MoonArra – World Fusion

An amalgam of three languages, MoonArra’s songs are ‘a bit difficult to explain, easier to listen’, says Jagdeesh M.R. A self taught guitar player, composer and founder of MoonArra, Jagdeesh has been playing with pop, rock and jazz bands for the last 20 years.  Most of their songs are rooted melodically in Indian classical but are harmonically based in jazz. They use both Carnatic classical rhythms and jazz rhythms and accents – sometimes the fusion is conscious and sometimes it’s not, but it’s up to the listener to perceive the synthesis of sounds as a whole.

The name MoonArra, is drawn from the southern hill station Munnar which means a confluence of three rivers. The name, syllabically in Tamil or Malayalam meaning Moon (three) Arra (rivers), stands for the primary three influences in their music – Hindustaani, Carnatic and Jazz.

Describing their musical style as a fusion of Indian classical, jazz and world sounds, Jagdeesh says their debut album Indian Accent is about everything Indian besides the musical accents.  It has eight original compositions, five vocals and three instrumental compositions with two preludes.

They’ve been influenced by all the greats in jazz, Hindustaani and Carnatic classical as well as pop in their musical journeys and believe in connecting with the audience by simply being themselves on stage.

‘A world without boundaries and music without barriers might sound cliched but it’s still the ideal we look up to’ – Jagdeesh._

MoonArra will be playing at the Delhi Jazz Festival on Sunday, March 17th at ICCR.

By: Kuhu Kochar