Priya Ragu’s debut mixtape damnshestamil, was alight with music so vibrant, fluid and musically broad that it transcended the artist making it and took on a life of its own, finding love among a global community of fans and critics alike, who celebrated its “eruption of inventive, deftly executed ideas'' (NME) and “addictive pop energy” (The Telegraph). Ragu’s wholly unique approach, dubbed Raguwavy by the singer, is vast and dauntless, incorporating simmering and sun-dappled R&B, masterful pop hooks, earthy soulful vocals, hip-shaking dance beats, and the warm tabla rhythms, heart-swelling strings and spiralling melodics of Tamil music. “The mixtape really reflected the place that I was at emotionally and as a human being. It was a journey to get to know myself, to really listen to my intuition, to trust that, and take a leap of faith.”...
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Priya Ragu’s debut mixtape damnshestamil, was alight with music so vibrant, fluid and musically broad that it transcended the artist making it and took on a life of its own, finding love among a global community of fans and critics alike, who celebrated its “eruption of inventive, deftly executed ideas'' (NME) and “addictive pop energy” (The Telegraph). Ragu’s wholly unique approach, dubbed Raguwavy by the singer, is vast and dauntless, incorporating simmering and sun-dappled R&B, masterful pop hooks, earthy soulful vocals, hip-shaking dance beats, and the warm tabla rhythms, heart-swelling strings and spiralling melodics of Tamil music. “The mixtape really reflected the place that I was at emotionally and as a human being. It was a journey to get to know myself, to really listen to my intuition, to trust that, and take a leap of faith.”
It was a journey a lifetime in the making. While Ragu was raised in the Swiss city of St Gallen, her parents were refugees of the Sri Lankan civil war, leaving the country in the 1980s. Despite their new home, they ensured that Ragu and her brother, producer Japhna Gold, were immersed in Tamil culture, hosting jam sessions at their home where everyone would sing Kollywood songs. She was also the singer in a band with her father, who played the tabla, and brother, who was on keys.
Despite this rich musical upbringing, Ragu’s parents didn’t quite understand her fiery ambition to pursue music as a career – in the tradition of Tamil culture, they wanted their daughter to get a good job and then get married. And so Ragu partitioned her life: in secret she practised at pop stardom and for her parents she got a job working for a Swiss airline. In 2017, however, Ragu up-ended her life and relocated to New York for six months where she began working with her brother, who was still in Switzerland, on music. That would ultimately lead to the creation of damnshestamil.
Ragu documents all this on her effusive, assured and dynamic debut album, SANTHOSAM. Meaning “happiness” in Tamil, the record was crafted once again in collaboration with Ragu’s brother Japhna Gold and buzzes with the pair’s faultless and electric fusion of Tamil and Western influences. SANTHOSAM, however, elevates the Raguwavy sound with even bolder and adventurous references, swaggering braggadocio, gorgeous and varied musical textures, triumphant disco bangers, urgent and purposive political themes, and Ragu’s contagious positive spirit.
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