Local Indo-Western act Kaveesh the Band has teamed up with Bollywood playback icon Alka Yagnik to create an original song.
“Tu Mujhe Mile” (“When You Met Me”), a love song, is the band’s latest project and will be launched by JA Productions of the UK in London between late March and early April this year.
The award-winning Yagnik is the most streamed artiste in the world with 15.3 billion YouTube views in 2022, according to Guinness World Records.
She has sung thousands of songs in her 40-plus year career with her hits such as “Mera Dil Bhi Kitna Pagal Hai”, “Ae Mere Humsafar” and “Raja Ko Raani Se Pyaar”, lip-synced by Bollywood actresses, a regular feature of Bollywood movies.
Recognised music composers Karan Lakhan who created “Machhli” sung by Pawni Pandey and Shahid Mallya featuring Sunny Leone and “Mera Pehla Pyaar” vocalised by Javed Ali and Nikitha Gandhi, and Bollywood lyricist Abhendra Kumar Upadhyay who penned songs for films like Baaghi (2016), Rocky Handsome (2016), Singham Returns (2014) and Mr X (2015) are also part of the collaboration.
Legendary Indian playback singer Alka Yagnik
Acclaimed local producer Ravi Maharaj co-produced the track and Cell 4 Less TT and Nakasa Trading sponsored the audio while video production was covered by KD’s Superstore.
Speaking with Sunday Guardian last week, leader of Kaveesh the Band, Kaveesh Maharaj hailed the venture as a milestone for T&T’s Indian music industry as this is the first time a local Indo-based act has recorded an original song alongside a Bollywood artiste.
“We are very humbled that an artiste of MsYagnik’s calibre could appreciate my voice and the band’s music and we are looking forward to many more collaborations. We are also very ecstatic. Alka Yagnik is an artiste we would have all grown up listening to, especially in the ‘90s”. She recorded thousands of songs and has been ruling the Bollywood industry vocally for a while. She’s a stalwart in the Bollywood community,” he said.
Maharaj said the project was part of the band’s unique path to breaking into international markets playing music with Kaveesh the Band’s original sound and universal appeal. He believes the effort would help raise T&T’s profile on the international music and cultural scene.
“It means a big stepping stone into a new market that can take Trinidad and Tobago on the world map from a cultural perspective and a musical perspective. It opens a door for Trinidad musicians to have a choice and become more popular on the world stage,” he said.
He explained that the opportunity came about through brothers Karan and Lakhan from Mumbai, India, whom he met while he was a student of Hindustani classical music and Western Opera at the KM Music Conservatory in Chennai, India.
There, Maharaj received training under award-winning composer A R Rahman of “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008) fame. Karan and Lakhan are up-and-coming composers operating under the name “Karan Lakhan” and recommended Maharaj as the vocalist to join Yagnik on the project.
Maharaj said a movie production-type video featuring local Dianne Deonarine of Makeup by Diane as the lead actress and Kaveesh the Band was created for the song and the entire project came together in about four months.
Maharaj who started off singing satsangs at the age of two and a half formed Kaveesh the Band on his return from music studies in India in 2015. Known for its organic style, Kaveesh the Band merges classical Indian and Bollywood music played in Alternative Pop/Rock style. Besides Maharaj, appearing on the track and video are band members Rajesh Kalloo on bass, Rajiv Ramlogan on keyboards, lead guitarist Micheal Chang Wai, Shiva Manick on tabla and percussion, Narendra Maharaj who plays bansuri (Indian flute) and sax, John Otway on drums, and Ravi Maharaj who has played with and produced music for the band since its inception.
In the past, the band has staged three main concerts and has worked with artistes like Orange Sky’s Nigel Rojas, Solman, and Gillian Moore. They also collaborated with international singer Bhavya Pandit in 2015.
