VENAM: A Malayalam song breaks boundaries to go viral

Venam, created by three IT friends – Shabeer, Adityan & Harish – is indeed a blend of western and south Indian music. It sounds different and is 6+ mins in length, which is not common … reports Asian Lite News

Venam (wanted), a recently released Malayalam song has managed to connect with music lovers worldwide with its catchy tunes, lyrics and theme. It’s not common for Malayalam songs composed by relatively unknown Indie artists to gain worldwide attention and listeners from other countries. Within a month, the song crossed 100,000 views on YouTube with overwhelmingly positive feedback.

The song was composed by an indie music artiste, Shabeer aka Shabscraft who is based in Singapore. This is his first song in Malayalam and his previous releases which are mostly instrumental, are also available on all platforms today.

Venam is indeed a blend of western and south Indian music. It sounds different and is 6+ mins in length, which is not common. According to the composer, it’s experimental and they went for a different flow. Maybe that’s why it stands out and is connected with music lovers. YouTube release under Shabeer’s channel named ‘Shabscraft Music’ includes English subtitles for the lyrics and that has helped to further connect with non-Malayalam speaking audiences globally.

Lyrics were penned by Adityan, a poet based in Bangalore. His poems are published in both English & Malayalam across mainstream media. This was his first project for a Malayalam song. Lead singer – Harish, is a well-trained vocalist in Western and classical over years. Like Shabeer, he is also based in Singapore.

All three are working in tech companies across different locations and music brought them together. Shabeer and Adityan had known each other since school days, while Harish and Shabeer connected in Singapore. They are passionate about music and always wanted to collaborate to create something fresh, different and connect with music lovers across the world.

“To be honest, we never expected the song to reach across so many listeners. What is even more surprising is that non-Malayalam speakers including listeners from other countries are also enjoying the song and sharing their feedback. We feel extremely happy and truly humbled by all the feedback,” says Shabeer

When ‘Venam’ was initially conceived by Shabeer, he approached his friend Adityan to collaborate on the lyrics. They wanted to create something that would represent the attitude of today’s youth and compose based on a theme that would connect with them.

Shabeer, who spend his schooling days in Kerala, said: “During previous generations, I noticed that they got used to shortcomings and issues around them. Some of that passed to us and we got used to making compromises without questioning the system and people around us. We don’t want that to continue. The new generation of youth should question everything, demand everything they are entitled to and not compromise on anything. Ask for a better system, society, environment, spread more joy, peace, love and not fall short. I wanted Venam to capture and represent that mentality, feel and attitude”.

If you listen to the song, you will notice that this essence is captured with the tunes and wonderfully crafted lyrics blending in together. The song starts with a tone of rebel, anger and transcends to bliss, hope and prayer. According to Shabscraft, it was composed that way to create a feel of a ‘better tomorrow’, towards the end.

What is also interesting is that the song is a fusion of rap, melody and south Indian classical. Shabeer had initially planned for two singers separately for the rap and classical. However, after working with Harish, who is trained in both Western and Classical, they were confident that the singer could deliver on both fronts.

“Harish is an amazing talent and made it so much easier for me as he understood the nuances of developing a new song. He nailed the entire song with the right tones while capturing the emotions perfectly. I also used few vocals of my 10-year-old Son (Eshan) for some background bits”, said Shabeer.

Another interesting fact is that the song took six months to complete. The composer and lyricist had to work from Singapore and India. For mixing and mastering, Shabeer worked with sound engineers from a studio in the Netherlands primarily. Other technicians, instrumental sound experts were spread across India. World-Wide distribution and label was managed by a company based in London.

“Yes, it was not easy working and coordinating with different studios, technicians and experts from around the world. Due to the pandemic and time zone differences, I faced many delays & challenges. But that also gave us a lot of creative freedom to develop and release something the way we wanted. I guess that’s the advantage you have when you are an Indie Music artist,” added Shabeer.