Gowry Lekshmi is just 10 days away from realising her dream. The singer-composer-lyricist is crowdfunding her new video, a new initiative in Malayalam indie music. “I have to raise ₹3.5 lakh to make the video for my song Aararo.... We have already got 80 percent of the required amount. I am confident that I will be able to make it,” gushes the musician.
This is part of ‘Watch Out’, a joint initiative of Wishberry, one of India’s successful crowdfunding platforms for creative artists, and Rolling Stone. Six artistes from different genres are given an opportunity to crowdfund their videos and she is the only one from Kerala.
But what gave her the confidence to go for crowdfunding especially when independent music scene is still in its nascent stage in Malayalam? “It is true that we have a long way to go. But in this case there is not much risk involved because if the campaign fails to raise the stipulated amount by the deadline, the project won’t take off and money will be returned to each contributor, however small the amount is. So nobody will lose any money. They will get the amount within 15 days. That’s why I decided to give it a go,” she says.
Gowry is ecstatic that she has got immense support from music buffs and well-wishers from across the world. “While bigger denominations have come from abroad and not from Kerala, I have no complaints. What matters is the support for my music,” she says. Independent artistes, especially regional artistes, need more encouragement and it is important that people should know about these musicians, she adds.
Aararo... will be her sixth video, the others being Thoni..., Theeye..., Maane... (lyric video), Makaramanjin... and the official video of Maane... that will be released soon. Gowry avers that she is not discouraged by the fact that music videos don’t have enough reach when compared to film songs.
Making her music
“Except for Thoni... , I have produced all the other videos on my own and I haven’t got any monetary benefits from them. But I look at it in a different way. Music is my sustenance and this is my way of giving back to the art. I feel extremely contented when I do that. I only want to keep on making music and people to listen to my songs. As for music videos, there is a thrill in bringing them out,” smiles Gowry.
Composing has been a passion for Gowry who made a dream debut as a composer at the age of 13 through Casanovva . A trained musician, she has been performing her own songs at stage shows. “ Aararo... was written when I was 12 or so. It muses on the connect between romance and nature. The song has been with me for so many years and so it is very special,” says the artiste. The plan is to make a dance video of international standard.
She forayed into playback singing with Ezhu Sundara Rathrikal and got her big break with the song Aaro nenjil... from Godha . “If good songs come my way I will definitely sing in movies. But I am not quite comfortable composing in films because I may not get a free hand in the work,” she adds.
Settled in Chennai, she divides her time between her band and making new compositions, some of them with her husband and drummer, Ganesh Venkitaramani. Besides Ganesh, the others in her band are Isaac Dharmakumar, John Praveen and Godfrey Immanuel.
