Odisha Music Composer Prem Anand Launches New Format For Song On Jagannath Temple

Bhubaneswar: Known for his experiments in music, popular Ollywood composer Prem Anand is set to introduce the A cappella music format in Odisha for a new song on the Puri Jagannath temple.

“For the first time in Odisha, I have a made a song in A cappella music format. In this format, the artists sing without using instruments. Instead, the vocal cords of the singers are used in the place of instruments. The song has been made in the music voice, rhythm voice, and percussion voice, etc. of the singers,” he said.

“This music format is popular in Hollywood,” he added.

Anand informed that 15 well-known singers from Odisha have rendered their voices to the song. They are Sricharan Mohanty, Ashutosh Mohanty, Sabisesh Mishra, Samikshya Mishra, Lopamudra Dash, Arpita Chodhury, Rojalin Sahu, Diptirekha Padhi, Sohini Mishra, Biswajit Mohapatea, Goutam Giri, Bishnu Mohan Kabi, Abhijit Mishra, Shasank Sekhar Sahoo and Satyajeet Pradhan.

The song is written by Devidutta Mohanty and it will be released by the end of August.

“The song will depict the history of the Jagannath temple and the sibling deities. However, no one is certain about the earliest history of Sri Mandir which has been witness to so many incidents down the centuries. The song will try to recreate the stories surrounding the sibling deities in a way that people can visualise them,” Anand said.

The composer admitted that making the song was a big challenge. “It took 15 days to make this song because it was a challenge to get all the singers at that same time. In the A cappella music format, we need to record the song in the presence of all the singers at one time,” he said.

“But with the blessings of Lord Jagannath, I could manage to bring together all the leading singers at the recording venue. The singers also cooperated a lot with me,” he added.

Anand’s last experimental song was “Ye mati Odisha, ye jati Odia’ (this land is Odisha and the race Odia) in Odia language, in which Odisha Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal had rendered his voice. The song was released on April 1 and appreciated by the audiences across the state.