Shaping his own path

Pitch perfect

He is a Bengaluru-born musician but resides in the US. He moved with his family about 18 years ago and has continued to pursue his interest in music.

With some of his popular creations and Tamil tracks trending on YouTube, it’s safe to say that Aditya Rao has become a global musician. Today, he is known for making a Carnatic version of Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ which has hit more than three million views in three days of its release.

He shares his remarkable journey of how he conceptualised the song and what music means to him to Anila Kurian.

How did your version of ‘Shape of You’ take shape?
It’s a funny story — I was cleaning my apartment a couple of months ago and I started humming ‘Shape of You’. It was an instinct reaction to replace the English lyrics with the Carnatic swarams. The next thing I know, I’m collaborating with Mahesh Raghavan, Vinod Krishnan and Sriram Emani to complete the song.

Was it fun to come together with the other artistes?
It was fun but we had a lot of back and forth session going on as none of us is in the same city. We created a Google Drive to share our content and we had someone from New Delhi stitch the pieces together for the video.

That must have been a lot of work...
It had its own complications but it ended up being simpler than we thought. I guess our hard work paid off with the number of hits on YouTube.

Where did your base for Carnatic music come from?
I’ve been learning Carnatic music ever since I was five years old. I still have Skype
lessons with K Ramesh from Bengaluru;  the learning is never ending.

How would you describe your genre of music?
I lead a double life. Carnatic music is my base but since I have been exposed to western music, I use a bit of that as well. These two main factors are what influence me to be who I am as a vocalist and a producer.

You’ve also worked with A R Rahman before...
Yes, it’s been an honour to work with him. He is a great mentor. I look forward to learning more from him.

Your other interests....
I love cooking, playing tennis and exercising. I can also never say ‘no’ to milk and cookies.

Do you visit Bengaluru often?
I always came down for Summer vacations to meet my grandparents. It’s not so easy anymore but I do visit as often as I can.

What do you do when you come here?
I know the city well enough to explore and make plans to meet people. There’s a lot to explore here.

And how do you like the traffic here?
I like it only as much as the rest of the Bengalureans do (laughs).