Recorded live, singer-songwriter Vidhya Gopal gives you her album, Mehfil, with a dash of guitar, violin, bass, and more
Vidhya Gopal
These days, retro ideas could be the freshest trends around. In an age where baithaks have gained a fresher audience, singer-songwriter Vidhya Gopal is taking the mehfil a step ahead. She has drawn from the past to present an album that’s not a typical studio release. Aptly titled Mehfil, this album is a live performance recorded in a single day, across three intimate sets. Gopal’s idea was to capture what she does best when she’s performing live: make Indian classical and folk music relevant to her lived experiences. Mehfil, is an unvarnished document of what Gopal has spent the past few years building onstage: a sound rooted in classical traditions, yet open to western instrumental textures and modern arrangements. Her lyrics are relevant to her and may sound modern to a purist’s ear. But it’s just her expression.
Speaking to us over a phone call, she excitedly talks about her idea behind recording her album live. “I did this for several practical reasons. One, I know what kind of time goes into bringing everyone together at the table to finish a project, especially if it’s an independent project. I felt like this would cut short the time. Second, was the fact, that I wanted it [the album] to have this live element because it was a reflection of what I sing live. I also wanted it to be a pitch to, say, festivals and to anybody who wants to know what I sound like live. Third, is that it made a lot more sense monetarily,” says Gopal.
Naturally, recording an album live came with challenges: managing the right sound, ensuring the venue had enough power, drowning out the generator’s sound, and more. However, Gopal was unaware of all this and only found out later, as her team managed it all behind the scenes. “In retrospect, when I think of whether I should do this again, it scares me,” she says, “Somewhere the fact that you don’t know helps you get away with a lot of things because you are just reacting. But now, in retrospect, it feels like there were a lot of things that could have gone wrong.”
Mehfil unfolds in three live sets, each one building on the last, starting with minimalist arrangements using just piano or harmonium, adding acoustic percussion and melodic instruments in the second set, and ending with electronic and electric textures. For the album, Gopal has collaborated with different artists, including Digvijay Singh Parihar, Yashika Sikka, and Ajay Jayanthi, to bring in harmonium, keys, tabla, guitar, bass, and percussion.
The album’s repertoire draws from traditional forms of music, but Gopal is clear that she isn’t trying to modernise. “Every once in a while, I kind of do pause to reflect if I’m overdoing it, if I am disrespecting this art form, if I am trying to make it something that it isn’t and if, in doing so, I am causing harm to the art form or the genre. And every time I’m able to say no and confidently say yes, it’s my expression and I’m not trying to break it down into something else to change its form, I feel okay,” says Gopal.
What’s next for the album? Gopal is focused on taking Mehfil to new audiences through more live experiences. But she’s already tuning into a new project. Growing up across multiple cities, Gopal was exposed to both Carnatic and Hindustani music, learning from her family and formal training. But it was during college in Delhi that she felt a deeper pull toward thumris and dadras. Her next project will showcase that side of her musical sensibilities, but she’s keeping her ideas under wraps for now.
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