A composer has to revamp himself every 8 years, says musician G.V. Prakash Kumar

Every eight years, music composers have to revamp themselves, musician and actor G.V. Prakash Kumar said here on Wednesday.

In a discussion moderated by S. Poorvaja, assistant editor with The Hindu, Mr. Kumar spoke at length on a host of issues, including the transformation his music has undergone to the emergence of AI. “Over the last two decades a lot of changes have happened [in my music and musical journey]. Based on what people want, it changes. But the base of that musicality is from what I learnt from my teachers. Every eight years I think the composer has to revive himself,” he said.

Like for instance, one can see how Ilayaraaja’s music was in Annakili to how it changed in Tik Tik Tik; similarly, one can witness the transformation of A.R Rahman’s music from the times of Roja to Yuva or Kannathil Muthamittal, he added.

“When I started [working] on Veyil, I was a different [person] and after Madarasapattinam and Aayirathil Oruvan, there was another GV. I feel, to compete and to stay, you should not follow a set of rules; break rules and revamp yourself,” he said. Talking about composing for films like Kakka Muttai or Visaranai, he said, these have ended up bringing out some of the best of his works. “In Kakka Muttai, I could do something completely international. These kinds of films inspire me to go the extra mile, bring in newer versions of my music,” he added.

When asked  how he had imbided Mr. Rahman’s work  watching him up close, Mr. Kumar said, the way he uses sounds is his forte. “[He is] an inspiration and I look up to him to see how he brings those sounds. How does he mix? The digital way of using sounds and mixing has been a starting point,” he said.

He noted that Mr. Rahman delves into how to use software for programming, to upgrade the sounds, how many layers a song should have or how many sounds are going to be used in a track.

Mr. Kumar spoke extensively about how he came to act in films and the kind of characters he had played so far.

“When I started off, I wanted to do just funny films, since I was doing serious [work] in music. But it was director Bala who broke that. [During the making] of Naachiyar, I looked at what I can offer for a film. In the film Bachelor, I had a chance to play a grey character. In Malayalam cinema people like to challenge themselves by doing negative roles. So, it was a chance for me to do a negative role and I was excited about it,” he added.

While talking about the emergence of AI, he noted that technology keeps updating itself but we should use it as a small support system and should not depend on it.

“For instance, if I wanted to know how a particular song will sound in Latha Mangeshkar’s voice,  I’ll use it.  You can try these kinds of experiments  with it rather than asking it, ‘can you make a tune for me’,” he added.