The strings and bows were just warming up for the evening ahead. A young opera singer cleared his throat before launching into a flawless rendition of Mozart’s ‘Laudate Dominum’.
Moments later, the string quartet joined in. Inside the intimate venue in Kochi, everything pointed to a concert unlike anything the city had seen before.
Jupiter Strings — a unique Kerala-based piano and string quartet — was preparing to enthral audiences with a genre-blending performance last weekend.
Sravan Krishnakumar, Nibu Mathew, Anil Antony Alukkal, Shone Francis and Noushad Ashraf make up Jupiter Strings. Trained violinist Sravan, the band’s founder, says the idea had been taking shape for years.
“I had plans to start a band three or four years ago,” says the Thiruvananthapuram native, who was introduced to studio recording by his friend AI Nishad, a music programmer, composer and string arranger.
“It was our dream to start a band. Back then, we experimented with something we called a ‘one-man string quartet’.”
In a traditional string quartet, the music is shared between two violins, a viola and a cello. Long regarded as one of the purest forms of chamber music, the quartet is prized for the intimate conversation between its four instruments, where every musician carries an equal voice rather than simply accompanying a lead performer.
In Sravan’s early experiments, however, he recorded each part separately himself. “Just so we could hear how it sounded,” he recalls. “But we always longed to perform it live with four different musicians.”
That dream gradually became reality. Jupiter Strings brings together musicians from across Kerala, most of whom first connected through Instagram.
“Nibu plays the first violin, which carries the main melody,” Sravan explains. “Anil is on the second, adding harmony. I play the viola, and Shone is on the cello.”
The viola, he adds, is his favourite instrument. “It looks like a violin but is slightly larger,” he says. Tonally, it sits between the violin and the cello, giving it a richer, deeper sound.”
Completing the ensemble is pianist Noushad Ashraf, a musician well known in Delhi’s jazz circuit.
“A recording session may involve over 40 string players, which makes it an orchestra,” the team explains. “What we have is a chamber ensemble — a string quartet with piano.”
For this concert, they were also joined by young Western classical vocalist Aryan Sunish. “This isn’t our first performance as a quartet,” says Sravan, “but it is our first intimate, interactive concert.”
The musicians have been performing together for over two years, mostly at destination weddings. They have also spent the past year touring with Job Kurien Live.
Notably, before becoming Jupiter Strings, the members had also performed together as part of Shan Rahman’s live band.
The band’s name, Nibu reveals, emerged just before one of those performances. “We were going by another name when Job called us to perform live,” he says.
“Since there are five of us, I thought of the fifth planet, Jupiter. It’s the largest planet and symbolises gravity and depth. Music has its own gravity too; it draws people together. Adding ‘Strings’ just felt right.”
Although the string quartet is rooted in Western classical tradition, Jupiter Strings stretches its boundaries. Their repertoire moves effortlessly from Tchaikovsky’s Legend to Guns N’ Roses’ Sweet Child O’ Mine and a range of film songs, too.
“When we arrange a song, we break it down into its melody, harmony and bass lines,” explains Anil. “Then we distribute those parts among our instruments.”
“We even arrange the percussion,” adds Sravan.
“When we play staccatos and accents, the audience feels that rhythmic, percussive energy,” says Shone.
Their nearly two-hour concert featured everything from ‘Cherathukal’ from ‘Kumbalangi Nights’ and Bollywood favourite ‘Badtameez Dil’ to the waltz from the Yule Ball sequence in the Harry Potter films.
The musicians have no intention of sticking to a single genre. “If an event, such as a destination wedding, calls for a particular style, we will happily do it,” they say. “But when we present our own concerts, they will never be confined to one genre.”
All five members are music teachers as well, and they are currently working on an album of original compositions. Well, that will be something fresh to look forward to in Kerala’s indie music scene.