Sufi singer Radhika Sood Nayak dedicates the song AsaN to raise funds for those affected by COVID-19 

The music video intends to raise funds for the vast multitudes of migrant labourers who are left with no means of livelihood 
Radhika Sood Nayak
Radhika Sood Nayak

Sufi singer Radhika Sood Nayak along with Goonj presents  AsaN, an evocative kalaam of the 16th-century Sufi mystic Shah Hussein. Radhika, who has composed and sang this, aims at raising funds for the distressed of CoVid-19.

Radhika was initiated into Hindustani Classical vocal music training in her early school days.  An MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur, she decided to pursue her quest for music after a stint in the corporate world and became the disciple of Dr Sushila Rani Patel. She is now under the tutelage of Shri Dayal Thakur and is an Akashvani artiste.

Radhika composed AsaN in 2017 when she started out on a collaboration with a young Dastango Ankit Chadha for a musical narrative on Shah Hussain, the egoless faqeer. However, Ankit’s untimely demise halted this journey.

She later collaborated with Kathak dancer Sanjukta Wagh, on a dance- music exploration of Shah Hussain’s poetry and Asan became a part of that piece. That is when she met musicians, Hitesh Dhutia and Vinayak Netke, who not only arranged the music but also played the guitar and the rhythm in the soundtrack of  AsāN.

<em>Radhika Sood Nayak</em>
Radhika Sood Nayak

In January 2020, the music video of Asan was directed by Alleyah Asghar, whom Radhika had known very closely for many years. The music video was set for an April 13 launch to coincide with Baisakhi, which got stalled due to the lockdown.

 After much introspection, Radhika heard an emphatic voice within her, the voice of Sufi Faqeer Shah Hussein whose Kalaam she had composed. 

 “That is when I decided to use it as a vehicle to raise funds for the vast multitudes of migrant labourers and daily wage earners who are left with no means of livelihood”, says Radhika who has dedicated AsaN to Goonj, an organisation that is working relentlessly to provide relief for people who are struggling for the basics in the time of COVID.

The video was launched on May 1 and  can be viewed at www.radhikasoodnayak.com/asan

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