Loudest Discovery | Mirasi's Debut Music Video 'Hidamba'

Mirasi just released his chilling music video & DnB single titled ‘Hidamba’ and has got quite the eyes and ears already, with 50k views in just a week and an official entry for BMT Freedom Awards 2017(UK) as the music video of the year, this is something that you have to see for yourself.  [embed]https://youtu.be/13vD5LLBdKo[/embed]

Who is Mirasi?

Mirasi is Nakul Chadha who is a Delhi based artist and debuted his first music video titled ‘Hidamba’ last week. The 24 year old electronic producer started making music 6 years back and began his journey as a musician by learning the acoustic and electric guitar but felt it wasn’t quite his cup of tea. Nakul forayed into the realm of Electronica soon enough and found himself more at ease when it came to producing electronic music. With no formal training in music, he started experimenting with new sounds and samples and found his calling in a blend of fresh Electronic beats and soulful Hindustani Classical music.

Mirasi’s Musical Odyssey

[caption id="attachment_2748" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Mirasi community of India and Pakistan are the genealogists and traditional singers and dancers of a number of communities.The word "mirasi" is derived from the Arabic word (?????) miras, which means inheritance or sometimes heritage.[/caption] So, who were your influences and inspiration as an artist? “My dad was very fond of musicians like Oasis, Led Zepellin and my Mom use to listen to a lot of Hindustani Classical growing up, so I always had this leaning towards classical melodies. I’ve grown up listening and admiring legends like Mohammad Rafi, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Rahet Fateh Ali Khan, A.R. Rahman, Lucky Ali, OTT (Simon Posford) and even 90’s pop hits.”  Coming back to the single ‘Hidamba’ I wanted to understand what was going on in Nakul’s head when he began working on the 4 min track. “With Hidamba, I wanted to make something bass oriented yet wanted the Indian audience to relate as well. I love Classical and Electronica and combined both of them. All the music these days is digitally produced so I tried to mix original classical instruments and digital samples along with Hindustani Classical vocals. There is an Arabian instrument which is found in Kashmir called Duduk which is in the Intro and the drop just came very naturally for me.” After understanding his process, I soon find out that the track was mastered by Shem Mastering Services also known for mastering for the incredible Bandish Projekt. “He was very patient and took 15-20 days and sent me so many different versions of it. He really helped me get it right on point.”  Mirasi is working on more interesting new stuff and will be collaborating with other artists to promote our diverse Indian culture and music. He’s working on a main project which entails 7-8 tracks which are remixed versions of vintage Classical Hindustani songs.

The Parable of Hidamba

What struck me the most was that the composition is so full of rage and anger and the way the video has been shot and edited is top notch work. It’s inspired by the tale of Hidamb? (also known as Bhutandevi) is the wife of the Pandava Bhima and mother of Ghatotkacha in the Mahabharata. A strong Independent woman who overcame the demons within and raised a child who later went on to become a great warrior and an important figure in the Mahabharata war. How did you come up with the story and concept for the video? “My sister sis was waiting for a cab  one day and a few guys came up to her and were catcalling and passing lewd comments. We don’t think that all these little day-today things like walking down the road and waiting for a cab or taking a bus for women involves objectification and harassment at every corner. We knew we wanted to address this.” Which brings me to the creator of this raw and magnificent video which has been shot, edited and directed by Inflict aka Prakarsh Tewari. “I contacted 10-15 different directors. Most of them were out of my budget and I wasn’t satisfied with their work. I came across Prakarsh’s work since he does a lot of underground Hip-Hop &Rap videos. I loved his visuals and found his work outstanding.” Said Nakul on collaborating with Inflict.

Who is Inflict?

Prakarsh Tewari is a 21 year old Videographer and is one of the most promising underground Music Video Directors in Delhi. Prakarsh is originally from a small town in U.P. called Gorakhpur who came to Delhi to study film making and has been working since the age of 15 and he’s already shot a staggering 60 videos. “I loved the concept of the video and the track is dope, so I was excited for this project. We knew we didn’t want to something which has been done already. I had to change the cast two days before the shoot and we brought on the incredible Divya Goel on board who is magnificent in the video. I ended up sending the video as an entry for BMT Freedom Awards (UK) and it not only got selected but is in the top 3 categories! It worked out well and I’m sure it’ll get its due.” This video is really not what I was expecting to be honest and all I can say is that it’s so good to see new artists bring up and depict things that society as a whole has become indifferent to. The state of women’s safety and the fact that our society sanctions rape culture and are almost apathetic towards the brutality and violence against women. However, on the other hand there are millions of artists & creators all over the globe who aren't afraid to talk about these deep rooted societal issues. After all, music has always been a way of voicing our thoughts and feelings and even at times demanding basic human rights.