THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: V S Akhil Vinay, the lead male vocalist of the city-based music band AcousticA is thrilled as well as nervous. The team is all set to launch its new music piece ‘Accappella of Tharapadam’. To be released today, the new project will also feature the lead female singer Anamika along with around 20 members from the Trivandrum Choristers Association.
The piece, which is a different version of the evergreen hit song ‘Tharapadam Chedoharam’ composed by music maestro Ilayaraja is an experimental project, according to the vocalist. Speaking more about the venture, he adds, “We have experimented with the concept of Harmonisation through the piece. Also called an Acappella version, such a concept has not been tried in the Malayalam music industry. We have also introduced another concept of key change in this version, which is a sudden pitch change.”
Apart from these two new concepts, Akhil states that the Acappella version will be a very different one, changing the original song to a six-part harmony.For the music enthusiast, taking music beyond its element of melody makes it unique. Akhil says, “Harmonisation is something which can totally change the mood of a song. It makes the listener overcome the concept of the song being just a melody, creating a different mood.”
It was Akhil’s grandmother’s love for old songs which made him experiment with the concepts. States the vocalist, “Listening to new versions of their loved songs, old generation music lovers feel that the essence of the song has been ruined. What I have tried to do is add westernized music elements to a song, retaining the essence of its melody. Thus, I can appease the old generation music lovers as well as youngsters.”
Speaking on the two-year-old band’s future projects, Akhil says, “This will be the band’s last cover. After this we will focus on individual original compositions.”
Though it was Carnatic music which Akhil started learning from the age of three, it was the western style which eventually attracted him. Elaborating further, he said, “Being a Christian, I used to regularly attend church and was also a member of a private choir. The thought of mixing film songs with western elements eventually struck me.” Contracting a degenerative eye disease at the age of 9 and eventually becoming blind, his visual impairment has never come in the way of his pursuing music. Winding up, he says, “Apart from me taking more time to come up with something, I have never found it restrict me in any way.”