Recently, we found ourselves listening to singer and composer Vinod Krishnan's rendition of Achutaashtakam, on loop. Written in the 8th century by Adi Shankaracharya, it was a song that we had heard before in a version made popular by legendary singer KJ Yesudas. But, this time the beats were different. More relatable, if we may add. Turns out, this is what Krishnan, a Minneapolis-based creative director of the project Indian Raga (an arts education startup founded at MIT) set out to achieve when he began digging into ancient verses in order to "reinvent" them. With its soaring popularity on YouTube, Krishnan now plans to perform some of these pieces at an upcoming concert in the UK. Born in Chennai, Krishnan has lived a large part of his life in Mumbai. Living in the US, he now mentors musicians and singers to create novel music productions.

Excerpts from an interview.