Mahesh Raghvan - Setting The Net On Fire With His Indo-Classical Fusion Of Western Songs.

Anjana Rajguru
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25 year old Mahesh Raghvan is lighting up the internet with his Indian classical fusion of songs of international artists and electronic versions of Carnatic music. His videos are garnering millions of views and innumerable shares on social media platforms. Raised in Dubai, Mahesh has an MSc in Digital (Music) Composition and Performance from the University of Edinburgh and a Bachelors in Audio Production from SAE Dubai.

Mahesh is a full-time music producer who is revolutionising the Indo-Western fusion music scene. He runs a YouTube project called FLAIR - Carnatic Music 2.0 where he does modern electronic versions of popular Carnatic music pieces and Indian style versions of Western pop songs. Mahesh adds “Other than music, I’m also interested in technology and design. I initially started FLAIR by doing just proper Carnatic fusion and I needed a strategy to make my music reach a larger audience. Hence, I decided to Indianise popular international songs so that more people could relate to it, and the idea has worked wonderfully. Also, it has helped introduce Indian classical music to a large audience”. He uses a lot of technology to produce his music. The iPad app he usually plays is called GeoShred, which simulates the sound of the electronic guitar and other stringed instruments. Other than that, he has been recently experimenting with the ROLI Seaboard Rise and the CME XKey Air which according to him, are both great instruments.

Talking of his favourites, Mahesh says “I wouldn’t say favourite, but the one I had the most satisfaction in producing was ‘Krishnaa Nee Begane’, since it took a lot of time and effort and it was worth it in the end. Out of my Indianised covers, I loved making the ‘Game of Thrones’ one as I’m a huge fan of the original theme. Incidentally, the Game of Thrones Indian Theme is also the most popular video”. He adds “While I was creative director at the 2016 IndianRaga Fellowship in Boston, we wanted to create something that would be totally entertaining for a general audience. So I decided to take my ’desi cover’ concept to the next level and do a proper ‘kutcheri’ style presentation for the most trending song at that time - Cheap Thrills. I had access to some extremely talented musicians and it turned out to be fantastic in the end”.

Mahesh also teaches music production at university level whenever he gets the time as he believes that it is important to spread the knowledge that one has. He shares “I am currently working on a course with an organization called IndianRaga, which gets musicians started with the basics of how to Indianise western melodies/songs”.

Inspirations

Mahesh says "I grew up listening to AR Rahman’s music and was inspired by him to create music using technology. Nowadays, I mostly listen to Indian Classical music as that’s where I get my ideas from. Artists like Dr. Balamurali Krishna, MS Subbulakshmi, Ravi Shankar etc. are regulars on my playlist”. Taking of the possibility of getting into film music he adds “I don’t wish to get into film music, nor have I taken up any film projects. Personally, I prefer music just on its own and I support independent artists and music”.

Talking of his future plans, Mahesh shares “I shall continue to present Indian music in new ways using modern technology. I plan to do another Carnatic music album soon and plan to release it some time next year”.