'RAAGRAANIS' LEADS A NEW CHAPTER FOR WOMEN IN INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC

The EP, led by singer-composer Prajakta Shukre and singer-lyricist Himani Kapoor, also features voices like Varijashree Venugopal, Kalpana Gandharva, and Pratibha Singh Baghel

- By ANURAG TAGAT

The new project Raagraanis is a five-track EP that brings together a unique team of Indian classically trained women's voices, led by singer-composer Prajakta Shukre and singer-lyricist Himani Kapoor.

With the album also uniting stalwart voices like Kalpana Gandharva, Pratibha Singh Baghel and Varijashree Venugopal, Shukre says the overall vision was to write music that was "totally immersed in Indian classical ragas." She adds, "Even the words that we have used for the compositions are very bandish-like words." With modern production flourishes to back up the storytelling, Shukre says the artists were free to narrate stories from a woman's perspective.

"Compositions were also done knowing it's going to be femalecentric," Shukre says.

Kapoor, who is the director at music company Namyoho Studios with the EP's producers and musicians Kamal Bharti, Nataraj Kshetricha, Swapnomoy Chowdhury and Rajat Kumar, says she and Shukre created three songs initially.

"As the songs came together, we realized we were building something special rooted in classical ragas with a modern touch," the lyricist says.