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Jyothi Varma

An Out of Syllabus musical combo

H
ow often do competitors evolve into compatriots? The story of the coming together of composer duo of Bennet and Veetraag is perhaps as offbeat as their musical creations. The two, who were often lined up against each other in string instrument competitions in college, went on to set up a musical partnership that has produced some quality songs in Malayalam cinema. This talented duo launched their film career in the film Out of Syllabus in 2006. Singer-musician Veetraag who has trained in Carnatic classical music later expanded his tastes to develop a passion for diverse musical genres, including Hindustani classical. Bennet is a guitarist song-writer who broadened his musical training in the Western Classical through exposure to other genres as varied as fusion and ghazal. (Currently, the guitarist performs in singer Kartiks troupe). Going into rewind mode, they recall how they chanced upon each other at inter-collegiate music competitions. Later on, when Veetraag decided to do an album he asked Bennet to join him to help with the background score. It was during the jam sessions for the album that they realised how closely their musical sensibilities matched and decided to become a composer duo. And, when a common friend, Viswanathan, decided to make a film, the Bennet-Veetraag combination became an almost default choice. In collaboration, they have produced music that is anything but run-of-the-mill with the orchestration meandering away from the beaten paths. To many music lovers, they have infused an originality of thought in their compositions. Their love for various genres of music is reflected in the yen to push boundaries and this imparts to their melodies an exploratory feelalmost as if they coax their listeners along a trip to an outer soundscape. Our songs are not an extension of a jingle kind of music. It is not just about complementing a film. We want our songs to have a more wider and deeper perspective and live on as an entity by themselves. The songs need to have an identity independent of the movie, says Veetraag. Their debut effort in Out of Syllabus was appreciated for musical richness and style of treatment. In fact, the song Poi Varuvaan from this movie won the state award for Best Lyrics for noted lyricist Prabha Varma. Bennet-Veetraag scored music for two other movies Soorya Kireedom (2007) and Dr Patient (2009) though the songs were not fully filmed in these movies. The song Mazha Njan Arinjilla opening with soft guitar notes and hauntingly rendered by Hariharan is arguably their best song to date. Interestingly, somewhere along the anuppallavi of this song, the flavour evokes nostalgia about Johnsons classy song Aadi vaa kaatte for Koodevide. Kamals Gadhama is their latest movie as music directors. What is special about songs for Gadhama is the cultural relativism of their music to the song situations. For instance, while the song Naattuvazhiyorathe has a typical SouthIndian touch, the song Vidhuramee Yaatraa has an Arabic feel to it. The challenge, according to the two musicians, has been to bring about the difference in predicament of the protagonist in these songs while being rooted in the physical and emotional contexts. Bennet and Veetraag say they worked very closely with poet-lyricist Rafeeq Ahamed to embellish the lyrics with the right notes to come up with an exposition closes to Kamals vision for the film. {