Vachana gets a modern twist

A beautiful vachana penned by Akkamahadevi, rendered by a soulful voice in contemporary style  — this is one Kannada video that's creating waves online. Sung by Inchara Rao, directed by talk show host Vinay Bharadwaj and composed by the highly talented Ramakrishna Shikaripura aka Ayyo Rama, Kanasa Kande takes listeners back to the 12th century. In a tete-e-tete with us, the voice behind the track, award-winning singer Inchara gets candid about the project, her upcoming film songs and more…

Talking about Kanasa Kande, the songstress reveals, “It's a proper collaboration between artistes. The main person behind the song is composer Ram. He's someone who has been writing for a long time and also has a huge collection of literary works. I met him while recording Kareole from RangiTaranga a few years ago and we'd decided to work on something together."

Considering she'd met Vinay when she was a guest on his chat show, the latter called the singer and said he wanted to make a music video. “I come from Shimoga, where Akkamahadevi is from. Vachanas were always a part of my life, but my approach towards them was devotional, but that changed when I met Ram. Even though this was written in the 12th century, it's got so much content that's relevant even today...

When I need answers, I go back to old literature and seek them there,” reveals Inchara, who adds that she's got more than 150 messages from youngsters who saw the video and were awed by it.

On the film front, the crooner has sung a track called Janana Marana for the movie Yogi Duniya, which is set to hit screens on March 9. She also has crooned in Anup Bhandari's bilingual Rajaratha/ Rajatharam which will release later this month. “It’s exciting as I will be making my debut in Telugu through the project,” says Inchara, who's lent her voice for Rakshit Shetty's production Kathe Ondhu Shuru Aagidhe too

Talk veers back to vachanas and the artiste reveals that she’s collaborating again with Ayyo Rama for Nenevenayya, another work penned by Akkamahadevi, which is releasing in a few days. “I want to make old literary works relatable to the common man. Our Kannada literature is a treasure trove,” she smiles.