World Cup 2023 | Chennai musicians create Carnatic music anthem to celebrate cricket

On the grounds of Chennai’s Vivekananda College, three aspiring musicians — who would later go on to become leading names in the music industry— would often indulge in a game of cricket.

P Unnikrishnan, Palghat R Ramprasad and Sikkil Gurucharan are from different batches of the college, but the one thing that united them other than love for songs was cricket.

It is no wonder then that, several years later, the three have teamed up for a song on the sport they dearly love. With ‘Cricket Endraal Bharatham’ (and the Hindi version ‘Cricket Hi Tho Bharath Hai’), the trio fuses Carnatic music and the hype around World Cup Cricket 2023 that kickstarts on October 5. The recently-released song has Tamil lyrics by Muthumani and music by Raghuram and Ramprasad.

“I believe that this is the first attempt of its kind to take Carnatic music to a mass field like sports,” says Ramprasad, who has conceptualised the track, “The ragas include Vasantha, to indicate the fervour and spirit that went with India’s 2011 win, and Desh, for hopefulness and patriotism for 2023.”

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During the shoot of the music video, the three bonded not just over their music but also discussing their favourite cricketers who could create an impact in this World Cup. “There’s a line in the song that goes, ‘Ashwin-in yukthi anigalai mirala vaikum’ (Ashwin’s strategy will mesmerise the opponent teams) that we wrote during a time when we did not know if he was going to be in the squad. But it all came together well,” adds Ramprasad.

The making of the song, ‘Cricket Endraal Bharatham’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

For Unnikrishnan, this was a chance to give back to a game he loved — and even played professionally — not too long ago. “Carnatic music has many nuances, just like cricket,” feels Unnikrishnan, who even tries his hand at a bit of leg spin even as he sings a classical line about Indian left-arm bowler Kuldeep Yadav.

Sikkil Gurucharan, who sings lines about Jasprit Bumrah among other aspects, chips in, “Cricket and music are an integral part of every Indian’s life and there’s no better occasion than the World Cup to bring them together.”