Songs of a rebel

Kaber Vasuki and his first ever crowd-funded music album, Azhagu Puratchi

Kaber Vasuki, the music composer

“I, Kaber Vasuki, would like to offer an unconditional apology for being creative and expressing myself through my art.” The video of Kaber Vasuki’s debut music album, Azhagu Puratchi , begins like this. The song, shot in a closed room, features the young music composer, who is held captive by a masked man with a knife. But Kaber sings: ‘ Unakkum Enakkum Mattum Maranam Illai ’ (There is no death for you or me). The song, shot on a shoe-string budget, unfolds in the dark room. The music composer plays both the assassin and the victim. We get to know this only when the assassin is unmasked.

“The director, Vijay Varadharaj, conceived of this song as a dialogue between two artists; reflecting themes of artistic freedom of expression. It was inspired by the Perumal Murugan incident. And even though, I did not want the controversy to promote the music video, I really loved the concept. It was born out of Vijay’s admiration for his favourite author,” says the 26-year-old music composer from Coimbatore.

Azhagu Puratchi (Beautiful Revolution) is the first ever crowd-funded Tamil music album. Tiburtius V Rubin is the music producer of the album.

With the help of Supportive Cities, a platform that helps off-beat artists, they raised about Rs. 87,000. The album was out online last December.

“The best feedback till date I received was from an elderly man. He said the songs moved him so much that he wept,” says the composer.

The songs were written by Kaber during his college days and are full of rebellious outbursts, quirky images and philosophical musings;

Maandra Mannan Kaviyam , holds the musings of a writer who uses words as weapons of revolution and

Karpanai Kadathal , talks of a writer “smuggling imagination” and “setting fire to a cotton of revolution”.

Change and rebellion have always accompanied Kaber. “In college, I was frustrated with the system of education. I thought the teaching methods were counter productive. Even if you actually wanted to learn something, you will end up learning nothing.”

Kaber’s critical view is born out of his own experience as an engineering student in Tanjore. “I pursued it only for my parents’ sake. I still do not have a degree, because I could not complete my course. I was fed up of the system.” He quit college and moved to Chennai to build his career in music. He worked as a librarian and a freelance journalist for a steady income. “I have been performing on and off in Chennai. I have a small following in the city now.”

Now there are so many avenues for independent artists, says Kaber, who calls himself a self-taught musician. “Technical equipment has become cheaper. You do not need an expensive studio. In Chennai there are so many sound engineers, who have studios at their homes. It is a bright scene for independent musicians.”

Watch Ulagathin Sonthakkaran

There is a total of six songs in the compilation. Now you can listen to the songs on itunes, SoundCloud and Kaber’s website >www.kabervasuki.com . where the lyrics of the songs are also available. The album cover is designed by Satwik Gade.