Carnatic vocalist Renuka Arun’s music videos highlight contemporary issues concerning women
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In the final week of November, the impartial musician uploaded ‘Maravairi’, an aesthetically shot video that narrates the story of two younger women who fall in love
As the world observes 16 Days of Activism in opposition to Gender-Based Violence 2020, which matches on until December 10, Carnatic vocalist Renuka Arun turned to music to register her assist for the elimination of violence in opposition to women and the LGBTQ neighborhood.
In the final week of November she uploaded ‘Maravairi’, an aesthetically shot video that narrates the story of two younger women who fall in love. It depicts how their relationship evolves once they lastly determine to throw warning to the wind and observe their coronary heart. Based on the Thygaraja kriti in Nasikabhushani raga, Renuka designed a fusion that’s visualised on the bond between the women. “At present, even after the reading down of Section 377, many face discrimination and ostracisation. Some of them are subject to terrible acts of violence. That is why I conceptualised this video on such a relationship,” explains Renuka, a senior company government.
Premeired on the Krithi Festival in Kochi in 2019 by Bombay Jayasree, the movie travelled to festivals in India and overseas and gained her bouquets and brickbats. Buoyed by the response to the music video, she is now engaged on the parable of Marutha, the vengeful yakshi thirsting for revenge even within the afterlife. “It is different from the maternal concept of women that we are used to hearing and reading about. This is an extremely different idea of a woman who unleashes her inner strength to destroy wrongdoers. The new music video I am working on, ‘Maruthayi, the fetish mother’, depicts this; she not only nurtures, she can also punish those who persecute women,” explains Renuka.
She desires to handle abuse of women and kids by the video. Written and composed by her, Renuka has fused the soundscape of the Macedonian Symphony Orchestra for the music. “It is a massive project and it proved that Malayalam lyrics can be in sync with a pure Western orchestration. I have not used Carnatic lyrics or music,” says Renuka.
Although she had commenced work on it earlier than the lockdown, the visualisation couldn’t be accomplished. She hopes to complete and launch it by January.
Renuka says reactions to ‘Maravairi’ have been alongside predicable strains. “While the music and the singing was appreciated, conservative followers of Carnatic music were not happy with the way it was depicted on screen. They felt it was a travesty of the lyrics. On the other hand, there were many youngsters and liberals who empathised with the film.”
She factors that the experimental work had begun as a chunk to create fusion music with a uncommon raga. The LGBTQ idea got here in later. “In the disclaimer, I made it clear that this is an experimental, conceptual divergence from the usual concept of Indian Classical music.”
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