Isheeta Chakrvarty and Viveick Rajagopalan on Weaving the Thread of Their EP ‘Ek Sutra’

When singer-composer Isheeta Chakrvarty and percussionist, producer and composer Viveick Rajagopalan began working on the first song off what would become their EP Ek Sutra, there was a transformation that Chakrvarty had never encountered.

She says over a joint call with Rajagopalan, “When I went to Viveick with the song that became ‘Recognition,’ he heard the whole thing and said, ‘Yeah this is great. What happens if you remove the first verse?’ Then he said, ‘Why don’t you remove verse two as well? Just keep the chorus.’ I was like, ‘You gotta be kidding me!’”

The approach that Chakrvarty describes as “dismantling everything” does lead Rajagopalan to respond. A seasoned producer who’s worked across genres, he says Ek Sutra was born out of connections between artists that wasn’t just about praising each other’s works. “It’s also important to have conversations which make you introspect, which might unsettle you. But at the end of it, you’re comfortable with each other and I think that’s a primal need when you start creating music,” he adds.

Together, Chakrvarty and Rajagopalan — who previously worked on the song “Raat Subah Si” — created “Recognition,” “Surrender,” “Celebration” and “Ode To The Devi” with classical guitarist Ria Modak, keyboardist Harmeet Manseta, bassist Raghuraman Ramasubramanian, veteran percussionist-composer Karim Ziad, plus composers/songwriters like Meenakshi Pathak and Omkar Jambekar. “This music is very, very rooted to who we are as people,” Chakrvarty says.

Starting in March 2021 based on discussions that were brewing since the pandemic hit in early 2020, Chakrvarty says “everything that was happening internally found expression on the EP.” Just as Rajagopalan reached out to Chakrvarty after hearing her music, he also reached out to Modak to join in on guitars. “She felt connected to the material,” he says. Jambekar came through his work at Rajagopalan’s studio, enlisting for Marathi songwriting on “Celebration,” an adaptation of the abhang “Bolava Vitthal.” Rajagopalan adds that Ziad reached out over Facebook out of the blue, leading to his involvement. The producer adds, “Harmeet, I’ve known for two decades now. He’s by far the purest soul I know. He’s childlike – his enthusiasm to just work on this EP. He would spend eight to 10 hours just working on the smallest nuances.”

Chakrvarty called on producer and close friend Keshav Dhar to work on mixing and mastering the EP. She says, “When I played him the EP, he literally was like, ‘I really want to pitch for this. This is not the kind of work that I normally get. I wanted to do more stuff like this.’”

Creating the gentle ebb and flow rhythms for “Recognition,” they found a figurative thread to “continue and see how far it goes,” as Rajagopalan puts it. “This was a very personal piece of work for both of us,” Chakrvarty adds. The airy, atmospheric piano-led “Surrender” journeys down a story of the beloved and a lover but presents the idea of ego death. “Celebration” aptly injects the EP with a lively tune, while “Ode To The Devi” returns to a dramatic yet spiritual space, featuring just Rajagopalan and Modak. Such is Ek Sutra’s diversity that it might just sound different as a daytime listen and when you put it on at night.

Ek Sutra was first given its live debut in August, much prior to its streaming release in October. Chakrvarty and Rajagopalan were joined by Modak, Manseta, bassist Sayar Mitra and percussionist Umesh Warbhuvan. It resulted in the release of a music video for “Celebration,” which shows the project in action. “We are definitely looking to do more of the music,” Chakrvarty says. Rajagopalan adds, “Playing together, making sure whether it’s 100 people or 500 people, immaterial of the number. we just want to make sure that we can connect with people through this music.”

Listen to ‘Ek Sutra’ EP below. Stream on more platforms here.