You cannot fit Pavithra Chari, an acclaimed singer into any one genre. From playback to independent, Pavithra has been an influential face for all the leading composers of the country, including the legendary AR Rahman, for whom she sang ‘Utchanthala’ from the movie
Maamannan, a brooding and atmospheric track that complimented the intense theme of Udhayanidhi Stalin, Vadivelu, Fahadh Faasil, Keerthy Suresh starrer political starrer film.
However, Pavithra’s journey had started even before her playback stint. Along with Anindo Bose, she formed Shadow and Light, a classical duo that is a perfect amalgamation of Hindustani Classical music and western musical sensibilities, as evident from their three albums. In an interview with News18 Showsha, Pavithra talked about her experience working with AR Rahman and other stellar composers, making independent music and more.
Here are the excerpts:
Pavithra Chari On Working With AR Rahman
It was a surreal experience working with AR Rahman Sir on this song because the whole energy, the vibe of the song, the way the lyrics and the composition were put together by him, it was nothing short of magical. The poetry also has a lot of imagery in it. It’s very dark and intense keeping in the context it plays in the film. And it was a great opportunity in the form of learning experience for me where I could see how masterfully and skillfully Sir puts the whole thing together, right from the composition to where the song is right now. So it’s a great memory for me and I will never forget the song for this reason.
Pavithra Chari Shares Her Learning Experience From Big Composers She Has Worked With
This is true for Rahman Sir as well as all the other composers like Santosh Narayanan Sir and everyone I have worked with. They are all so skilled and experienced in the craft that they are able to bring the best in what is required by the singers and the song as well. Like for this session, there was a lot of attention that was paid to how we pronounce the words, the way we sang and the delivery of the singing. And it’s wonderful to see my colleagues like Sireesha and all inspiring upcoming artists and to be able to share that song with them, I feel like I get to learn a lot from everybody in the room literally. And in this song particularly, there are a lot of pathos and dark sentiments that we could evidently understand from the lyrics. To bring that emotion out and to have that kind of throw in your voice in order to do justice to the composition, I think that was one of the biggest learning experiences from the session. And I am sure it will help me in any projects I’ll do in the future.
Pavithra Chari Explains Why AR Rahman’s Music Is Timeless
In terms of Sir’s music, of course there are so many composers across India and outside India that I admire so much and I wish to get an opportunity to work and learn from them. But particularly with Rahman Sir, it’s true for all of us here that his music is timeless. For me, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have
a song by AR Rahman Sir to listen to in any emotion, whether I was overjoyed, whether I was feeling down, whether motivational. Some way or the other, you’ll find gems. Especially his work in Tamil films that I had the lovely opportunity to grow up listening to. So I think his music has been there for a long time and it speaks volumes about his craft and talent that till today, we have songs that we really love and admire. So to be able to really work with time and create one gem after another, in that sense Sir’s music will always be special to me. And thankfully, in my journey of the last two months, I’ve been able to work with composers who have inspired me to work in this field. A great example of that is Santosh Narayanan Sir because I really enjoyed music from him, particularly in the last 5-6 years. To work with him on a song and dub it in all the languages, it was such a huge opportunity for me. And even that song is such a different song from the ones I have sung for films so far. So it gave me a whole other dimension to my craft as a student of music.
Pavithra Chari Would Like To Playback For Bollywood
Oh absolutely. For me actually, the main goal is to look for projects that I can learn from, that I can be proud to be associated with. In my learning in the last few months, I’ve realised language holds no barrier. Of course,
It’s a new challenge to sing in a language that you might not be proficient in but I am up for the challenge. I am very happy to learn and I make sure that I do justice to it. But I would absolutely love to make a mark, create music and collaborate with so many composers in Bollywood. For example, starting with Amit Trivedi Sir. He is a huge inspiration for me and his recent work that has come out especially in Qala and Jubilee. I have really enjoyed his sensibilities right from Dev D till now. So he is definitely on my wish list of Bollywood composers.
Pavithra Chari On Shadow & Light Completing 10 Years
Fun fact, we started even before 2014. We started in 2013. We only officially released the songs in 2014. We started uploading our work in 2013 so this year, we actually celebrate the 10 years of Shadow And Light and it is such a huge achievement for us. We’ve seen a lot of challenges and so many obstacles, we continue to see them to this date and in the last 19 years, we’ve gone through social media evolution, pandemic and so many different things. I feel as much as it teaches us, it gives us newer ways to express ourselves. For example, through the pandemic, the number of online concerts and digital engagements in which we were involved and how we can leverage our online presence by reaching out and connecting in more deeper level with fans. We learnt all of that so I feel like now every time there’s a new indie artist that we are really happy about, that people are creating original music and putting it out there. But it makes me reflect on our journey continuously and makes me feel that we had so much to learn from. And I am pretty sure there’s a long list of things that we’ve yet to understand and learn about indie space. I hope it continues to grow in the speed it’s growing now.
