What do you get when you combine the folky Tamil vocals of a Bollywood playback singer with the bass-heavy street sound of an electronic DJ? When Sony India brings together Benny Dayal and Nucleya, you get the black light-and-bass heavy single “Tamil Fever”.
The “Tamil Fever” track is part of the second season of Project Resound, which features popular artists collaborating to create new music as part of a campaign for high-end headphones. Other artists whose work will be featured this month include Karsh Kale, Pentagram, and Midival Pundits + Kutle Khan.
Dayal was part of pop band S5 and has contributed his vocals to film soundtracks in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam. Udyan Sagar, better known as Nucleya, co-founded Bandish Projekt in the 1990s and helped popularize South Indian dubstep. Web episodes cover their collaborative process in creating the track.
In one video Benny Dayal and Nucleya discuss their interests and inspirations. North Indian born Nucleya mentions that he loves South Indian music. When he and Dayal visit the Matunga neighborhood (billed as Mumbai’s “South India”) his enthusiasm for traditional South Indian instruments like the nadaswaram and Chenda being played live is obvious. Both instruments end up being incorporated into “Tamil Fever” along with those crazy blacklit dance moves.
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