MUMBAI : Toronto-based singer and social media sensation Abby V and multiple Grammy Award winner composer-producer Ricky Kej’s upcoming collaborative album Aarambh is an amalgamation of different artforms, singing styles, sounds, and singers of different vocal abilities.

The next single from the album ‘Jaa Kaga’ ft Benny Dayal – the only male vocalist guest on an album which includes a star-studded roster of Indian vocalists – celebrates a complex classical music idea, akin to a rap battle in Abby’s words. Both Abby and Dayal, an accomplished multilingual singer and dancer – who Kej praises for his “Bollywood meets Pharrell Williams vibe” – go head-to-head in bracing, virtuosic vocal improvisations which Kej compares with a “blazing guitar solo” in Western music.

Aarambh, a full-length album for the UK-based, South Asian-focused music media platform Sufiscore merges Indian classical music, electronica, strings, beat-based ambient music and other genres, and finds

Abby lending his extraordinary voice to a vibrant set of Kej compositions. The first of which – ‘Ghule’ featuring Bollywood vocalist Sona Mohapatra – released on October 6.

‘Jaa Kaga’

“This next release ‘Jaa Kaga’ – which is probably my favourite – is with Benny, who is an incredible vocalist,” says Abby. “With this track, we’ve presented complex classical music concepts in a relatable, more mainstream aesthetic. Benny and I celebrate our culture and that’s our vibe, and Ricky has brought in the most incredible production for this track,” Abby adds.

Benny, who has a string of Bollywood hits to his name, echoes Abby’s excitement for the song. “Collaborating with Abby and Ricky on this song has been a very special experience – it’s just three friends coming together to chill and celebrate good music,” he says, adding, “And that’s the vibe of the music video too – although we're singing pretty intense classical music, we’re presenting it in a way that’s palatable to audiences of different tastes and age groups.”

‘Jaa Kaga’ featuring Benny celebrates a very complex classical idea, explains Abby. “In South Asian music, we have this very intricate idea called moorchana or in Carnatic music, it’s called graha bhedam. You have the same set of notes and when you start at one point, it’s one raga and on another point, it yields another raga. In the song, we are singing the same notes, but Benny is starting on a different level and I am starting on a different level. Both these points are running parallel and it’s almost like a rap battle but with sargam.”

‘Jaa Kaga’ is available across all streaming platforms starting October 20, and Aarambh will release on November 24 on Sufiscore.

Sufiscore is not just a traditional label but a YouTube channel amassing millions of views of songs from the Asian and South Asian markets. By celebrating new creative processes with leading musicians adapting to adversity as they continue to explore global fusion, Sufiscore is opening doors to international collaborations wherever musicians are in the world. Through live-syncing, remote recording and other practices, Sufiscore seeks to usher in new ways of making and consuming music online.

In addition to the work of Abby V and Ricky Kej, Sufiscore has released such albums as Inheritance by vocalist Pratibha Singh and Unbounded – Abaad by sitar virtuoso Purbayan Chatterjee, who is joined by Singh as well as Béla Fleck, Gary Husband, Jordan Rudess, Zakir Hussain, Antonio Sanchez and more.

You can listen to the track here: https://bfan.link/jaa-kaga