IN CONVERSATION WITH
CHARAN RAJ
The film industry at large has undergone a gamut of changes in the recent past, making way for a bundle of new talent. With audiences becoming more accepting and appreciative of experimental projects, there has never been a better time for independent musicians to express themselves, reaching out to a wider section of audiences who are beyond the scope of their gigs and albums. Speaking of the independent scene in Bangalore and regions in and around, there has been quite a few talents who have made it big. As for the Kannada film industry in particular, the sort of bold and original content that independent directors are bringing to audiences are not only pushing the boundaries of film making but also establishing a sort of a secured space for music composers to be vulnerable and take the chances that they otherwise wouldn’t have taken in case of any other commercial project. Each of the independent project that has come out in recent times has shown the kind of collaboration and union that the director and his music composer have come to which has so beautifully manifested on screen. Amongst the host of talents who have entered the industry as composers, here is one who shows great promise of being a pioneer in the industry evidently by the amount of buzz he has created just with his debut! Meet Charan Raj, 31, a Kannadiga, engineer, vocalist, pianist, music programmer, and composer. Having started off as a Carnatic classical musician, Raj went onto exploring Western classical music, piano, composing, audio engineering, and music programming. “From a very young age I had a very big affinity towards being a musician. Coming from a place like Coorg which has very little music, there was nothing beyond the native music; you neither have too many opportunities to learn classical music nor do you have any exposure to popular music. However, I started learning Carnatic music from a local teacher in Virajpet. I come from a family which has no musical background. They were only music lovers. My father used to listen to lot of music like Ray Charles, Loius Armstrong and make me listen to all of those. But in Coorg, being with nature helped me a lot whatever you learnt, you related to it in one way or another. That made the real difference for me. The feel that the folk music brought despite limited notes taught me a very important lesson - its all about that connection,” he passionately started off. “During my sixth grade, I came to Mysore to compete to see how good I am with music because that was the only source of validation for any beginner- winning a prize. There were about eighty kids competing and that was my first real world exposure. After
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The
Score Magazine
www.thescoremagazine.com
Here to stay! Meet CHARAN RAJ An indie musician, engineer who is Kannada Film Industry’s latest music sensation!