Malayalam industry rewards mediocrity, says music composer
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Over a decade ago Sachin Shankor Mannath won laurels in the Kerala State School Youth Festival and the Kerala University Youth Festival for Carnatic Music. Sachin went on to learn and later work with noted music composer A R Rahman and also worked in Hollywood. Yet, the young composer chose to stay away from his home state as he believes ‘mediocrity is being highlighted’ in the Malayalam music industry.
“In the global arena too, both mediocre and excellent artists exist. But when it comes to performance, both sections have distinct venues. In the music industry here, along with talent, one should have luck and also the willingness to chase people for opportunities. My background did not allow me to do that and that’s why I chose to stay away,” said the noted composer at a ‘meet the press’ programme at the Press Club here.
Sachin, an alumnus of KM Music Conservatory founded by A R Rahman, is in the city to organise a workshop for budding singers. The workshop would train singers in Bel Canto which is a blend of Swedish and Italian music, besides opera and choir singing. The workshop, being held in association with theatre personality Prashanth Narayan at ‘Kalam – Abhainava Kshetra’ will also explore how Western Music could be blended with Hindustani music. Sachin said he would be composing music for Prashanth Narayan’s upcoming work ‘Shyama Madhavam’ based on poet Prabha Varma’s award-winning novel in verse. The project will have lot of international musical elements including theatre music in which actors sing for themselves and singers are made to emote, he said. Asked about the exposure of singers here towards international musical trends, Sachin said it was less when compared to artists in Chennai or Mumbai.
Asked about the standards of the music industry in Kerala when seen at a global level, Sachin said there was much scope for improvement.
Speaking about his ongoing Global Ghazal project, Sachin said his aim was to make ghazal appealing to young audiences and give it a global reach with improved sound and production quality. Currently, in addition to working for ‘Shayama Madhavam’, Sachin is also scoring music for a British movie ‘Kamsa’ and would prepare an opera team of 300 students for a musical based on legends such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
He is also experimenting on composing music using the latest advancements in artificial intelligence. Sachin and other students of A R Rahman had jointly composed music for the Hollywood film ‘The Lake of Fire’ which found mention in the shortlist of 141 scores from full-length pictures for nominations to the 90th Academy awards popularly known as the Oscars.