Hubballi lad brings 'Baje Sargam' in new avatar

Rediscovering the spirit of national integration through 'Baje Sargam', a popular music video of 1980s for which music stalwarts performed, a youth from Hubballi has now come up with a video of the same song recreated with additional composition and dialogue.

Some of us still remember the iconic 'Baje Sargam' music video telecasted on Doordarshan TV a few decades back, and it included enthralling performance by renowned musicians and dancers including Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Ravishankar, and Pandit Balamuralikrishna, reflecting diverse and multi-cultural backgrounds. Now, Prasanna Bhojashettar, a young multi-talented artiste from Hubballi, has prepared a seven-minute music video of 'Baje Sargam', showcasing young talents from different States.

"Without disturbing the originality of Des Raag, we added different Sargams. Roli Seaboard instrumental by noted music composer A R Rahman's accompanist Rachintan Trivedi, and a dialogue on national integration by Jyoti Nair are the added feature. In addition, I have painted the image of national bird peacock, before showing the message 'Love, peace, harmony unites India' at the end of the video," said 29-year Prasanna Bhojashettar who has not just performed, but also edited and directed this video.

Around 15 artistes including Mira Sengupta of Kolkata, Jasdeep Jogi of Uttarakhand, Amit Jha of Chhattisgarh (vocal), Divyashri M J of Mysuru (flute), Rajesh Dhavale of Tamil Nadu (tabla), Mahen Joshi of Maharashtra (acoustic guitar), and Radhika Poduval of Shivamogga (Bharatanatya). All the musicians are associated with A R Rahman Foundation's K M Music Conservatory in Chennai, Mr Prasanna said.

Mr Bhojashettar told media persons that he wanted to recreate 'Baje Sargam' to spread love towards nation, peace and harmony.

"We worked for around five months to make this music video, while recording and mixing was done at Le Music Studio in Chennai. The song is fused with modern music without changing the original melody. This classical fusion of music, dance and painting will be released on Youtube on Friday (January 26), on the occasion of the Republic Day," he added.

Mr Prasanna is an MTech holder who worked as software engineer and assistant professor, and he is now a full-time music composer. He has learnt classical music from Pandit Naarasimhalu Vadavati and others. He also pursued electronic music production course and western vocal music course at K M Music Conservatory in Chennai. He has already launched several music videos on Youtube.

KLE Society Chairman Shankaranna Munavalli, and Swarna Group of Companies Managing Director V S V Prasad expressed happiness for the innovative project of Mr Bhojashettar.