Sanjay Subrahmanyan’s On that Note
Recently, Carnatic vocalist Sanjay Subrahmanyan began a series on his YouTube channel titled ‘On That Note’. In the around-2-minute clips, Sanjay sings a refrain from the titular ragam and shares anecdotes from his rich reminiscences. Delivered mostly in English with occasional Tamil, the videos are branded with a distinctive logo and subtitled in English. The concluding screen encourages viewers to become paying patrons of Sanjay Sabha where he shares exclusive digital content for members.
A version of this article appeared in The Hindu Newspaper dated June 11th, 2021.
Sanjay explains, “The main intention of the series is to engage with listeners. My YouTube channel has been the primary method of sharing my musical content in the current scenario. I have been camera shy in the past, unwilling to talk much, preferring to sing. The pandemic, unfortunately, has created a long period of uncertainty and, as a performer, I am missing the live experience. While singing and sharing music is still primary, social media has shown a penchant for accepting and encouraging people talking and interacting directly with the audience. There is a personal element attached when an artiste does so on camera.”
In 2020, Sanjay kept his YouTube channel going by uploading several songs, and montages of clips, extracted from his past live concerts – which his wife, Aarthi, has painstakingly recorded and archived for over a decade now. Recording digital concerts for sabhas last December proved to Sanjay that there was a market for quality paid programming. This was the impetus behind the launch of his paid channel in January. “The prolonging of the pandemic has made digital concerts the only substitute for active performers. My interaction with Bhargavii Mani has been to bring a professional to the table to make my content visually enhanced. It was she who convinced me to produce my first music video ‘Tamizhan’.”
Bhargavii, in her tenth year in business in India, runs Edge Design House, a branding and communication design practice. She says she has organically transformed from being an interior designer and photographer, to brand strategist and auteur. She derived inspiration for On That Note from Going Places, a series Sanjay was already doing for the paying members of his channel. “I wanted a byte-sized concept for everyone else. Most of us love to listen to stories, especially short stories. It keeps the audience engaged and wanting more.” Sanjay says, “We were talking about different ways to engage with my listeners especially in a visual format. While I have done audio podcasts, written blog posts and tweeted in the past, this is the first time I am doing this type of short format videos talking into the camera.”
Bhargavi continues, “In order to appreciate any artiste, it is important to understand their journey, and when it is narrated by the artiste himself, it presents a beautiful opportunity to learn other aspects of the artiste, such as approach, values and their emotional journey to life and to their art. We have designed capsules that will trigger emotions, entertain & educate and consistently deliver the brand with every nugget presented.”
Settling on the concept on May 9th afternoon, Sanjay, Aarthi, Bhargavii and her team together worked on the title and logo and storyboarded episodes, recording six right away before the lockdown began the following day. Bhargavii adds that the logo was based on Sanjay’s own acoustic tambura (the sole source of sruti he uses on stage) with the colour palette inspired by Impressionist art which Sanjay enjoys. An episode a week is planned for the near future.
L-R Back: Smt. Aarthi Sanjay, Sri. Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Sri. B. Suresh, Sri. Hari Krishnan;
Front: Ms. Bhargavii Mani, Sri. MT Aditya, Sri. Kota, Ms. Divya.
Spontaneous by nature, Sanjay rarely sticks to script, adding in whatever occurs to him even whilst filming. “So, the challenge is to try and condense what I want to say into a short capsule. I am also not the most comfortable in front of the camera and this is helping me overcome that, basically. I do like the fact that, as I am filming, I get reminded of a funny/interesting story and this sometimes surprises all of us.” Since exact data is unavailable, Sanjay does not know of direct translation but says there has been a significant increase in paid sign-ups since he started working with Bhargavii.
As to whether the paid channel model would be sustainable when in-person, physical concerts become routine again, Sanjay thinks it would. “All artistes and organisations have been clear that the future will see a lot of the paid, digital model continuing. Several sabha-s have told me that they intend to continue offering digital streaming options for live events. I think this format democratises the situation, breaking a lot of entry barriers and making it easy for anyone, anywhere, to access what is being offered. After all, music was being shared and consumed online even before the pandemic. I am sure this will continue especially since, with adequate resources, it is possible to produce high quality content very easily.”
Bhargavii concludes, “We have a class performer with in-depth knowledge and exposure, someone with varied interests and a brilliant sense of humour. He is a very strong brand with very clear brand promise.”
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