I hope you’re in the mood for some Indian folk music because today we’re talking about Chennai Street Band. The forefront, we have vocalist and producer Srihari Jagannathan along with Gowtham Healer on drums, Akshay Yesodharan and Renin Raphael on guitars, Adithya Gopi on bass and Sebastian Satish on keys. The band performs both Hindu and Tamil and has been touring across the country since they first started off in 2014. Srihari tells us that he was always inspired by Coke Studio artists and their format of music.
Their latest single, ‘Safarnama’ is about a person who wants to set out on a journey of self-exploration and soul searching. It is also the first release from their new album ‘Uplift’. Through this song, the protagonist tells us the story of his various experiences. While the song starts of in a country-rock theme, with the Achyuth Jaigopal from When Chai Met Toast on the banjo and some hard hitting drums, it slowly transitions toward a sufi/qawwali vibe with Mahabeer singhon the Rabab, an Afghani folk instrument. The band tells us that it took a couple of months to record and produce since all of them were in different cities since the first lockdown.
Shruthi Venkatesh made the art work. Meanwhile, the adorable animated music video, which depicts the band sitting around campfire, was directed, sketched and produced by Sugandha Bansal, an illustrator from Delhi. The band’s first album ‘Payanangal’ has over 2 lakhs streams across platforms and features the track ‘Veliye Vaa Kannama’ featuring Sharanya Srinivas and Udd Chal with Jonita Gandhi. Chennai Street Band continues to work with different artists across genres to make unique music.
