Mission Music

Apart from artist management and music marketing,Natarajan’s brainchild Indianuance is devoted to making Indian classical music more relevant to the youths as well as readily available in the digital medium. “Indian classical music is often seen as staid and ‘uncool’. However,I feel the youth stays away from the genre because something about it intimidates them,” says Natarajan,who trained in Carnatic music for 25 years while growing up in Delhi.

Her cosmopolitan upbringing ensured that Natarajan indulged in all forms of music — from Jazz,Western classical,African folk to American pop and British rock — alongside her daily Carnatic music classes. “I too had my MTV moments and teenage pop idols. But later,I realised that few other schools of music offer the kind of variety that Indian classical music does. It also remains tremendously under-exploited and under-represented,” says the 29-year-old. The thought stayed with her,until roughly two years ago,when the MBA degree-holder gave up a plush job as a business analyst to work in the backrooms of the Indian music industry.

Indianuance was set up nearly a year ago with the idea to find a new audience for the music and rope in young classical musicians to bridge the gap between the popular and the niche. One of the several steps taken was the Bombay Baithak where Natarajan — now based in Mumbai — with help from classical music patrons,started holding sessions at people’s homes. “The news spread through word-of-mouth and through social networking. We invited people who had never gone to a classical music concert before to come and attend these. No one had to buy a ticket. The programme was designed in an interactive format where the artiste introduced the music,spoke about it and answered questions,” says Natarajan.