance because our album explores Indian classical-based music. Arul is also a bridge that connects the tradition of India to the modern day.”

The birth of Arul

Sandeep Narayan first met Yanchan when he was a teenager who wanted to learn to play the mridangam in Chennai. “His teacher (Neyveli Venkatesh) introduced us more than 15 years ago. Subsequently, we kept in touch through social media. But during the COVID-19 lockdown, I saw a lot of his work and had given him some positive feedback. One thing led to another, and we decided that we should work on something.”

That something was a few hip-hop stems and beats that Yanchan Produced had worked on, back at his studio in Canada. “He wanted me to sing whatever came to my mind, but over these beats,” he recalls. Hoping to fruitfully battle lockdown-induced boredom, Sandeep launched into the project with gusto at his Chennai home studio. “I would record a few things over the beats and send it to him. He would cut it, move it around. There was a lot of back and forth. We were just jamming. We did not go into this thinking it would be an EP or album.”

Sandeep Narayan
| Photo Credit:
Amar Ramesh

But it did. Arul, an EP consisting five short tracks that mixes classical and Western musical sensibilities, was not picked by two major music labels because “it could not be categorised into any genre”. Undeterred, Sandeep and Yanchan decided to take Arul in their own hands, a decision that has yielded rich dividends. “A whole group of the younger generation from the South Asian diaspora came to us and said that it is something to connect with their roots. A lot of youngsters growing up in the West, especially in Canada or the US, lose touch with their own culture and regret it when they grow up. They felt that listening to Arul made them feel a little connected with their roots.”

Even as his regular Carnatic kutcheris go on, Sandeep will, this year, work on an extension of the Arul universe, along with Yanchan Produced. “My musician friends call it Arul 2.0,” he jokes. Apart from that, he is also working on a major collaboration with a handful of German musicians. “We started last April, and we are close to completion,” he reveals about the yet-to-be-titled album that will have 12 tracks, “I’ve been working with a few musicians in the Lo-Fi category, but trained in jazz, piano and drums. My friends from Chennai have played violin and mridangam. It has a couple of original compositions and some covers. We have also redone something from Andal’s Thirupaavai. Each track has a different approach; some are upbeat and some meditative. I really want to show the range of Indian classical music.”