Pavithra Chari Reveals The Influence Behind Shadow And Light’s Music
It’s really interesting that you say that. Colonial Cousins is one of my primary inspirations in the sense that there is an album of them called Aatma which I have listened to day and night. So yes, Colonial Cousins have been a huge inspiration to me but apart from them, Anoushka Shankar is another key inspiration to us. I think her musical sensibilities are so beautifully blended within the contemporary as well as the traditional style. So we really enjoyed her music. And I’ve been hugely inspired by my Guru Shubha Mudgal Ji because I am a student of Khayal gayaki and I have been a student of classical music for the longest time. So I derive a lot of strength from classical music for Shadow & Light. And one of the most interesting things for me in regards with Shadow & Light is that both Anindo and myself, our musical influences are so varied. There are so many albums and so many genres of music that I haven’t even heard of that he really got inspired by. So when we put all of that together, we never tried to create a particular kind of music or a particular genre of music. We created what blended organically and felt right to us. So in that sense, we have too many inspiring artists to look up to. And I think that list is building on and on. And if I add Rahman Sir, he plays a huge role because he has inspired both of us from our childhood.
Pavithra Chari’s Thoughts On Whether Fusion Music Dilutes The Essence Of Traditional Hindustani Classical Music
For me, there are two-three things that I keep in mind when I am writing or when I am performing.Whether it’s with Shadow & Light or Anirudh Verma Collective. As a student of Hindustani Classical Music, I feel it’s very important to learn and understand the artform. To learn from a Guru and really do service to the form that is taught to you, in all its purity and essence. So when I am singing Hindustani Classical Music or when I am listening to Hindustano Classical music, I am very mindful of how I am singing it, where it’s being sung, how it is being presented. I think the place and the purpose of singing, composing and creating music makes a lot of difference on how you churn it. When I am composing for Shadow & Light for example, I derive all my strengths and inspiration from Hindustani Classical music but I don’t apply the same rules as I do when I am singing a purely classical thing.
I take inspiration from it but I bend my creative liberty because it’s not a fully classical environment that I am singing in. In films, there is a lot of experience I have derived being a student of Classical music and Indie artist that now I am starting my journey as a playback singer. For me, it’s really important to identify and ensure that I create respect for all genres. As long as I’ve understood where I am performing and for what I am performing, there is a listener of all kinds of music. It’s hugely liberating for me as an artist.
Pavithra Chari Talks About Her Guru Shubha Mudgal
The knowledge that she gave me about music is so vast and I am eternally grateful for that. Besides music, she is such a huge role model. She has created her voice and identity in so many compositions. As a listener of her music, the versatility she brings out is so admirable. I take her advice on a lot of things aside from music as well. I share all my tracks, all my film releases with her before I share it with other people. And I take her feedback on all of it as well because she gives me a new perspective and she’s a wonderful Guru and a wonderful well-wisher to have and I am very grateful to her.
Pavithra Chari On Independent Music Scene In India
There are a lot of machinery behind music release like promotions, touring etc. As we’ve been in the indie space for a while, I got a lot of knowledge about what all goes into
not just creating the music but also putting it out there to ensure all the listeners get to hear it. For example, in films, there’s a whole other machinery working towards building
and making sure that the music is promoted well and everybody gets to know about it. And I think social media has become a huge power in our hands that we are able to access our listeners in a much more effortless way as before. Having said that, I feel like there are listeners, we just need to find them. I am sure there many other beautiful music creators. Being at this stage, I believe listeners are also seeking the artists perhaps through playlisting or subscribing to different channels. There are so many platforms where people discover artist so I feel it has become mutual relationship where
listeners are seeking newer artists and artists are seeking their listenership. I think it’s about how we use the platform that we already have and how creatively we can come up with things. It’s definitely not easy as an artist and it takes a lot of effort to think outside the box, especially when it comes to thinking outside the music creation. There is no dearth of artists or listeners. We are all in abundance but we have to find each other.
Pavithra Chari Reveals Why Shadow & Light Has Been Absent From The Indie Scene
Our US tour was in 2018 and then we
were on the cover of Rolling Stones. It was the year for us. Pretty much, right after that, in 2019, we focussed more on writing. Everytime we put an album out and we go on your, we take a little bit of time to write new music because we don’t like rushing into the song production stage. We like to think and we like to put our music out when we feel the most comfortable. It’s like a gut feeling that this song has reached where it wanted to reach. We took that year to really understand because as an artist, I like to take a pause and take stock of things and where I am. A lot of self-awareness and reflection goes into our music. And when we were ready, the pandemic hit and touring and everything had to be paused. So right now, we have a lot of singles that we are looking forward to release. We have finished a lot of them and we just have to find the appropriate time to put it out. And we are also looking forward to releasing a few collaborations. We”ve a song with Haricharan, we’ve a song with Salim Merchant. We also collaborated with Karsh Kale. And we also want to write more for visual media because we’ve already started composing for web-series. We want to explore that space more because we feel like that gives us new situations to write music. That’s the next step.
Pavithra Chari Predicts The Future Of Indie Music In India
Independent scene in India has grown exponentially. And not only in one direction but it also branched out in so many different things. I think there are more stakeholders in the game now and more people are taking notice. There’s also a niché that indie artists have created for themselves and their music and people are really enjoying that as listened and consumers. They are appreciative of the art. I feel like the only way forward is upwards and better. I think we are creating more avenues for ourselves in that space. There is a lot of blurring of line as well because of players in the game. The power of original music and the vibe of creating something never dies.
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