MUMBAI: Hailing from Texas, USA, the composer/conductor of AR Rahman’s band NAFS, Arjun Chandy now has his vocals featured on the ‘Tamasha’ music album for the song ‘Tu Koi Aur Hai’. The song is co-sung by AR Rahman and Alma Ferovic. Rahman has also composed the music of the film, while lyrics have been penned by Irshad Kamil.

“One of the styles of music is opera and Rahman is well versed with my vocal range. Just to add another layer and texture to the song, Rahman asked me to sing a bit of opera. We have seen him combining different elements to his songs in the past,” Chandy said. The singer revealed that he was given utmost freedom by Rahman to sing the song in a way that he felt was suitable.

When asked to point out one quality of Rahman that he admires the most, he said “One thing that I appreciate is the overall level of his musicianship. He is very well versed in different styles of music and I think it is nice working with someone who enjoys different styles of music. ” Chandy also feels that no other composer would have even thought of coming up with a unique vocal band like NAFS.

Growing up in USA, Chandy was not exposed to Bollywood music, but was well aware of Carnatic music and was an ardent fan of artists like MS Subbulakshmi, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and many others. However, he admitted that there are a few things that disappoint him about India. “Today in India, not many youngsters pursue music. One of the things that I was expecting when I came to India is to be in a country and a culture where not many people listen to popular music artists. However, when I came here, I found more people listened to commercial music, and it makes me a little unhappy to see that Carnatic and Hindustani music is not flourishing as it should,” he said.

Chandy also feels that music education in India needs to improve, and the country needs more music learning schools. Having attending a music programs in his University, the music conductor is of the opinion that music education needs to improve greatly in India.

He also revealed that NAFS will release another track in a few days, and the music video for the song will be fun filled and trippy.