Today we’d like to introduce you to Arun Chandrakanthan.
Hi arun, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My name is Chandra and I am a Tamil Ealam American born artist based out of Detroit, Michigan. I am multidisciplinary, who practices in many mediums, but my focus is on music. I am artist first, musician second, but I am a multi-instrumentalist who loves making songs. Outside of that, my first discipline and love would be visual art, for I have been drawing, painting, sculpturing, and anything between that my whole life.
Being South Asian, particularly a Eelam Tamilian being raised in the United States, my identity has been core to who I am when it comes to expressing myself. As much as western culture has influenced me, maturing has made me realize how much inherited heritage is truly the backbone of my identity. My parents left Sri Lanka as refugees during a long civil war that only ended in 2009, one which i would consider a genocide of my people. My culture has been literally attempted to be erased, and in a world where I am surrounded by many Desis, my identity is something I hold very sacred to me.
I grew up in Michigan my whole life, most of my family residing in Toronto, where the second largest population of Ealam Tamilians are outside of Sri Lanka. In a world where genocides have been more of a present topic in everyone’s radar, the atrocities of the Sri Lankan Civil war, and the place itself is widely unrecognized in my experience growing up in the United States. My childhood was mostly in suburban MIchigan where I grew up in Novi. I was first exposed to the city of Detroit
The more and more I step into myself as an artist, I recognize my purpose and the power I hold in my voice and choice in choosing the palette that makes my art. This has been quite the grueling process, the city of Detroit being a huge part in shaping who I am today. I am living in one of the most historically black cities in the US, and that context has opened my eyes to so much about the world, in contrast to me growing up in higher Middle class Suburbia in a predominantly white town. In some sense, I realized real resistance was truly unlearning the old ways of thinking I inherited from the environment I grew up in, realizing how limiting the American perspective can truly be depending on the perspective you have access to.
I released my first ever EP last December “thoughts on agape” on all streaming platforms. After a few years of being a studio session musician, accilminating many song credits on various projects from artists in the Detroit Music scene, this EP is my official first introduction to the artist Chandra officially. Being written, performed, produced mostly by me in the wee hours of the night in my apartment which I share a home-studio with my roommates who are musicians themselves. A reflection on different forms of love in my life, that is how I would encapsulate that project in simple words.
Since then, I have learned so much about what it means to be an artist, in many different aspects I didn’t realize, more specifically, how what you put out into the world has an effect that is significant. That is why I am taking a very huge step with my next EP. I don’t want to say too much about what I have planned but I have truly recognized the power that art has on the world, and why it is important for us to have the ability to express ourselves. True resistance is self-expression and self-care to the highest form.
Last thing about me, I am a part of the Collective Don’t Wait Until Tomorrow. The people I have met in Detroit have been deeply pivotal in my growth as an artist. This collective completely encapsulates the philosophy of life we live by in this community. I believe true success doesn’t happen in isolation. Not in a quantifiable sense but on a truly spiritual level, I am a part of a movement that is deeply rooted and infinitely vast in the talent it harbours. Detroit is where the artistic renaissance is happening. I am constantly inspired by my peers who practice all mediums of expression, and also of those who came before in the past as well from this city. I would like to mention one of my closest friends and roommate, Coffeeblack, who formally introduced into the Detroit Art scene and has been one of my greatest collaborators.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No i wouldn’t say it is necessarily a smooth road at all. it’s like that saying “it’s not the outcome, it’s the journey and the people you meet on the way”. As cliche as that sounds, life has constantly made that a forefront in my career as a artist and musician.
First off, I did sacrifice a lot of my security and stability I could’ve acquired taking a more traditional route, instead of fully dedicating my time to being a artist. Whether it is constantly working service oriented jobs to keep me afloat financial, finding odd gigs and any opportunities that could help me get paid or further improve my career, the process of trying to push your own art while keeping your sanity with the quarrels of life has definitely shaped me tremendously.
Second, being in a creative scene for multiple years, my peers have brought me so much joy, but I have experienced downfalls on the way too. There have been many moments where I experiences tumultuousness within my career as a artist due to the social complexity that might come from being apart of a community so eclectic, but it has never changed my perspective or left me jaded. To be apart of the Detroit renaissance is such a blessing because it has introduced me to some of the most beautiful souls I have ever met in my life.
As if right now, I think the biggest struggle I am dealing with is realizing what it truly takes to bring your art to the forefront for the world to see. As much effort you can spend creating, you also have a responsibility of showing up for your art. In this day and age, that usually looks like using social media to market yourself, which has definitely been a double edged sword for me. Whether it is posting TikToks daily, or emailing countless of writers and music reviewers to check out my EP, the process definitely leaves you creatively drained. It has brought me to a the point where I need to revaluate how I go about these things, because what’s the point of it if you can’t create more?
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a multi-disciplinary artist who specializes in Song-writing and music production. I play multiple instruments including Guitar, Bass, Drums, Piano, and honestly will find a way to produce sound from whatever. Whether it is drumming with my fingers, or humming melodies, music is very much a huge part of who I am. I am also a huge studio nerd, who loves locking himself in front of a computer, hacking away at sounds till I find what I hear in my head. Through my own DIY experiments working with myself, and countless other artists and bands, I developed a deep sense of knowledge regarding how a Music studio works.
Even though I do play multiple instrument, guitar would be my soulmate, and main bread and butter. As a guitarist, I have played in so many bands and projects that I lost count a long time ago. There has been many shows where I was the guitarists for multiple bands on the same bill and I loved every single second of it. Guitar has genuinely changed my life and despite actually being my second instrument I formally learnt, is probably the reason why I make music full time today.
Songwriting is also a huge part of what I do and take pride in. Most of my writing comes from a very personal and vulnerable place for me. The experiences and people I have had in my life are huge inspirations for why and what I write when it comes to songs. I would like to think that people really resonate with the way I write because they find themselves in my shoes, whether it is literal, or even more metaphorical in a sense the feeling and emotion invokes something a lot deeper. Some of the themes that come up in my songwriting are grief, unrequited love, cultural identity.
What sets me apart from other people is probably my practice of purely creating art from place of child-like inquisitiveness. I try my best to not let external factors dilute the purest forms of expressions which come out of me when I create art. This thus far has been more about trusting myself than trying to prove to everyone else. Most importantly, my purpose on this Earth is to be a vessel for what God wants me to say. Art has been one of the most important elements of society that truly moves us forward as a collective consciousness, and God uses as us, Artists, as tools to direct the world closer towards divinity.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
With it comes to working and collaborating with people, it is really important for me to first have a friendship and true understanding because the creation of my art comes from a very vulnerable place. I don’t think it is difficult for me to become friends with people but some of best work usually is from working with some of my closest friends.
I do want to say that outside of my own band, the Navagrahas, I am also apart of Soul/RnB band Thee Birdsongs, and Indie Jazz Punk Band group Covier.
In terms of supporting me; streaming my music, purchasing my projects directly from me, and sharing my art are things that have been really helpful and something I am deeply grateful for. As if right now, there is a part of me that wished I had more access to faculties and capital in order to make my art. I have been working so hard out of my apartment studio and am starting to recognize how having access to a professional studio might change the consistency and quality of my output. All in all, I just wish I had more time and space to create more art, and being able to make money from it would definitely make that more attainable.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.submithub.com/link/thoughts-on-agape-ep
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelightofchandra/?hl=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Thelightofchandra
- Other: https://thelightofchandra.bandcamp.com/album/thoughts-on-agape
