KOCHI: TS Ayyappan is on cloud nine. Ayyappan’s music video Navarasa won the award for best music Video at the 13th edition of the Dada Saheb Phalke Film Awards announced in April. The song portrays nine emotions through Kathakali vesham performed by artist Kalamandalam Aravind. That is not all. Just a few days ago, the much-awaited sequel of Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan hit theatres with the popular track Shivoham composed, produced and arranged by A R Rahman.
The one-minute 27-second long track is a Sanskrit sloka rendered in five languages (Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada) and sung by eight singers — Sathyaprakash, Dr Narayanan, Nivas, Aravind Srinivas, Shenbagaraj and Malayali musicians Sreekanth Hariharan and Ayyappan. The Carnatic vocalist and Perumbavoor native is still over the moon as he got a chance to work with A R Rahman.
The track Shivoham, weaved from Adi Shankara’s Nirvana Shatakam, infuses the soul of the strong Shaivite Madurantakan aka Uthama Cholan’s character played by actor Rahman, and signifies the moment of him uniting the Agoris for his support.
Active in the music industry for a decade, 35-year-old Ayyappan is the disciple of prominent Carnatic and playback singer, P Unnikrishnan. Little did he know the song was for Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus, Ponniyin Selvan when he lend his voice two years ago. The song has percussion arranged by Kumaran Sivamani, the son of prolific drummer Shivamani.
“It all started when I received a complimentary mail from music maestro Rahman for my song, ‘Krishna Nee Begane’. Later his sound engineer contacted me to reach his studio for a recording. Due to confidentiality, I didn’t know further details of the project,” says the singer.
“It was an emotional project too,” he says. “Two important people in my life — my father and veteran musician Arjunan Master — had asked me when would I get a chance to work with A R Rahman. Both are not in this world anymore, and this project is dedicated to them.”
Ayyappan says the song come as a big break in his career though he has already worked with music giants like Vidyasagar, Harris Jayaraj, Ghibran, Deepav Dev, Gopi Sundar and so on. Some of his notable songs include Tamil and Telugu versions of Utama Villian and the ‘Madhu Mozhi’ in the Tamil version of Mohanlal’s Pulimurugan.
‘Not a new genre’
Shivoham was not a new genre for the young musician who is skilled in Sanskrit and has been exploring Carnatic music. “The song has vibrant lyrics. It touches the listeners in a profound way, makes them feel like chanting,” he says.
Ayyappan has been creating independent Carnatic music for a long time. “Guruthwam was a new ‘krithi’ I composed in Nattakurinji raga as a dedication to my guru P Unnikrishnan in 2015,” he says.
“That said, nowadays many prominent music labels are coming forward to produce independent classical music too which is a progressive change,” he adds.
Apart from enjoying the bliss, Ayyappan also gained some knowledge working with A R Rahman. “He is a person who respects everyone irrespective of their jobs. Whether a professional singer or just a beginner, he values everyone’s talent equally and respects their skills. I learnt how a person can stay grounded even when they become famous.”
Ayyappan’s musical projects ‘Nila’ and ‘Navarasa’ are in the race to enter the final nomination list of the Oscars and BAFTA.
“Well, what a year,” he laughs.
T S Ayyappan is scripting success one after the other. After working with A R Rahman, and winning Dada Saheb Phalke Film Award for best music video, the Carnatic singer speaks to TNIE about his music journey