This lockdown, singer/composer Mohan Kannan, has not only lent his voice to Indraadip Dasgupta’s Bengali composition“Kichu Shahosh Diyo”, but has also sung “Kaand” composed by Anshuman Mukherjee for the movie Chaman Bahar,

Not just this, Kannan has also rendered an unplugged version of “Barbaadi”, Amarta Bobo Rahut’s song that was originally a part of the “Aurangzeb” soundtrack.

Kaand is a situational song about the main character in the movie Chaman Bahar, and is edgy and satirical and shows a different aggressive yet fun side of Mohan’s singing.

To dig deep into his music projects we spoke to Kannan where he has given us a glimpse on the above collaborations and much more.

Check below.

How did your association come about for 'Kaand’?

This happened when Anshuman Mukherjee, the composer, called me and told me about the song. When I heard the scratch, I instantly loved it and knew that we would all have fun with the dub. There are a lot of emoting opportunities in a song like this,and I knew I could add some value to the song. I’m really glad I sang it, and also very happy that the film has been well received too.

We have also heard about your association with Indraadip for a Bengali track - "Kichu Sahosh Dio"? Do you have a particular language you prefer singing in?

I was born and brought up in Kolkata, so Bengali is a natural fit for me. I love singing in different languages, and have sung in Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Kannada, Hindi and Bengali so far. And in ads, have also sung Malayalam and Tamil versions when I’ve sung the main take and they’ve asked me to do languages as well. I love knowing the meaning of the song and the emotion behind each line when I sing, so it’s a great learning process for me each time I sing in a language I don’t know. This is also my first non film collaboration with Indraadip. He’s a fabulous composer and I’ve worked with him a lot for his Bengali film songs over the last 10 years or so.

To add another feather to your hat you also have done a version of Barbadi? Why did you pick this particular track? Any nostalgia? Any moments that you would like to share?

Amartya Bobo Rahut, the composer of Barbaadi, always wanted to do an unplugged / Acoustic version of the song even before the first version was released for Aurangzeb the film. We just finally got down to it. It’s a fabulous composition and I am very happy I sang it.. And it’s very nice to hear a track beautifully rearranged by Bobo and to see a video very well made and edited even during this lockdown by Ritajit.

How has the lockdown been treating you? With so many releases coming have you been really busy with more music?

This lockdown has actually seen a lot more work happening for me. There were quite a few projects that were done but not released yet, both with Agnee (like the Times of Music show on MX Player and Sony) and with my Bollywood singing (like Kaand for Chaman Bahar), and this lockdown period has seen those releases happen. Agnee’s new single, “Kya Mai Kya Tu”, is also ready for release and will come out on the 26th of July. Added to that, I’ve been busy putting out my own videos like the Soundcheck series that I started only during lockdown. I’ve also been composing a
lot and working on new songs in this time.

We also hear around about many musicians not being able to connect with the right people, would you plan on an initiative to collaborate with them.

There are a lot of initiatives around collaborations at this time, whether it’s on social media, or on other digital platforms. There are also a lot of releases happening,
whether by individual artists, or as collaborations. I’m always happy to meet and collaborate with musicians, and will be happy to help in any such initiative.

Do you feel like music has evolved over a period? Since everything has now become digital do you feel there is a change in the overall music fraternity and the way Music is perceived today?

I definitely think music has gone through many processes of evolution and will continue to evolve with time. At this point, the propensity to consume music is high, and there’s an appetite for different forms of music. The forced limitation to digital is also levelling the playing field for film and non film music. And since there isn’t that many film releases right now, independent music releases are filling up a much larger space and that’s great.

Lastly, you have come up with a video with your sister who is also a Carnatic Singer, Tell us a little about that

In 2012, we had released a song called “Sadaa” for the Marathi film, “Shala” and went on to win the Video Music Award for it as well. This is the first time I had the opportunity to have my sister, Calcutta K Srividya, and my mother, Smt. Vasantha Kannan, to sing and play violin for my composition, so this song is very special to me.