Game of Thrones: Desi versions of Western hits

Fans can’t get enough of Mahesh Raghvan’s Indian classical cover of the Game of Thrones theme music. The piece has gone viral and already has over a million views. In a quest to present Carnatic music in a way that will appeal to younger and modern audiences, Mahesh has been Indianising Western songs.

“I run a project called Flair, where I fuse Carnatic music and electronic music. As part of my project, I started Indianising Western songs. I want to promote Indian music and present it in a nice way,” says 25-year-old Mahesh, who is based in Dubai but hails from Mumbai.

It all started when Mahesh released the Indian classical version of Adele’s Hello, which got over 3,97,000 views. He followed it up with the desi versions of Star Wars: Imperial March, the Game of Thrones theme and Rihanna’s Work.

“Yes, it started with Adele’s Hello, which went viral and I decided to continue doing this,” he says adding, “The main feedback I get from people is that they find it funny and some of them even like it better than the original. “Right now, I have just done four covers, but I am working on more. I have also released an album called Flair Carnatic Music 2.0 which has pure Carnatic music fusion.”

Mahesh started learning Carnatic music when he was four. He later got a degree in audio production and pursued his Masters in Music Technology. “I am a singer and a music producer. I compose for games and apps. I also develop iPhone applications. I involve myself with everything that has got to do with music and technology. I use new and advanced technologies like GeoShred on the iPad and Seaboard to compose. These were designed for Western music but I want to work on Indian music on it and bring the focus, that’s another aim of mine.”

Mahesh also teaches music production part time and plans to start a course to teach other musicians how to Indianise Western covers.

“Right now, I am working with Indian Ragas. We want to teach others how to Indianise Western music. We are planning a crowdfunding campaign to cover the cost of production... It’s just to offer the course at a discounted rate and will be hosted on my website. We plan to teach people how to Indianise the songs on Indian instruments. It’s for musicians to learn basic Indian techniques and go over the basics... So if they have a Western song, they can convert the notes to sa re ga ma pa and Indianise it.”

So, how does he pick his songs? “I don’t listen to Western music as much, so I take suggestions from friends. I mostly take advantage of what’s trending.”