For YouTube superstars, Sanam, focusing on making music is what makes them happy
Homegrown Pop Rock act Sanam may have become popular with their renditions of Lag Jaa Gale, Pehla Nasha, Kuch Na Kaho (with Shirley Setia), etc but they are now wowing listeners with original music. After two albums of OCs (SQS Supastars and Samar-Sanam) with record labels, they have just dropped their debut independent album, Sanam Revolution, followed by a single, Sanam Mennu. The band’s name is ubiquitous (they also call their originals, #Sanamoriginals) but they don’t get it just from lead vocalist Sanam Puri’s name. Bassist Venkat S says that they chose this after deliberating on 300 odd names. “It also means beloved, which goes perfectly with the kind of music we make and our personalities as individuals and as a band,” says lead guitarist Samar Puri. Here, the band talks about their journey from the days of SQS Project — short for Samar, Quesh (drummer Keshav Dhanraj) and Sanam — to now and creating original music.
Original music
Keshav tells us that the lyrical themes of Sanam Revolution deal with different forms of love, friendship, and social change. Despite being famed for their covers, original music has always been close to their hearts. “We focus on strong melodies adorned with harmonies that help to keep the arrangements simple in original tracks,” he states. Their single Sanam Mennu, Sanam informs, is about silly expectations in relationships. “We will be focusing on a lot more originals now for a while. We are grateful to have reached a stage where our fans are appreciating our original music as much as a rendition,” he says.
A slow and steady rise
Sanam are among the earliest and biggest YouTube stars but reaching here has been a slow and arduous ride for them. Venky recalls, “It was a big struggle for us when we were signed up with a music label. We were not allowed to do shows outside the contract. We’d give three performances a year and all for free.” Keshav adds, “We had no clue how hard it would be to sustain our dream of making music and being a band.” YouTube came to their rescue as they uploaded their videos, which their manager Ben Thomas would showcase to people. “After many months, we had earned $900 through our channel. That’s when we realised that our music was reaching out to a whole lot of people. We were getting some revenue, which helped us make new music videos,” Venky adds. The band is mindful that their music has never gone viral but grown slowly over time. “But we hardly look at the numbers. We focus on our work and that’s what makes us happy,” Keshav says.
No time for Bollywood
While Sanam has sung Bollywood songs like Gori Tere Pyaar Mein, Ishq Bulava (Hasee Toh Phasee), Coffee Peetey (Gabbar Is Back), etc. nothing is on the anvil as a band. Sanam says, “We’ve been approached several times. We try to release at least one or two music videos a month and do everything on our own, so it takes up all our time and energy.” He doesn’t have any solos either. “I personally feel much happier working together as a band than doing solo projects as a singer,” he says.
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 "Bandmembers of Sanam")
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