‘Rajasthan Idol’ Anuj Chitlangia Launches the Jodhpur Circle Experiences for Artists with the Marwari Version of Justin Bieber’s ‘Sorry!’
Rajasthan Studio, for the past year, had been tirelessly working towards expanding its free networking platform for artists, ‘The Circle Experiences.’ We had successfully launched and held over 27 circle experiences in various cities of the state. This year, too we had many cities on our list of artists circles and all our city coordinators were working day and night, connecting with the prestigious, upcoming, and popular artists in Rajasthan.
However, everything came to an abrupt halt when COVID-19 came unannounced in our lives and literally bound us to the premises of our homes. In the absence of the option for the city-wise physical launch event of ‘The Circle,’ the brainchild behind Rajasthan Studio, aka our Founder, Kartik Gaggar came up with a creative idea to lead the circle experience initiations online!
Jodhpur became the perfect Kickstarter
A blue city to beat the lockdown blues?
Our first-ever virtual launch of the circle experience had to live up to its name and grandeur, and so we invited the Rapperiya Balam and Rajasthan Idol fame, Anuj Chitlangia, to be the guest of honour and the session lead.
With Anuj leading the first Jodhpur circle art experience, the theme had to be music.
The sur and the taal of the experience
There were 20 attending members in total and while most of our participating members were musicians, many artists from other genres also attended our e-debut of ‘The Circle.’
We had two beatboxers in the house, Madhav Sharma and Ashish Dadhich, a kickass rapper, Kabir, a Rajasthani folk band duo Akshat Mathur and Anurag, and aspiring musicians, Vedant Pareek and Aditya Mahanta. From the non-music scene, we had Karan Sharma who is a theatre artist, and a popular pastry chef in Jodhpur, Sanjeev Kashyap, a poet and a writer, Aakash Middha, and Himani Shah, an acclaimed sketch artist, amongst many others from various other art fields.
A bhelpuri of beatboxing, folk music, and some rapping? Yum!!
Sorry for bringing bhelpuri in our conversation, but I am craving it so much and also Golgappe, and oh the street-side pav bhaji…
And, what made me *literally* cry was the poll question, “What do you miss the most? a) Chaturbhuj ke Gulab Jamun, b) Choudhary ke Mirchibade, c) Mishrilaal ki Lassi, d) All of the above.”
Thanks, boss sir, you just made my hunger pangs and cravings worse!
Anyhow, let’s switch back to the circle experience session. So, we started off with a rapid-fire round with Anuj to know more about his music journey, his ongoing projects, his plans for the future.
When discussing his future plans, he shared how he wishes to see Rajasthani folk music gaining recognition on a national and international platform and how with his every project he is aiming to fulfil this dream.
Well, a true ‘Maati ko poot’ should I say! *Marwari lingo catching up*
After a quick chat, Anuj was all set to enliven the session with his beautiful voice. Everyone awestruck, listened to him sing his popular track, Tarari Chundadi. In fact, Ashish even gave it a little beat mix and it was pure gold!
Listen to it at 15:05
Soon after, Kabir and Anuj collaborated for a rap and folk rendition of Gajendra Verma’s popular song, Tera Ghata. Anuj’s Marwari version of the track went viral when it came out and seeing him perform it live for us, we certainly lived its magic! It was upbeat, peppy and fun, and with Kabir’s impromptu, on-point rap, it just became one of the highlights of the session for all of us. It was amazing to listen to the experiences of artists with the art forms they pursue.
Watch it at 22:30
When Anuj held his hands up and said ‘Sorry!’
Towards the end, Anuj was taking other participants’ requests where he gave his Marwari twist to the popular Hindi songs.
Pranshu, our Jodhpur team coordinator, had a special request; she wanted Anuj to sing Justin Beiber’s ‘Sorry’ in Marwari.
He held up his hands in the air and said, “Sorry, can’t do this,” “You gave me this because you knew I won’t be able to do it,” he joked!
Well, being our persistent selves, we requested all the other participants to help us translate the song in Hindi so that he could easily translate it into Marwari. BTW, we also found the Hindi version of the song online.
Being a sport that he is, he totally obliged and buoy was he apt on the lyrics and the beats!
A perfect end to a perfect experience that we all will cherish for a long, long time!
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Stay home, stay safe, but stay creative, guys! Ta-da.
