Singer Karthik talks about the making of his new non-film album "Music I Like" !

For close to a decade, he has been the flag bearer for the crop of young singers who have stumbled on to the Tamil film music scene post 2000, and now, popular playback singer Karthik has come out with a compilation of Carnatic classical tracks, titled Music I Like, which stays true to how the album’s cover describes it — ‘delightful interpretation of great works’. “I have always wanted to do a contemporary version of classical works. Sai Madhukar, a friend of mine, approached me with the idea and we went ahead,” the young singer starts off when CT caught up with him.

Elaborating on the album, Karthik says that it was a ‘deliberate decision’ to include only very popular compositions in Carnatic music, so that even those who aren’t that familiar with the genre, will understand the album. “That way, everybody can enjoy the songs. Almost everyone knows a Maha Ganapathim… or a Krishna Nee Bhegane…

and presenting them with a contemporary touch ensures that the music reaches out far and wide,” he justifies.

Though he confesses that he has not heard similar works done by others, the singer says that one of his objectives was to remain as close to the aesthetics as possible. “I sought the help of Carnatic and playback singer P Unnikrishnan, who guided me through the whole thing. He made sure that the aesthetics were preserved. For example, ragas are not just about swarams. Only an experienced person like him could’ve guided me, ensuring that that I didn’t go out of bounds. That has been one of the most important aspects of making this album,” he reveals.

What has been extremely satisfying, Karthik says, was that making the album was also creatively stimulating. “I have been involved in playback singing for the past decade or so, and in the last three years, I have been experimenting — first, with my own band, through which we reinterpret film songs. And this April, I was in Switzerland to be a part of a jazz festival called Jaazaar, where I got to collaborate with a lot of musicians from the US, Tokyo and Greece. In this jazz festival, I was part of a group of twenty-five musicians; we rehearsed for about five days and performed what we had jammed up. It was a gratifying experience. Likewise, working on this album was also creatively liberating,” he explains.

The singer is currently ‘wrapping up’ the songs for director Vasantha Balan’s Aravaan, which marks his debut as a film composer. “I have completed 80 per cent of my work and am very excited about the output,” is all he reveals in conclusion.