Every breaking wave on the shore tells the next one there’ll be one more. Legacies inspire legacies. Music inspires music. The songs of yesterday lead to the songs of today. Arjun Rana is a nineteen-year-old artist who finds his music to be an eclectic mix of the sounds of Lifafa and MF Doom.
KYA MAI SUNDAR LAG RAHA HUN?
Proves to be both an ode and aftermath to the sound Lifafa introduced and pioneered with Jaago.
Birds chirp over a harmonium and in beautiful irony the lyrics begin with Rana announcing that he is at a loss for words. ‘Alfaaz mere kyu bikhar gaye?’ A guitar soon joins.
The birds continue to chirp as the song builds to a crescendo that is repeatedly asking. ‘KYA FARAK PADTA HAI?’ The beat drops. The harmonium continues, the synth kicks, and Rana pours vulnerabilities out for his audience through a curious chorus in the form of a question?
Harmonium and synths overlap a J Dilla and MF DOOMesque beat. All roads lead to Rome as all attempts at originalities become but ode to inspirations.
What first sounds like an emulation after a few listens breaks free from the shackles of its inspirations and proves to be just as mature.
His songs are songs of questions?
‘Kyu rota hai?
Kya samjhota hai?
Tum badal gaye,
Mai bikhar gaya.‘
‘Why cry?
What’s the negotiation?
You changed,
I crumbled.‘
‘I want everyone to see me as someone who is very visibly in the process of becoming something.’
Rana isn’t simply emulating. He is inventing a sound that is inspired by his heroes of yesteryears — Peter Cat, Lifafa, Udbhav, Karun and the like… but also adding something very inspired and original to that soundscape.
KAANCH is Rana’s Jaago where Indian Classical, soul, RnB, Doomesque sampling and better parts of Bollywood merge together to create a sound that is at once a reminder of something that once was and also something that yet isn’t. Originality is nothing but inspirations stretched and ripped apart.
I was playing KAANCH in the bookstore where I work at… and browsers asked me. ‘Is this Lifafa?’
I fool them all and tell them that it is an old Lifafa song and they buy my lie.
‘Jiska hai javaab,
Essa kuch bhi pucho.’
‘Ask me something,
I may have an answer to.’
To imitate is ordinary but to imitate and add is original. Arjun Rana is the sound of Lifafa’s coming of age.
‘I feel like Sisyphus, except there’s people all over the hill cheering me.’ Arjun tells me over a chat and sends a shoutout to his friends – Adya, Anirudh and Tiya.
‘I make music for myself, but those are the three people that I want to make proud of me. Throughout last year I felt myself growing a lot because of these people, and it very definitely made me a better artist.’
‘I work with my friends because I want them to be there with me when the praise for that work is also coming.’ The toil of Sisyphus sighs at such love.
After Jaago my Spotify automatically shuffles to KAANCH…
Legacy inspires legacy. Music inspires music. The songs of yesterday lead to the songs of today. The songs of today lead to the songs of tomorrow.
Every breaking wave on the shore tells the next one there’ll be one more. Bono sang in Songs of Innocence and I feel the birds chirp, waves crash, songs switch, times change and think it all to be very true… and in case of Arjun Rana too.
