Karunakar of Wind Horse Record Studio, mridangam artiste R. Srikanth and DJ-producer Hamza Rahimtula
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Two celebrated musicians, Hamza Rahimtula and senior mridangamartiste R. Srikanth, be a part of forces on their newest launch, Mhai. The observe fuses two distinct traditions: Hamza’s trendy house music with Srikanth’s konnakkol (the vocal efficiency of percussion syllables) and mridangam, making a sound each experimental and rooted.
Hamza, a Delhi-based artist with roots in Hyderabad, says he’s excited by the collaboration: “We are breaking the rules here. Carnatic music has its own identity, but we’ve placed it in a different context.”
Carved a distinct segment
Hamza Rahimtula
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
South Asian DJ, producer and label head Hamza has constructed a fame on steadiness. While his solo units traverse totally different shades of house, his collaborations with Indian musicians undertake a definite tempo. He describes Indo House as a brand new motion: “Indian sounds blending with house music is a genre that really took shape post-COVID. Indo Warehouse, a New York–based label, pioneered it. In India, Unnayanna (Bengaluru-based DJ Prashant Pallemoni), myself and a few others are carrying it forward.”
For his debut album ‘Origins’, launched in April, Hamza collaborated with Rajasthan Folkstars. The fusion of Rajasthani people and house music topped the worldwide natural house charts, encouraging him to experiment additional. Drawn to the “cosmic” tone of the mridangam, he first included its notes from a pattern library: “Electronic music is about taking people out of their headspace, away from their worries. The mridangam has that quality; it can transport you.”
Keen to listen to it stay, Hamza turned to his Wind Horse Records Studio engineer Karunakar, who linked him with Hyderabad-based artiste R. Srikanth. “It took him just a round or two to work it out, and the result was pure joy — that’s how the track Mhai was born,” Hamza remembers.
New expertise
R. Srikanth performs the mridangam throughout a session
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Senior mridangam artiste R. Srikanth describes the collaboration as a brand new expertise, however provides: “Be it Western, Carnatic or Hindustani, the aspects of rhythm are the same. When a musician maintains the dynamics of the instrument, the sound becomes effective.” Over a six-hour session, Srikanth produced a number of samples with variations, which Hamza later edited and layered into patterns.
Determined to maintain the observe natural, Hamza explains: “Even listeners deeply immersed in different genres of house music should feel the sound fits naturally with the beat — not judge it, but say, ‘this is different, in a good way.’”
R Srikanth
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
With 20 years in music, Hamza admits he felt anxious throughout the course of: “Musicians often have references in film music, but here we had none. It was new territory. That was daunting, but also exciting, knowing you’re doing something different, being one of the first to try it. When it comes together and people appreciate it, that’s motivating.”
Looking forward, Hamza hopes to discover different classical devices — morsing (percussion instrument just like Jew’s harp utilized in Rajasthan and Carnatic music) , violin, kanjira (percussion instrument native to sourthern Indian states) — in addition to the music of Karnataka’s Siddi tribes and people traditions from the Northeast, weaving them into house music.
Mhai, a mix of house and Carnatic music, is on the market on on-line and streaming apps
Published – September 17, 2025 11:15 am IST
