Raga-based fusion band Mrigya on how they travel all over the world with their music.
Very few bands can sustain on raga-based and predominantly instrumental music over a long period of time. But Mrigya has been at it for over 10 years and after rave reviews for their performances at the Edinburgh Festival and the New Zealand International Arts Festival, Mrigya’s latest offering is a collection of music inspired by their travels and exploration of different sounds.
The band has a global vision and the message they are giving out is that of world peace through fusion music. The album World Harmony tries to break boundaries by bringing together sounds from all across the world.
“When we started out in 1999 we were experimenting. As we travelled around the world we slowly became aware of various sounds and it added to our repertoire. We have elements of Hindustani classical and western in our music. We did try consciously to create something different; to create a global sound,” says violinist and lead singer of the band Sharat Chandra Shrivastava.
In this album, the band’s music travels from the song Ganga in raag jog and Deccan in the Deccan plains of Maharashtra to Amir Khusrau’s jazz rock in Ali, Pahari Funk and the Scottish Moors.
This six-member band with Gyan Singh on tabla, miridangam and dholak, Sharat Chandra Shrivastav on violin and vocals, Karan Sharma on electric and acoustic guitar, Rajat Kakkar on drums, Indraneel Hariharan on electric bass and western vocals and Sachin Kapoor piano and keyboards, has a plethora of sounds up their sleeves. The fusing of the various influences and styles that each musician brings is what defines their sound. “Our music is ragabased and each of the members brings in something unique to the style of the band,” says Sharat.
The band also has Sukriti Sen rendering the classical parts and Ghulam Quadir sings the sufiana portions, adding new dimensions to their fusion music. “We have western and Indian instruments in the band. We meet and rehearse only during comcerts and most of our work happens at great speed. Before our first performance, in fact, we had just a week and we came up with five compositions which is some of our best work,” says Sharat. One of their best songs Ganga was one of those five, which is also a part of their album.
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