Musical mission

Celebrating Carnatic music with fusion, emotion, and global collaborations

- Narendra Kusnur

The broad idea was to envision a platform to celebrate Carnatic music while exploring new genres. Violinists K.J. Diliip and Ila Diliip were both trained in the traditional style but sought to expand their artistic horizons. They thus formed the group Lakkshya, which has released its EP Ecstasy.

The six-track EP features well-known bassist Mohini Dey as a guest on two tunes. The video of the 10-minute-plus The Way Home is out, and shows clips of the band playing live in a studio set-up. K.J. Diliip says he wanted to compose something vibrant and dynamic in the Carnatic raga Bahudari, but with a contemporary twist. He elaborates, "Bahudari, like many other ragas, offers endless possibilities for exploration, evoking diverse emotions and nuances. My goal was to retain the grammar and essence of the Carnatic tradition while presenting the raga in a fresh, modern context. I've always believed that these scales hold untapped potential beyond their traditional interpretations, and this composition was my attempt to showcase that."