Yanchan Rajmohan or popularly known by his stage name Yanchan is a symphony genius when it comes to merging genres emanating from two different worlds. The Canadian artist has his roots in Jaffna, Sri Lanka and thus it’s only natural to catch glimpses of Carantic Music and Tamil film music in his tracks. But this musical exploration doesn’t just stop at that. Bringing in the western sensibilities through genres like trap, alternative R&B, Hip-Hop and EDM, Yanchan always creates something that is flavourful an abundant. He dropped his first EP ‘Yours Truly’ in 2016 and followed it up with four albums Sentimental Kids (2019), The India Type Beat (2020) Picasso (2020) and Kothu Boys.
As he released his most recent work Arul with Sandeep Narayan, he spoke exclusively with News18 Showsha about the origin of the EP and how he went about designing the catchy tracks.
Here are the excerpts:
Your album Arul is an interesting experiment where you have blended hip-hop with Carnatic classical, something that hasn’t been done before. How did you come up with this idea?
Ever since I was in highschool, I was always fascinated with the idea of merging the mridangam and Carnatic music into hiphop. The curiosity sparked after hearing Timbalands “Get your freak on” where he sampled a Tabla. Through this process I got into music production and started experimenting. I always wanted to create a project having a Carnatic vocalist be the center of the music. That’s where Sandeep came into the picture. During the pandemic, we reconnected and started talking about the ideas of having him sing Carnatic rifts over my beats. That’s how Arul came to be.
Take us through the creation of the album with Sandeep Narayan. What were some of the primary challenges and how did the compositions come through eventually?
The very first song we started on was “Tradition.” I completed the skeleton of the house styled beat and I sent it to him. Growing up, I would always listen to the Carnatic song “manavyalakim” and enjoyed that Raagam Nalinakanthi. I told him about this concept and the rest was history. Since it was during the pandemic a lot of these songs were completed online. He sent me back a few vocal takes and I blended them into the final version of Tradition you here today. Like this, that’s how the other 4 songs were completed. It was a very easy process since Sandeep has an excellent ear for doing improv melodies.
As someone who lives in Canada and is exposed to the culture there, it must have been hard to stay connected to the Indian roots as fervently as one would imagine. And yet, anyone listening to Arul will automatically assume that this was dished out by a local citizen from the country. As such, how do you navigate the clash of your cultural identity in the states viz a viz adapting to the western sensibilities?
For me, my connection to South Indian classical music and my connection to India was when I first came to study the mridangam at the age of 8. I never really felt a clash in cultural identity because whenever I come back to India, it’s like I never left. A lot of people are consuming hiphop music the same way I am in Canada and a lot of people would tell me they love the Carnatic fusion beats I would post on IG. Canada is also a very multicultural and diverse place and the music industry in North America is becoming more and more receptive to South Indian classical music, which is really exciting to see.
What’s the story behind your stage name Yanchan? How did it originate and how does it fit and define your musical identity?
Yanchan is my legal first name. My name came from a mix of numerology and astrology. A lot of Eelam Tamil parents would use this construct for the way a name was spelled. Ichose Yanchan as my stage name because I wanted people to know me for me. I didn’t want to create an alter ego or create a different character.
Another pathbreaking album of yours that was released this year was Mrithangam rap with SVDP.I say pathbreaking since I haven’t heard anything like that before. It sort of reminded me of M.I.A and yet it has its own fresh and unique sound. What’s the journey behind that album?
The Mrithangam Raps album was essentially fan made. We released our first series of IG videos back in 2019 and ever since wanted to compile all episodes and release it as an album. I was always a fan of SVDP’s work and when we discussed introducing mrithangam into his raps, we sat down in his studio and recorded the first episode. It happened very organically.
You are a very collaborative artist. How do you pick and select these collaborations? And how do you resolve creative differences along the way? What is your most memorable collaboration till that and what can you recall about it?
All my collaborations have happened organically. With SVDP, he invited me to his studio and we built a friendship for a few years before MR came out. With Sandeep, I met him when I was 13 and he sang for a Carnatic DVD concert I did. Throughout the years after, we still kept in touch online and our friendship grew with that. I’m also working on a collaboration with Shruti Haasan which happened when I was casually scrolling through IG one day and realized she was following me. I sent her a message and from there we ended up connecting and working on something together. My favourite moments in the studio are when an accident becomes the missing piece of a song. There will be creative differences sometimes but it’s important to understand that my job as the producer is to help bring the artists vision to life. You have to be able to strip away your ego and come to a middle ground on what sounds and feels the best for a record. Even if I don’t agree with something for a song, I will still try it out for the artist. You never know what any idea can lead to.
You’ve been in the music industry for a long time. How do you perceive the changes it went through and in respect to the changing landscape of it, how has your music and sound evolved over the period of time?
I think the top charts now of music is a hybrid of so many genres. We live in a day where it’s not just American acts that have a top billboard song. Look at BTS and AP Dillon. It’s beautiful to see the Western music world really embracing acts outside America.
What are your thoughts on South Asian Representation in the popular genres of the West? Do you feel we are aptly represented or do we get lost in the ocean of content?
I think the times are changing as we speak. Growing up the only representation I saw being South Asian was M.I.A. Now we have artists like SVDP, Priya Ragu, Sahi Siva, and Dhee making waves all over the world.
How does it feel to be opening for 50 Cent at the Final Lap Your 2023 in Mumbai?
It felt like a dream come true. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to perform in a stadium but to do it with my brother SVDP and perform the mridangam (which first brought me to India) was a full circle moment. I grew up listening to 50 cent and watching his music videos. He was the first artist that I saw really leverage his music career and become a full-blown business mogul getting into producing his own TV shows and endorsing brands.
Which Indian artists would you like to collaborate in future? And whether you plan to compose music for Indian cinema at some point? Perhaps with someone like AR Rahman?
I’m a big fan of artists like Hanumankind, Killa K, and Dino James which I got the chance to connect with recently and collab on some songs. I’d love to produce and build with artists like Asal, Paal Dabba, Prabh Deep, and many more! I’ve always been curious about helping compose music for Tamil films and I’ve been fortunate enough to collaborate with Santosh Narayan on a few Telegu songs. A R Rahman is a composer that really inspired me as a kid so I would love to produce with him one day!
What is some advice that you’ll give to the budding artists who are starting out?
Really be clear about your vision and work towards that every day. I would say to work with the people around you and to build a team you trust – you have to be in the long run to have a successful sustainable career in music, in my opinion. Finally, you can never forget about who you are and what you stand for. That should always be evident in your brand.
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