Composer-Singer Vinod Krishnan on Fusion and Indian Classical Music's Relevance

The Chennai-born artist, who is creative director at popular education start-up and video channel IndianRaga, talks about how he crossed genres

- Anurag Tagat

For his latest Tamil release, Chennai-bred, Minnesota=based composer, singer and producer Vinod Krishnan decided to call on San Antonio, Texas-based dancer Sophia Salingaros to choreograph ballet and bharatnatyam for his love song “Ninnaye Rathi Endru.”

Krishnan – who has collaborated with the likes of singer Vijay Prakash – also called on Texas A&M University’s Swaram A Cappella group, led by Akshara Parashar, for harmonies that punctuate the song. If that’s not modern enough a mélange for you, “Ninnaye Rathi Endru” also features lyrics by Tamil freedom fighter-poet Subramania Bharathi.

This is Krishnan’s world and it’s not surprising that he’s also involved with IndianRaga, an arts education startup which also boasts 273,000 YouTube subscribers and over 40 million total views for their mash-ups and fusion songs that often feature unique choreography in different parts of the world. Just last month, Krishnan teamed up with violinist Akash Gururaja to cover Simon & Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair” and mash it up with A.R. Rahman’s “Nadiye,” from the 2000 Tamil film Rhythm. Krishnan says over the phone, “We decided to pick a frozen waterfall and it was -17 degrees Celsius and it was interesting.” Just as interesting is IndianRaga’s clickbait title for the video: “Carnatic Music in -17 degrees Celsius | How did they do it?”