**Dhenkanal:** Dakhinakali Singha Baja troupe is suddenly receiving all the limelight they deserve. The hearts of Dakhinakali Sahi villagers have swelled with happiness as their own homegrown local band has recorded folk beats for a song for a Rajnikanth-starrer film ‘Petta’. The Tamil’s first music single ‘Marana Mass’ has already topped the charts, but little do people know that the catchy beats of the folk number have been played by Dhenkanal’s local artists from a nondescript village.
Maa Dakhinakali Singha Baja troupe was formed by one Ribas Naik who wanted to earn money by playing local percussion instruments in weddings and ‘Shobha jatra’. One day, Naik recoreded his band’s performance and uploaded it on YouTube. Soon, it caught the eye of ‘Petta’s’ music composer Anirudh Ravichander, who immediately gave Naik a call and roped in the team from Odisha.
Adding zing and oomph to the song, the Singha Baja troupe of Dhenkanal rendered beats to the peppy dance number that celebrates the superstardom Rajinikanth. A making video of the song released on social media shows that some 20-odd members of the band had visited the studio for recording the peppy number. With the beats of an assortment of percussion instruments, the music single with a generous dash of Oida folk music has grossed over 6 million views on YouTube, till now.
Band member Dillu Naik, “The studio space was a different setting for us. We sincerely hope the song impresses everyone and makes them tap their feet.”
“When I first received the call, I thought it was a joke. Later, they started discussing the logistics and said that our trip to Chennai would be sponsored. This is when I got serious. We recorded at the studio with Anirudh Ravichander in Chennai in June this year,” said Ribas Naik, the self-trained artist.
The villagers are also ecstatic that their boys have received the fame that they deserve. They said, “It has been high time and their talent should have been realised earlier.”
Directed by Karthik Subbaraj, the cast of Petta also includes stars like Vijay Sethupathi Bobby Simha, Simran, Trisha and Nawazuddin Siddiqui and is scheduled for release on Jan 11, 2019.