A journey into the soul

Music lovers had the chance to listen to some soulful strains at the launch of ‘Journey’, a fusion music album, which was held at PESIT in Banashankari recently. The album was launched by the Lahari audio company. The launch was followed by an interesting
performance.

The album consists of nine tracks, each of them having a common link. The tracks were called ‘Soul’, ‘Journey’, ‘He’, ‘She’, ‘Bliss’, ‘Apart’, ‘Together’, ‘Journey To’ and Swa-Desh. In fact, some of the tracks are inspired from Hollywood and Bollywood music.

About the album, Vishwesh Bhat, the lead vocalist, said, “It’s about an eternal bond
between ‘Them’. From our point of view, ‘Them’ represents man and woman, human and music, we and the universe. The journey into the music in one’s soul which is what we are trying to portray. There are multiple aspects that we have tried to explore through the album.”

“For instance,” he added, “We have combined classical music with western elements. We begin in the Shankarabharana raga on the veena and go on to play a composition by Mozart. While people may expect a certain path to be followed, we have tried to
take the road less taken. We don’t have any lyrics, the music is only instrumental.
Although we have improvised the music, it still has its roots in the classical style.”
Many of the band members of Svar Amrita, who have put together this album, have an IT background and pursue music on a part-time basis. “That’s the reason it may have taken longer for us to release the album. Sometimes, we are really hard-pressed for time to practise. But we’re thrilled with the response and the support we received from family and friends. Since we hadn’t expected such a large turnout, we were overwhelmed,” said Ashwini, who plays the veena. Shruthi, a music therapist who was on veena and vocals, said, “This is our first big album and we are happy about the release.”

Members of the audience were an impressed lot too. Venkatesh K Balisavira, a member of the audience and a music enthusiast said, “From my limited music knowledge,
I can say that the music was amazing. It’s good to see energetic and talented youngsters coming out with such good work. Many times, fusion music ends up becoming a confusion but that was not the case with this team. As a layperson, it was wonderful listening to something fresh.” Navina, another member who was present for the launch said, “We got to listen to some soulful music. I must say it was an enthralling performance with the music having a calming effect on me. It was an evening to remember.”