IN CONVERSATION
WITH
CHARAN RAJ
The film industry at large has undergone a gamut of changes in the recent
past, making way for a bundle of new talent. With audiences becoming more
accepting and appreciative of experimental projects, there has never been a
better time for independent musicians to express themselves, reaching out
to a wider section of audiences who are beyond the scope of their gigs and
albums.
Speaking of the independent scene in Bangalore and regions in and
around, there has been quite a few talents who have made it big. As for the
Kannada film industry in particular, the sort of bold and original content
that independent directors are bringing to audiences are not only pushing
the boundaries of film making but also establishing a sort of a secured
space for music composers to be vulnerable and take the chances that they
otherwise wouldn’t have taken in case of any other commercial project.
Each of the independent project that has come out in recent times has
shown the kind of collaboration and union that the director and his music
composer have come to which has so beautifully manifested on screen.
Amongst the host of talents who have entered the industry as composers,
here is one who shows great promise of being a pioneer in the industry
evidently by the amount of buzz he has created just with his debut! Meet
Charan Raj, 31, a Kannadiga, engineer, vocalist, pianist, music programmer,
and composer.
Having started off as a Carnatic classical musician, Raj went onto exploring
Western classical music, piano, composing, audio engineering, and music
programming. “From a very young age I had a very big affinity towards being
a musician. Coming from a place like Coorg which has very little music,
there was nothing beyond the native music; you neither have too
many opportunities to learn classical music nor do you have
any exposure to popular music. However, I started learning
Carnatic music from a local teacher in Virajpet. I come
from a family which has no musical background. They
were only music lovers. My father used to listen to
lot of music like Ray Charles, Loius Armstrong
and make me listen to all of those. But in
Coorg, being with nature helped me a lot -
whatever you learnt, you related to it in
one way or another. That made the real
difference for me. The feel that the folk
music brought despite limited notes
taught me a very important lesson
- its all about that connection,” he
passionately started off.
“During my sixth grade, I came to
Mysore to compete to see how good
I am with music because that was
the only source of validation for
any beginner- winning a prize.
There were about eighty kids
competing and that was my
first real world exposure. After
28
The
Score Magazine
www.thescoremagazine.com
Here to stay! Meet CHARAN RAJ -
An indie musician, engineer who
is Kannada Film Industry’s latest
music sensation!