JOIN USMusical tributes for Karnataka Rajyotsava
With Karnataka Rajyotsava around the corner, celebrations are being planned in full swing. City-based musicians are joining in with musical tributes to the state, among them Sunil Koshy and K R Venkatesh. They will release their videos on November 1 on YouTube. Metrolife finds out more...
A tour through the state
Sunil Koshy, well-known singer and co-founder of music startup ‘From Mug to Mike’, will release an original Karnataka Rajyotsava Anthem music video titled ‘Naanu Kannadamma’ on the day. It has been composed by Sunil himself and lyrics have been penned by eminent lyricist Dr Nagendra Prasad.
“The concept is that Kannadamma herself is taking a tour of the state. She starts from Bidar and traverses through all the 30 districts of Karnataka, singing 1-2 lines about each of them,” explains Sunil.
Another highlight of the song is that he has roped in mostly non-Kannadigas as singers. “This is sung by me and my students who are amateur singers. Most of them are non-Kannadigas and we made sure they learnt at least a few lines in Kannada and understood the lyrics and pronunciation as well as possible. They are from Delhi, Calcutta, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and other states, living in Bengaluru working in different professions — like scientist, CEOs, doctor, managers, and corporates,” he says.
Explaining the rationale behind the concept, Sunil talks about how music, art and literature can inspire and attract people to a new language and its culture. “We always blame non-Kannadigas for not learning or speaking the language. We believe this song will be an inspiration to everyone to learn and appreciate the rich heritage of Karnataka and explore the state and its language,” he says.
Sunil himself is a Malayali but he did an engineering course in Belgaum, married a Kannadiga and can speak, read and write the language fluently. He has also worked in Kannada movies as a music director.
The song is being released under the aegis of ‘From Mug To Mike’, an initiative started by Sunil and his wife for bathroom singers. It will be released on their YouTube channel ‘From Mug To Mike’.
A tribute to the place and its people
K R Venkatesh is releasing a duet song for Rajyotsava where he attempts to cover the glory and natural beauty of the state, as well as highlight the contribution
of Kannadigas in various fields.
The lyrics are written by him; he has sung the song along with Nidhi Hegde, an up and coming singer.
“It is a tribute to Karnataka and its people. The song starts off by describing the natural beauty of the place and then goes on to talk about its architectural marvels, the contribution of its people and so on,” says Venkatesh, who quit an IT job after 20 years to turn to music and literature.
“The song has visuals of Jog Falls, rivers, Sahyadri, Vijayanagara empire, Halebidu, Mysore Palace and almost every other place that the state is known for.”
The song will be released on November 1 on his YouTube channel ‘Mano Hamsa’.