Carnatic musician Varijashree Venugopal is now the first Indian to be signed with the American music label GroundUP. “It’s a great honour and privilege to have a platform where I can represent the music of my land to the world,” says the 32-year-old, who also performed at the GroundUP Music Festival in Miami (USA), earlier this month.
The Ranjani singer doesn’t take this opportunity for granted. “I’ve always dreamt of taking Carnatic music to every corner of the world. This milestone is facilitating the process of introducing this genre of music to audiences who probably have no idea of it,” she says, adding, “As an artiste, I would like to put my heart and soul to serve this music to people.”
The musician’s first album under the label, titled Vari, is set to be out in May this year. Describing it as a “global sound mixed with Carnatic elements”, Venugopal talks about how it came into being: “My first album with the label is greatly inspired from and born out of the foundation that I was blessed to be born into, which is Carnatic music.” For the album, the 32-year-old has collaborated with musician Michael League, who is the founder of the label as well as the fusion jazz band, Snarky Puppy.
Forty Bengaluru-based artistes along with internationally acclaimed musicians, such as bassist Victor Wooten, have contributed to the album. “We’ve also included all kinds of Indian instruments in the album from the violin to sarangi, shahnai and more,” she shares.
{{/usCountry}}Forty Bengaluru-based artistes along with internationally acclaimed musicians, such as bassist Victor Wooten, have contributed to the album. “We’ve also included all kinds of Indian instruments in the album from the violin to sarangi, shahnai and more,” she shares.
{{/usCountry}}On her future plans with the label, Venugopal says, “The plan is to take it on an international tour. In my future works, I want to explore the fundamentals of Indian music on a deeper level and find newer ways to present it to the world.”