MUMBAI: A one-of-its-kind Bharatanatyam dance opera, Antariksha Sanchar is a stunning visual spectacle that combines the Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam with live Carnatic-electronic music and visuals from the country’s first cultural adventure videogame Antariksha Sanchar: Transmissions in Space.

Envisioned by visual arts director Avinash Kumar (Thiruda) and electronic music producer Sri Rama Murthy (Murthovic), in artistic collaboration with Bharatanatyam exponent Jayalakshmi Eshwar, the project, Red Bull Presents Antariksha Sanchar, opened to a massive reception at the Royal Opera House in Mumbai in 2018, followed by shows at Kamani Auditorium in Delhi and Good Shepherd Auditorium in Bengaluru. Relive the story of the show here.

On Friday, May 1, Avinash Kumar and Murthy will debut two albums – a set of originals heard in the dance opera and remixes of these. Album one consists of eight tracks composed by an ensemble that includes vocalists Shridevi Keshavan and Gopika Jairam, violinists Abhijit Gurjale and Sandilya Pisapati, mridangam player Raghuram Hari, drummer Hitesh Kumar, sarod player Soumalya Sareswari, Vijay Nelapati, aka Yanni, on keys and bass, and Murthy at the helm.

Album two sees these eight tracks remixed by some of the most exciting electronic musicians in the country – _RHL, FILM, Folic State, Madboy, Oceantied, The Sine Painter, Todh Teri and Spryk. More on each producer’s remix of the tracks here and tracklist below.

Says Murthy, music director for Antariksha Sanchar, “Working on Antariksha Sanchar for the last three years has changed a lot in me, expanding and instigating new ideas and creative approaches of thinking and making music. Scoring music for an opera for the first time was part exciting and part nerve-wracking, to be honest. But more difficult was selecting eight tracks for the album out of 90 minutes of music composed for the opera shows! It is definitely a milestone worthy of all the hard work.

Collaborating with other artists in the ensemble sure gave a good shape to the body of music, capturing the different moods and movements of the show. To see the same ideas inspire other artists was amazing. When we got eight brilliant musicians to make remixes of the tracks, it resulted in eight unique and refreshing interpretations, featuring everything from dub and funk, to breaks, house and techno.” 

With the release of the albums, Avinash Kumar and Murthovic will be live in conversation on Saturday and Sunday, discussing the incredibly inspiring dance opera, its inception and future, and its music, and will be joined for a listening session and a chat by some of the remixers. The duo will also debut a music video for Improv in Dharmavati, a track off album one, later this week.

Tune in to Red Bull India’s Instagram at 7pm on May 2 and 3.

Track list for albums one and two:

For more details, check out www.redbull.in.