A tribute to musical luminaries

With the launch of his music album, senior IT professional, Carnatic and Hindustani vocalist, composer, cartoonist and founder of the fusion band, ‘SvarAmrita’, Vishwesh Bhat will don another feather to his cap.  A one-of-a-kind compilation, the album comprises 100 songs with four pauses. Vishwesh explains, “The album is a fusion of Hindi and Kannada songs from legendary composers such as Rajan Nagendra, OP Nayyar, RD Burman and Kishore Kumar. Each pause signifies a music director.

The idea to launch an album like this began when I used to compile songs for my workshops.” His originality here lies in compiling songs with similar themes or ‘ragas’ and making sure for a smooth transition and blend between melodies and tunes, despite keeping the emotion and mood intact. He has retained the original flavour of every ‘raag’ in this album.  

Vishwesh has a rich legacy of Carnatic music and Hindustani classical to his credit and commenting on both styles, he says that the discrepancy lies in the method of presentation and the stress and pauses in different notes which have the ability to evoke various emotions.

A constant learner and one who embraces all forms of music and incorporates various styles to produce a pleasing concoction, he adds that with the number of fusion bands from colleges and collaborations with various artistes, fusion music is robust and is here to stay. “Western music mainly depends on harmonic aspects while Indian music is built on melody. It ultimately depends on the percentage that an artiste or a band uses to showcase their idea of fusion. Experimenting on music is important but the challenge is sustaining consistency.”

Quite a revolutionary in his own, quiet way, Vishwesh was probably one of the first to create different movements in the music industry because there was no other artiste exposed to genres like ‘kan-fusion’ (Kannada fusion) or ‘de-fusion’ (Devotional fusion) when he started. He is known for making waves in the industry with such genres to promote regional languages. “I started experimenting with ‘kan-fusion’ when I was abroad,” he recalls. “This was mainly to expose children with diasporic identities to their culture and a regional language and it was very well received.”

Straight out from a book of Arts and one who wishes to give much more to music, he says that he only has to compromise on family time to concentrate on all his projects. “But I have a very supportive family,” he is quick to add. Vishwesh will launch his album on October 2 at PESIT Open Air Theatre.