In love with the sound of this

Viral voice

Innumerable songs are composed and released every other day but once in a while, there comes along a track that catches the imagination of people across the globe. Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of you’ has now become such a global phenomenon and one has lost count of the number of spin offs, covers, mashups and choreographic routines it has inspired.

“It has become a global frenzy,” says Malika Bhavnani, a professional. “And Indians seem to have taken this particular song to heart. The creativity displayed has been amazing. Even though so many versions of this song have come out, there is always something different or unique in each rendition.”

It was a hiphop video by a group of IIT Roorkee students that set off this trend and what followed was a shower of songs and dance routines based on it. Popular among netizens is IndianRaga’s carnatic twist to the song, performed by Aditya Rao, Vinod Krishnan and Mahesh Raghavan. V-Minor’s desi mashup of ‘Shape Of You’ and ‘Urvasi’, Penn Masala’s Anil Chitrapu and his friend Hari Ravi’s Bollywood version as well as Aksh Baghla’s mashup are doing the rounds on the net.

Another version is an ode to the ‘biryani’, one of India’s most favourite dishes, and features comedians Ahmed Shariff, Praveen Kumar and Sanjay Manaktala. “People want to listen to something fun and entertaining and Ed Sheeran’s number has the right kind of lively vibe to it,” says Raveesh Tirkey of ‘Live Banned’, that has done a parody cover of this song. “That is one of the reasons the song became so wildly popular.”

Asked about whether the numerous covers were becoming a bit too much, Raveesh says, “These are all the artiste’s own renditions and have a different flavour from the original. We did something like this because we thought we could add more crazy elements and put out something unique and fresh.”

The creativity has been extended into the realm of dance and everything from hiphop to classical has been given a ‘Shape of you’ twist. Sonali and Vijetha’s hiphop routine, Rohit Gijare and Shivani Badgi’s beautiful Kathak fusion dance, Krishnamay kathak’s stunning group choreography by Kumar Sharma, Maritime Bhangra Group’s viral duo act, an odissi dance shot against the backdrop of Orissa’s heritage sites — these are some of the many presentations that have taken the internet by storm.

“I was mesmerised by the many dance performances based on this song, especially the classical ones,” says Priyamvada Krishnan, a student. “It is no easy task to match traditional beats to contemporary tunes and the group efforts are stunning. There is something about the song that lends itself to every art. Foot tapping, that is the best way to describe this track!”