Premiere: Watch Fusion Artist Anirudh Varma and Kavya Singh’s Melancholy Collab ‘Baat’

Following their debut track “Pal” as a vocal-composer duo last year, Kavya Singh and Anirudh Varma return with an emotive new fusion song  called “Baat,” featuring sarod artist Rohan Prasanna.

Although Singh has previously been enlisted as a vocalist for Varma’s group – Anirudh Varma Collective – it was the singer who wanted to dive deeper into the world of composing. “We felt like we had a lot more music in us in the form of a duo set up,” she says.

The result is their second collaboration as a duo, “Baat” being offered as a mournful song narrated by a heartbroken lover seeking a glimmer of hope. While Singh’s vocals are sublime, Varma adds several layers as producer and keyboardist, complementing Prasanna’s sarod movements. Varma adds, “We wanted our second single to be almost ballad-like and thought about introducing a relatively uncommon instrument, which we unanimously decided to be sarod – both because we were very fond of Rohan’s work and because of the delicate tonality of the instrument.”

With filmmaker (and bassist) Steve Peter from Subcritical Productions, “Baat” gets a simple yet meaningful performance video, filmed at Singh’s house in Greater Noida. “Given the pandemic, a lot of over-thinking happened about whether we should do a music video or not in the first place, though we could envision one that would capture the essence of the song – heartbreak, yearning and longing and despite that, an underlying feeling of hope,” the duo says.

There is more music coming up from Singh and Varma, with a possible EP slated for mid-2021. They add, “Apart from that, we are also working on other collaborative projects together, which include a project where we are creating raga-based meditation compositions for an upcoming mobile application.”

Watch the video for “Baat” below. Stream the song here.