Simon King put together 100 musicians for local Tamil choir

MUMBAI: A good background score is a rarity these days in films and webseries. This is where the hit Tamil OTT series 'Vadhandhi - The Fable of Velonie' stands out because its the result of around 100 musicians working on it together to create the magical score.

Music director Simon King brought together more than 40 singers and 100 musicians for the title track of the series which blends 17th and 18th century inspired local Tamil choir with the revered Budapest orchestra.

Sharing his process of composing music for the series, Simon King said, "When we decided that we are going for choral music and choral arrangements, the first challenge was to get a good choir. There were a lot of voices needed, and they should be able to pronounce and sing perfectly. Mr. Ku Karthik, our lyricist, used ancient Tamil literature text to write the lyrics in a very old Tamil dialect which a lot of current Tamilians wouldn't recognize because it goes way back in time."

He added, "So, the words have to be pronounced in the right way, and Mr. Augustine Paul, the conductor of Chennai Coral, had around 47 voices that we recorded with an old Tamil dialect along with proper Western classical singing. As soon as they started singing, Andrew and I knew that we were on the right path."

The next challenge for the team was to choose an orchestra, which they were able to find thanks to Simon's friend from Slovakia whom he met during a visit to Budapest.

"We were blown away with their performances that we decided to record the track with the Budapest Orchestra in Hungary itself, which was such a wonderful experience. I was actually so moved to see my music come alive in that iconic Builder Hall where we recorded it, making it a surreal moment for me", the composer added.

Produced by Pushkar and Gayatri under the banner of Wallwatcher Films, and created by Andrew Louis, 'Vadhandhi: The Fable of Velonie' is available to stream on Prime Video.