A river meeting the sea. A wedding unfolding on the streets of Mangaluru. The roar of a Pili Vesha performance. And somewhere in between, an electronic beat. For multilingual band Curry, these are not disconnected images but pieces of home. On Suprabhatha, their recently released four-track EP, the Mangaluru-based band brings the sounds and cultural memory of coastal Karnataka into a contemporary musical space.
About the project, which has been five years in the making, vocalist Kanasue, who also does music for the band, says, “It took us five years to get the right people on board.” The EP also brought together several Karnataka artistes, including violinists, while its music videos draw heavily on the region’s visual and cultural traditions, such as Yakshagana and the customs of Mangaluru.
For Curry, preserving their roots did not mean making music that sounded entirely traditional. Growing up in Mangaluru, the members – Ryo, vocalist; Sheesh, vocals; and Kanasue himself – were exposed to both Indian and Western influences, including the town’s strong church
and musical traditions. “We do listen to a lot of English music, which automatically translates to a modern pop sound. We are a modern band, so we’d want influences of modern music as well,” he says.
That balance is particularly evident in Seetha Kalyana, which takes the traditional Sanskrit lyric Seetha Kalyana Vaibhogame and turns it into a danceable wedding track. Initially, the band considered approaching the song traditionally, but changed course after realising how many similar versions already existed online. “We thought people also have fun at weddings, so it doesn’t need to be a serious affair,” he recalls.
While Curry began as a multilingual band, Suprabhatha marks their first major step into Kannada originals. When it comes to original music, however, the band believes in being honest about where they come from. “I can make a song in Punjabi or any other language, but If I’m talking about my experiences, there’s no relevance to me talking in any other language,” he says, further noting that Kannada is also at an interesting point in its independent music journey. “Kannada has ample scope. It’s the right time. It’s definitely not peaking, but we’re getting there. Kannada artistes are lacking a little, not in terms of originality or talent, just because the audience has not gathered yet. This is the right time to focus on where we come from,” he adds.
Formed in 2020, Curry has released four songs as part of Suprabhatha, with more singles planned before the end of the year. As they look towards more live shows, including a return to Bengaluru in October, the band hopes their music will allow Coastal Karnataka to travel far beyond its shores.
The music videos further expand the EP’s relationship with Mangaluru. Seetha Kalyana follows the band through the city’s streets as they make their way to a wedding, incorporating Pili Vesha. For the Afro-inspired club track Nannavale, the band deliberately went in the opposite visual direction, shooting at a Guthumane – a traditional Mangalurean ancestral home associated with a residing deity. Manase, on the other hand, transforms a conventional love story into one between a river and the ocean, inspired by the idea that the river eventually meets the sea. Saanjh, the EP’s mellowest track, brings Hindi into the Mangaluru setting as another experiment. Together, the songs tell a larger story of the place the band calls home.