I. Gogul and his team of friends wanted to stay connected to their alma mater, even after they left. So, they decided to compose a song called ‘Nanbane...Nanbane…’
Within days of its launch in You Tube, the song clocked about 1500 views. The success brought them together again and today they are part of a band that they call Beat Breakerzz. “We are not professionals but our music is professional,” says Gogul, keyboard player and leader of the 10-member pack. “Till two months ago, I had no idea about the song and how it would shape up, but kudos to my friends they made it happen,” he beams.
Other members of Beat Breakerzz are guitarists M. Bharath (electric guitar) and S. Naveen Kumar (bass guitar), drummer S. Gopalakrishnan and singers A. Mahadevan, R. Varshini, T.A. Divya Priya, P. Keerthana, T. Harini and B. Gautham. Barring Varshini, Harini and Naveen Kumar, who are first-year students, the rest are in their final year at Thiagarajar College of Engineering.
A win at an intra-department cultural fest that they won inspired them. “We sang couple of popular film songs and won the event and that gave us a boost,” says Divya Priya. Gogul, the lynchpin of the team, spotted talents from other departments and brought them together to form the band.
Gogul, an independent musician, said, “I compose songs with my synthesiser and speech monitors and never used any live instrument. But for this song we performed as team.”
Gogul has composed this song in rock music style and has also penned the lyrics. “I took much care in writing the verses as I wanted to touch the hearts of the student. As a student myself I know how painful it is to part,” says Gogul. There is so much hope and positivity in the line ‘idhu ondrum mudivillai, thodakamada’ (this is not the end but only the beginning).
“It is difficult to get talented instrument players,” says Gogul. But he found them. He did not give notations to his team but demonstrated the rhythm on the keyboard and encouraged them to improvise.
Many of the band members are self taught like Bharath. A guitarist he says: “My guru is You Tube. I learnt all my techniques from the tutorials online.” “It was Gogul who asked me to learn playing the drums. And I did,” says Gopalakrishnan.
Composing the music for the song just took a day, but the music arrangement and mixing took more time. “I wanted everyone in my team in perfect frame of mind. It is a difficult song as I have composed it in a high pitch. We had several rehearsals before we sat down for the recording,” he says.
They have also released a video of making of the song on You Tube. “Originally we did not plan for it. But later when we realised that we need some video to establish our presence, we made this video,” says the young composer.
Beat Breakerzz is now planning an album on motherhood and one on Madurai. Though the members will part ways after college is over, the core team, placed in popular software companies in Chennai, has planned to meet regularly to begin a new chapter in their music career.
