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Blurring boundaries

Blurring boundaries
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The pandemic and travel restrictions have opened the doors to hitherto unknown means of expressing creativity. Toronto based Carnatic classically trained vocalist Abby V recently released a song with social media sensation and Pune based Antara Nandy. Her family is originally from Assam, while Abby is from Delhi. The song is a combination of North Indian classical and Marathi folk, mixed with Italian originated acapella. The song 'Albela Sajan x Apsara Aali' truly represents international integration and has already made waves on social media.

Abby confessed that he has been exposed to a lot of musical influences. He started training in Western classical music. Since his teenage days, he has focused on North and South Indian classical music. His most recent innovative video '73 Ragas with Abby/Vogue Parody' has made waves on social media.

Speaking from Toronto, Abby said, "The pandemic has been constricting. We have not been able to meet other artists but luckily because of social media, one can connect with other musicians."

Replying to my query on how this song came about, Abby laughed and said, "Antara and I have never met. We connected very recently on social media. Our song mashes up a popular piece in Raga Ahir Bhairav with a Marathi Lavani 'apsara aali', whose 'mukhra' also uses Ahir Bhairav. I have been using acapella arrangements a lot. I like how it can be used in Indian classical music where the concept of using many different notes at one time is not really there. I like amalgamating my training in both Western and Indian systems and this song has Antara and me vocalising all the background music which really is not easy. The song ends with a kind of 'taan' battle!"

Antara Nandy's background is totally different. She has been putting out her songs on social media since she was 13. She was a 'Sa Re Ga Ma Little' champ when she was nine-year-old and she had sung in front of Asha Bhonsle, Kailash Kher, Kavita Krishnamurthy and Udit Narayan. Her confidence is infectious.

"You can really reach out to people through the Internet. It is one platform where you do not have to rely on anyone else. I started singing songs with my younger sister Ankita and we used whatever we had to hand for accompaniment. I think our videos prove one does not need accompaniment to make music," says Antara.

Antara continued sharing her story: "In the last three months, after I graduated and Ankita finished her class 12, we had a lot of time, so we have again started putting out our music entitled 'Balcony Concerts'. We sang a 'Bihu' song by playing the ukulele and it was very popular. We have sung in 12 Indian languages and did 18 episodes of 'Balcony concerts'. We want to continue, while we keep getting this love and support."

Speaking of the song, Antara said, "I was blown away by Abby's singing. We connected through 'Instagram'. We chose 'albela saajan aaye' as we are both trained in classical music and we wanted to show our roots and where we come from. Mixing it with the Marathi was Abby's idea."

Antara concluded by saying, "Geographical borders are no longer a constraint to be able to get our creative juices flowing."

(Shailaja Khanna writes on music,

musicians and matters of music)

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