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Interviews |  24 May 2018 14:43 |  By RnMTeam

I can call myself fortunate to have met Anurag Bedi Sir: Kabir Ahmed Khan

MUMBAI: Our music industry has witnessed many hit music composer duos like Vishal-Shekhar, Jatin-Lalit, Salim-Sulaiman and more. A new name has been added to this list with Zee Music Company’s Musafir. We are talking about Kabir Ahmed Khan and Athar Bharut, two passionate music composers from Delhi. Their first Hindi song, Musafir released recently. The song is sung by the talented singer Ankit Tiwari. Having a western touch and an aim to keep their music real and inspired by true events, the duo has come to stay in the tinsel town, where very few manage to shine.

In an exclusive interview with Radioandmusic, Kabir talks about Musafir, their days of struggle and Zee Music Company’s CEO Anurag Bedi. Excerpts.

What was the idea behind your debut Hindi song, ‘Musafir’? Were the heart-touching lyrics of the song inspired by a true story?

I wanted to come up with a debut that would leave a mark even after ten years from now and this is how Musafir happened. Eric Pillai, one of the industry’s finest engineers is the first person to have heard the song.  Yes, the lyrics of the song are inspired from true instances. Also, I want to inform that every future song created by me and Athar will be inspired by some true events or the other. I believe that the lyrics of the song are very important.

The song is produced by Zee Music Company. Tell us about this debut career break of yours under a big music label.

I can call myself fortunate to have met Anurag Bedi Sir, who is the CEO of Zee Music Company. It happened by five months back, when one of my close friends introduced me to him. He didn’t take more than five minutes to select the song. He also selected my other songs. Anurag Sir has been very supportive. In fact, he and Zee Music are very encouraging towards newcomers in the music industry and they give them a chance to showcase their talent. I guess I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time.

Ankit Tiwari’s sung your first song. How was the experience of working with him?

Ankit Tiwari has given soulful hits like Teri Galiyan. We thought his voice would do justice to the emotion of the song and our decision to get Ankit onboard was right as he has sung, Musafir to the perfection.

What inspired the placement of musical notes in ‘Musafir’?

I have grown up listening to the songs of the popular 90’s Pakistani band, Jal, which greatly inspired me. Goher Mumtaz, one of the creators of the band has been my source of inspiration and the western influences in the song bear roots of my fondness to their rock music. When it comes to Musafir, we have produced the live part of the music for the song, be it programming ideas to arranging music.

Why haven’t you released the video version of the song yet?

Actually, we had shot video of Musafir featuring Ankit Tiwari, but due to some technical issues, the video was not released. And since, I wanted to release the song as soon as possible, the lyrical video was released. Also, the visuals used in it are from our shoot with Ankit.

Tell us about your and Athar’s journey as a music composer duo. How did you collaborate?

Athar and I met seven years back in Delhi. Within few initial meetings, I got a vibe that this union was meant to happen. We started jamming together, hanging out and doing live gigs. We also produced music for jingles and ads. I won’t say that we don’t fight; in fact, we made a lot of changes in Musafir until the final song happened.

How has your experience of working in the industry been, so far?

The experience has been good, so far. People have been supportive. But, yes, we did face rejection from big music labels during our initial days. I also want to share that it was my dream to debut with one of my favourite labels, whose name I don’t want to mention, but our song was rejected by them.

Was creating music always your career choice?

Creating music was always my passion. I have grown up watching and have been a fan of independent music bands like Jal, Junoon, and Strings, besides listening to the western music. I remember one of the statements of great musician Ali Azmat, who said that if we can compose music in our language then we should opt for it and not for composing in English.

Where do you see yourself five years from now?

I don’t believe in planning things as my past experiences have taught me so. The best example to support this thinking of mine is the death of my mom. She had planned a lot of things for me, but today she is not around.

Was your mom supportive of your music career?

Yes, she was one of the people, who believed in me. She had gifted me a guitar when I was 11-years-old. She wanted to see me flourishing as a music composer. I wish she was here, but wherever she is, she will surely be blessing me and my work.

Tell us about your upcoming projects?

We have our next song with Zee Music, which is sung by Souvik Ganguly. Besides, we are also in talks with some big production houses of Bollywood, but as of now, I cannot disclose anything.

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