His is the voice of absolute peace in 22 Female Kottayam ’s ‘Melle Kollum’. It is also the fire-in-his-belly kind of voice in Chappa Kurishu ’s ‘Theeye Theeye’. From his days on the Amritha TV reality show Super Star eight years ago, to lending his voice to over 15 films, singing at numerous live shows and television recordings, and now composing his own music, Job Kurian has become a master at slipping into new skins each time his voice soars.
In the city to perform at Cafe Papaya with a band put together for the show, Job took a few minutes off to chat about his recent projects. Most of all, he’s excited about his newly born baby boy, and in true musician style, he’s singing a song about him. Written by a friend’s mother, the thus far untitled song speaks of the sheer happiness of being a father. It joins the list of original compositions that Job has been charting up the last couple of years.
In 2008, Job debuted as a composer with friends Charan and Yazkan, creating the album Thaalam . Since then, he’s cherished songwriting along with playback singing. One of his recent pieces ‘Embran’, is a beautiful ballad with him even occasionally scat singing while playing the piano as well. Another song ‘Padayatra’ speaks of a backpacking trip his friend undertook, a “grounded journey” that has always been Job’s dream too. A third he calls a “secular devotional song” wherein he describes “God as a shepherd” that guides him. “All my songs are drawn from life experiences, from moments that inspire me. I approach each song differently according to the situation I am in,” he says.
2014 has also marked the year Job turned music director. Chosen to compose the music for the Rajeevnath-directed film Rasam , scheduled to release this July, Job says he was “incredibly lucky” to debut with such a stellar cast and crew. The film stars Mohanlal, Indrajith and Nedumudi Venu, and the songs were written by Kavalam Narayana Panikker. Of the three songs he has composed, Job has also sung one of them, while his vocal teacher Kavalam Sreekumar has sung another and K.S. Chithra has sung a third. One of Job’s earliest hits was a duet, ‘Aathmaavin Kaavil’, with Chitra in the film Black Cat , composed by Alphonse. “It was a special kind of satisfaction that Chitra chechi could sing my song after all these years. It meant a lot to me when she said she liked the composition too.” In the future, Job looks forward to doing the music for more films, especially with directors who “appreciate my flavour in music”.
Singing for films and composing bring different kinds of happiness, says Job. “With the first, I feel happy at having done justice by delivering well to someone else’s creativity; in the second, it’s about exploring my own creativity.” The two probably come together in the numerous covers Job has done for shows such as Straight from the heart, and Music Mojo on Rosebowl, Kappa TV and the like. “When it comes to covers, it’s about taking a song you love and arranging it how you would have if it was your song. I also see it as a gift from me to the composer.” Job has since become a master of televised acoustic shows, taking even his popular film songs and re-arranging them for the acoustic stage, but every song doesn’t necessarily make a great acoustic cover, he cautions. “It needs a concept, a vision, great arrangement and then lots of practice!” His advice to young musicians today though, is to go beyond covers and write their own music. “There’s a culture of acceptance for that now which didn’t exist before. Take advantage of that,” he signs off.
