Composers turning singers might seem like a natural progression, but it took nearly a decade for city musician Syed Kamran to turn one. He recently composed and sang a number Pranam Egise , a first of a kind travel music video in Telugu, directed by Harikanth Gunamagari and produced by Kala Media. As the video continues to earn acclaim across several streaming platforms, he admits, “I don’t consider myself a good singer. I probably wouldn’t do it for another composer. With my songs, I know my strengths and limitations.” Kamran usually records the initial versions of his songs for his team to understand the mood of the number, but the director here felt his voice was good enough to be retained.
Music on the go Syed Kamran, glimpses from the travel music video By arrangement
Harikanth’s journeys across the country for over three years have come together in the video, that instantly appeals to travel and nature aficionados. Some of the locations in which they’d shot include Spiti Valley, Kasol in Himachal Pradesh, Chikmagalur, parts of UP and Sri Lanka. The time-lapse element in the video featuring the myriad moods of the sky is its USP. “You’ll realise it’s a love song for mother nature, a tribute to the place where we all live in. The montages and cinematography had a unique appeal in this. I met Harikanth through common friends and I really liked the video he’d done on an artist recently.” Together, they had done a few commercial projects, a video Kattif and a short film (that was selected in a national film fest).
The initial process of lyric writing, composing and the shoot was simultaneous. “We wanted to lend a soothing quality to the song. Lot of tourism videos come with great music, but they mostly only represent the State in which they’re shot. We wanted to make this a nature-driven attempt.” Ramanjaneyulu, the lyricist for Pranam Egise , was introduced to Kamran through a director. “I had to tell him that this should sound like a love song but not one between two genders, it was more like somebody calling through your soul.”
Travel music video
Being Hyderabadis, Harikanth and Kamran are planning something similar with the city soon too. “It’s in the making, so I can’t reveal much about it.” They are also working on a video with Roll Rida next, and a movie. Kamran had last worked on Hridaya Kaleyam and Kobbari Matta . “For movies, the person, the mindset and the writing matter a lot. In indie-music, I don’t have a boss,” he says explaining the gap after those films.
Even with music videos, he makes it a point to balance his love for art and capturing the pulse of the masses. “With Pranam Egise though, we’re not targeting the views, we only wanted to do it for ourselves.”
