For Salim Merchant, of the score composer duo Salim-Sulaiman, music should “flow like water”, without any restriction. But, how does one continue to produce music videos when in lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and maintaining social distancing? Well, creativity finds its way to shine especially when armed with technology.

The powerhouse music composers are all excited to release their new single “Beech Raaste”, featuring popular singers Armaan Malik and Nikita Gandhi, on July 30. Produced using the Apple iPhone feature Memoji, this will be the second single to be released by them under their own record label “Merchant Records”.

The song, written by Niranjan Iyengar was composed and almost ready before the pandemic hit us. However, as the lockdown continued, shooting a video became challenging. It is through a filmmaker friend they got the idea of using Memojis to create the characters Ady and Ada, who are from a futuristic world.

Salim-Sulaiman aren’t the only ones to be using the innovative iPhone feature. Rapper D’Evil of the Gully Gang, aka Dhaval Parab, has also recently released a new single called “Mumbai Darshan”, a tribute to his beloved ‘Aamchi Mumbai’, using the Apple feature.

The lyrics came to him naturally, when he was away from Mumbai at a writing camp in Goa, and the idea of the video was soon clear once he came across the Memoji stickers on a friend’s phone. “Animated videos are quite expensive but this makes life easier,” the rapper explained. “We have created a subtle and fun video,” he added.

“Mumbai Darshan” is produced by Karan Kanchan and was launched on the Gully Gang YouTube channel on July 27.

Independent music amidst the pandemic

While for Salim Merchant, the lockdown has been more relaxing and creatively stimulating, for Dhaval, the global health emergency came with a writer’s block. “I need to go out, observe and get inspired to write,” he confessed. However, thoughts started to unravel after a couple of months as he is busy finishing a few Bollywood projects, the hip-hopper said.

He added that it was important for an artist like him to pause, stay calm and wait for the thoughts to flow. “At any given point I have at least 20-25 songs ready to go into production. So we write a lot and such dry spells don’t hinder in the process of consistently putting out content.” What has been tough however, is earning livelihood as it is “not Bollywood projects or online contents but live shows” that keep the Mumbai’s hip-hop artists afloat. “Struggle continues,” Dhaval says.

Rapper D’Evil   | Photo Credit: MOHIT MUKHI

So, what’s the way forward for independent music then?

Salim Merchant says that talent finds a way to shine, and independent music “will rise big in the coming days.” The successful composer duo who have four more songs ready to be released under the newly created record label are not limited to finding Bollywood projects.In fact through the label they plan to give opportunities to upcoming singers and composers.

“I always see the glass half full. I have been through exactly what A.R Rahman has been through. There was a gang who stopped us from working in film music but Sulaiman and I went ahead and created a new record label, started a theatre production and a fashion line. One cannot be stopped, ever. Nowadays, we look for a song on Apple music or Spotify instead of looking for a film. So if the song is good, it will be popular irrespective of the actors. This is a great time for independent music,” he concludes.