Morphing Raga

When the guitarist
R Prasanna agreed to compose the background score for the Oscar-winning documentary Smile Pinki in three days,little did he know that director Megan Mylan will fall in love with his music made in a hurry. It even sounded divinely strange — produced as it was by playing Carnatic music on an electric guitar. “I was playing pure Carnatic style one day and reggae the next. Even as a kid,when I played one of the oldest art forms on a modern instrument,people raised eyebrows,but the Oscar win answered every question,” says Prasanna.

The Oscar has also pushed him,an alumnus of the Berklee College of Music and IIT-Madras,to establish a music academy at his hometown Chennai and produce a new album with the American musicians George Brooks and Steve Smith where they will morph ragas. The music school will open in July next year and will cater to students who want to learn western music in the heartland of Carnatic vocals. He plans to bring as faculty western musicians such as Santana’s drummer Rodney Holmes.

Prasanna already has 11 albums in his kitty,including the 2008 release Electric Ganesha Land,a curious Carnatic/rock album that was a tribute to Jimi Hendrix,and the jazz fusion album Be the Change that features Grammy-winning artists. His new one will be a razzmatazz of jazz and Carnatic music.