BRIDGING THE GENERATION GAP

Kavita and Kanishk Seth come across as a regular fun-loving mother-son duo. But, as musicians, together they are a force to reckon with, especially in the Indian indie space. After the stupendous success of their collaborations in JugJugg Jeeyo and Double XL, they are now all set to take on Bollywood as well

- Ananya Ghosh

Kavita Seth needs no introduction. The veteran sufi and ghazal singer’s Bollywood repertoire includes cult classics like Iktara from Wake Up Sid (2009) and Tumhi Ho Bandhu from Cocktail (2012). She is also the woman behind one of the most stunning OTT soundtracks in recent years, having composed and sung Saeeda Bai’s (played by Tabu) songs in Mira Nair's 2020 web series A Suitable Boy. But for Gen-Z, she is the voice of the indie chartbuster Rangi Saari — a traditional thumri composition put to contemporary electronic beats — which especially in its Jug Jugg Jeeyo avatar was on almost every party playlist last year. “Now I have people from five to 85 listening to my songs!” quips Kavita.

What makes the song such a hit with people from all generations is the seamless amalgamation of beautiful, traditional Indian melodies with the catchy beats of EDM. The 2020 song was the result of a unique collaboration between Kavita and Kanishk Seth — two musicians from two subsequent generations specialising in markedly different genres.

The mother-son duo had previously come up with a Sufi-Electronic/Trance fusion album named Trance with Khusrow. “It was my first album with mom. She had sung the songs… some were traditional compositions and some were composed by her. I had produced it. It was an amalgamation of sufi and Electronic Trance music, something that was not done before,” says Kanishk. “I think it was a bit ahead of its time at that point. Its popularity has grown over the years,” adds Kavita.