Santhosh Narayanan interview: On his ‘Sounds of the South’ tour and the magic of live music
(Originally published in The Hindu on March 01, 2023)
Santhosh Narayanan is happy. Apart from the exciting film and indie projects he is involved in, there is something else that he is eagerly awaiting; something he has been craving to do for a long time — performing live. “I used to perform a lot before but once I started doing films, work took all my time. I’ve been wanting to get back to live music because even while making a song, I would think of how I can perform it in front of an audience,” he says.
On March 18, Santhosh will perform at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; the concert will be the first in his new music tour titled Sounds of the South.
“A live performance has its own magic,” he says. “You connect better with the listeners. It creates a vibe and brings out a musical element that a closed space may not offer. When we were rehearsing for shows, we realised that some of the songs sounded better than the original versions.”
The revival of the live music scene after the pandemic-hit years is a big boon for both audiences and musicians, he adds. “Concerts these days are booked out and you can see how excited these performers get before a show. Sometimes it’s even hard to put together a team since everyone’s busy these days — that’s a great problem to have. And a packed auditorium has always guaranteed a surreal experience for the audience as well.”
Santhosh sees another silver lining in what happened to music during the pandemic: “There was a
Read the full interview here: