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The South Indian musical tradition of Konnakol isn’t just a skill; it’s a rhythmic language. Carnatic artists vocalise percussive patterns while counting tala, the beat, with their hands, creating musical conversation with deep, complex rhythms. To perform Konnakol, rhythm has to run through your veins, making it a practice valued by musicians across the globe.
In many ways, jazz taps into the same sonic and rhythmic exploration we see in Carnatic music. Scatting, for example, while different in principle from Konnakol, also plays with vocal percussion, requiring singers to do more than follow a simple rhythm. It takes mastery to play with music, to bend the beat to your will.
Considering their overlaps in musical ethos, it’s no wonder then that we’re watching a homegrown South Indian-Jazz revolution unfold. From the Tamil Jazz Collective’s reinterpretation of Jazz classics through a Carnatic lens to Sakré’s repurposing of old school South Indian songs for his jazz-lofi beats, more and more artists are exploring across genre lines.
Based in New Delhi, Raj is a self-proclaimed genre-fluid artist, adding to a growing roster of jazz-fusion experimentalists. Raj told Rolling Stone India that he was gifted a guitar at 13, kickstarting his musical journey as he started listening to rock and then branched into jazz, hip hop, and prog-rock. He started producing his own music during the pandemic and has released two jazz lofi albums since.
His latest release, 'Konnakol Jazz', builds a bright, groovy soundscape around a Konnakol sample, using a modern sound to pay tribute to a South Indian musical tradition. Raj told Homegrown that he started experimenting with Indian samples and musical elements back in 2024. The Konnakol used in his latest track mixes together multiple samples, adding punchy piano chords, an alluring horn, and a simple jazz drum beat to fit his signature lo-fi jazz style. He plays with dynamics and vocal effects, almost leaving you feeling hypnotised by the rapid Konnakol vocals at the song’s core. 'Konnakol Jazz' then ends with a very tasteful guitar solo, closing out the track with a return to Raj’s musical roots.
Raj collaborated with Goji, an AI designer, for the visuals on 'Konnakol Jazz', calling Goji “one of his favourite visual artists". The song’s video is a surrealist take on old-school Indian aesthetics, encompassing the past-meets-future effect of Raj’s work.
Follow Raj here.
