California [USA], October 13: Punjabi folk song ‘Bajre Da Sitta’ has got a peppy international avatar that is sure to leave listeners foot tapping. US-based music curator Janapriyan Levine has given a new twist to the traditional song to come up with a perfect blend of Indian-western fusion music and with gifted singer Meenal Jain’s voice the proverbial cherry on the cake.
“I fell in love with the song ‘Bajre Da Sitta’ the very first time I heard it, even without understanding the lyrics. I could listen to other people’s renditions of it, but I was more curious to see how I could come up with something different and unique that would appeal to listeners across geographies,” says Janapriyan, who is based out of California.
The young musical genius is all praise for Meenal, whom he describes as the obvious choice for the song.
“Meenal has a rich, warm tone. Her voice can be playful and sad. The culture and richness of the folk song reflect in her vocals, and it made it a great place to start when we decided to collaborate. For me, the challenge while working with Meenal was how I could complement or contrast her voice,” he says.
“Bajre Da Sitta” is the result of an international collaboration that took place during the pandemic. While Janapriyan created the music in his studio in California and is seen playing different musical instruments in the song, Meenal recorded the song in India and is seen performing on the TV screen in the video.
As a multi-instrumentalist, Janapriyan has created a niche for himself, especially with his efforts for creating a unique form of music where East meets West. Since 2001, when he recorded his first solo album in Ahmedabad, the music composer has collaborated with some of the most famous artists in India. Janapriyan has collaborated with Shweta Subram, Varijashree Venugopal, Dhoad Gypsies of Rajasthan, Veena maestro Rajesh Vaidya, playback singer Suvarna Tiwari, and many more.
His extensive list of collaborators includes Grammy award-winning songwriters and many of South Asia’s premier vocalists.
Janapriyan has decided to expand his collaboration with Indian artists further and starting from this month, he has decided to release one music video every month with a different singer on his website music.janapriyan.com besides his YouTube and other social media channels.
He is also credited with contributing to creating the Facebook Sound Collection, a warehouse of original music that was single-handedly written or curated by him.
One can visit below link to watch the song Bajre Da Sitta (featuring Meenal Jain)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhiTcIYfO8E
Song Credits:
Song and lyrics – Surinder Kaur
Music/Production/Video – Janapriyan Levine
Vocals – Meenal Jain
Mix/Master – Aftab Khan
For more details:
https://www.youtube.com/c/JanapriyanLevine
Vaishnavi Prakash
